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DEVIL'S THIRD (WIIU)
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Publisher: Nintendo.
Developer: Nintendo SPD. Released: Sometime 2015. Genre: Third-person shoot 'em up; Action. Posted 20th January 2022. By Shane Battams © 2022 |
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Devil’s Third would prove to be one of the more infamous games of the seventh gen and – due to how long it took – the eighth gen too. Rockstar developer Tomonobu Itagaki’s high-profile departure from Tecmo would sow the seeds for the formation of Valhalla Game Studios, but their first game would lag in development hell for six years due to a partnership falling through with Microsoft and the collapse of two further prospective publishers. Only a rescuing by Nintendo would at last see this action game releasing in 2015. Unfortunately, it’s a game that felt out of its time and the gestated development would show in the final release. Dated visuals, underwhelming mechanics and a lack of cohesion leaves Ivan’s misadventures feeling downright poor.
Devil’s Third arguably peaks during it’s chaotic opening, as the camera pans down from a riot at Guantanamo bay caused by a major satellite outage, to protagonist Ivan performing a mental drum solo. He’s a former member of S.O.D., a terrorist group responsible for said outages. While Ivan has been redeeming himself with missions for the government, this new objective sends him around the world chasing after this group and current members he once called friends. Sadly, the opening is not indicative of the rest of the game, with Ivan being surprisingly muted considering his outlandish, Yakuza-esque appearance with a Russian accent. None of the story elements feel well directed, memorably voiced or contribute to the atmosphere and leave everything turning into one big sludge.
Devil's Third's action-heavy approach should have been a lot of fun, but it's mish-mash of styles and ideas fail to come together
The big gimmick touted for this one is the fusion of shooting and brawling. Seeming to mesh Itagaki’s work on Ninja Gaiden with a more traditional shooter, it could have worked well. Unfortunately, the controls just can’t handle the juggling act required. The third-person camera swaps to an FPS perspective when aiming, which already feels jarring. Ivan will automatically stick to most surfaces and take cover, which also feels unwieldy due to his speed seeing you whizz straight past cover, though you can turn this function off. But the switch to melee is also poor, with a delay that often sees you being chopped up sharpish. The camera suffers in this mode, often straying to the ground and impairing your vision somewhat. And the control scheme feels unwieldy, as due to managing so many inputs, button placement for functions like reloading, swapping weapons and jumping feel out of place. It also makes disappointingly unadventurous use of the unique Gamepad controller.
Even with metal pipes, katanas and kukri knives, melee combat lacks the dynamism and speed of competing games, and will often boil down to button mashing if you find an opening. Shooting suffers from weapons which feel weak, more like nerf guns thanks to awful sound effects and the shotgun may be among the worst in recent memory. Both are compounded by woeful AI, be it the idiotic friendlies who have stormtrooper aim, or enemies which lack aggression and are content to wait for you to kill them. General combat is straightforward and while Ivan feels a tad fragile on the Standard setting, careful cover and timed melee flurries should suffice. Bosses, on the other hand, feel horrendous. Content to trap you in unblockable combos, grabs dealing huge damage and some bosses even being able to one-hit kill you, you’ll start pulling your hair out once you start to come across these bigger encounters. In trying to please both shooting and brawler fans, Devil’s Third ends up repelling both. Outside of combat, there’s occasional climbing and scanning the environment to avoid mines, but they add very little.
Even with metal pipes, katanas and kukri knives, melee combat lacks the dynamism and speed of competing games, and will often boil down to button mashing if you find an opening. Shooting suffers from weapons which feel weak, more like nerf guns thanks to awful sound effects and the shotgun may be among the worst in recent memory. Both are compounded by woeful AI, be it the idiotic friendlies who have stormtrooper aim, or enemies which lack aggression and are content to wait for you to kill them. General combat is straightforward and while Ivan feels a tad fragile on the Standard setting, careful cover and timed melee flurries should suffice. Bosses, on the other hand, feel horrendous. Content to trap you in unblockable combos, grabs dealing huge damage and some bosses even being able to one-hit kill you, you’ll start pulling your hair out once you start to come across these bigger encounters. In trying to please both shooting and brawler fans, Devil’s Third ends up repelling both. Outside of combat, there’s occasional climbing and scanning the environment to avoid mines, but they add very little.
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Devil’s Third also lacks polish, feeling immensely undercooked visually. While some levels look decent and run well, and main characters often look the part compared to ugly enemy designs, others suffer from rampant texture pop-in, ugly designs and objects and severe slowdown which can negatively affect gameplay. These bugs also can harm the player, as enemies can clip through cover and shoot you without much chance for reprieve. When there’s no bugs, you can tell this is a game which started life in 2009, and it fails to take much advantage of the system. The sound doesn’t fare much better. Weapons lack punch, the music is almost an afterthought and the voice acting jumps from bland to abysmal. But it’s never so bad that it becomes perversely enjoyable. It's just a chore to listen to.
You could probably polish off this one in a couple of sittings, with 9 missions spread across the globe. There are six collectibles in each stage, and a tougher difficulty for masochistic types, but otherwise it feels like you can get your fill of this one in a single playthrough with neither providing satisfactory rewards. Devil’s Third did have a multiplayer mode, but Nintendo shut the servers for it just 14 months after launch. Considering it relies on the same mechanics as the woeful campaign and was reportedly rampant with microtransactions that unbalanced the competitive modes, it’s probably no great loss.
You could probably polish off this one in a couple of sittings, with 9 missions spread across the globe. There are six collectibles in each stage, and a tougher difficulty for masochistic types, but otherwise it feels like you can get your fill of this one in a single playthrough with neither providing satisfactory rewards. Devil’s Third did have a multiplayer mode, but Nintendo shut the servers for it just 14 months after launch. Considering it relies on the same mechanics as the woeful campaign and was reportedly rampant with microtransactions that unbalanced the competitive modes, it’s probably no great loss.
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In fact, Devil’s Third wouldn’t have been missed much if cancellation was its ultimate fate. Instead, Nintendo’s baffling acquisition of this one results in one of the worst exclusives the publisher has ever overseen, an outdated hybrid shooter that struggles with control woes, horrendous visuals and a lack of general pizazz. You’d think slicing through goons with a katana and blowing up tanks with an RPG would merit some sort of fun, but instead, every possible drip of enjoyment is drained through mechanical missteps and technical failings. Unless you are desperate for action on your Wii U, this one is probably better left in purgatory.
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VERDICT
"Devil’s Third squanders its hybrid action through control woes, horrendous visuals and a lack of general pizazz, meaning it’s better left in purgatory." OVERALL: 3/10 |