Virgil's Downfall puts you in the driver's seat for Virgil's descent into madness. His defeat by his brother has not left him in the greatest of moods, and you can see the progression of how his mind slowly becomes unhinged as revenge starts to overwhelm his mind.
Virgil and Dante play quite differently, while they both have their sword fixation, Dante was always about fitting slashes in while continually peppering the enemy with gunfire. Virgil instead uses his telekinetic powers to create a ranged attack (thrown daggers of energy) to complement his in-range swordplay. The incorporation of the Angel and Demon powers is also quite different, where Dante would use them to pull the objects of the world or pull himself closer, Virgil instead uses teleportation. Now those insurmountable distances are passed in an instant (which just makes all of those jumping platforms seem particularly stupid if the character can teleport everywhere).
The angel based attacks are quick flurry attacks to quickly dice up a group of enemies. You'll quickly find that spamming angel attacks are even preferable to dodging or blocking as you keep attacking and it tends to work better than an evasion. In contrast to the demon attacks that are solely power moves with huge wind-ups… you'll find that the demon moves are impossible to use without making room for yourself first. When comparing the lack of fluidity for this entire moveset, you'll be missing Dante all over again with the ease of use that we've all become accustomed to.Visually and aurally, Virgil's Downfall doesn't take a step back from the main game, although most of the level designs are just re-skins of maps we've seen before in the main game just with us taking a different path through the level than we did previously. When directly compared to the original, it has a definite B-Team feel – the level designs aren't particularly new for those who paid attention the first time and Virgil just isn't as interesting of a primary character compared to Dante. Combat wise, I felt that Virgil's moveset just doesn't compare to the careful crafting and balancing that went into Dante's – you can almost tailor a style that matches you preferences with Dante while with Virgil you can just keep doing the same 2 or 3 things and succeed.
Virgil's Downfall will add another 8 or so hours of story to your Devil May Cry game, and for those who enjoyed the original game immensely the extra few dollars to purchase is a good investment to get a little more of the same experience. As long as you don't get your heart set on getting the exact same play that you loved about the original you'll be leaving happy.
- Tazman
The Good:
- Adds some additional depth to your Devil May Cry experience for $10
The Bad:
- Not as deep and engaging playing Virgil as it is playing Dante
Score: 8.0 / 10
