Hello to Devil May Cry 3 and Kingdom Hearts 2

I suppose I shouldn't be blogging as hard since my computer is currently being opened up and prodded by people who aren't me, but the germ of an idea came, and those never wait, so you have to strike while the iron is hot. The piece of idea being stuck? The introductions, or you could say, the "Hello"s of Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition and Kingdom Hearts 2. Why these games? Well, since my computer is being repaired, I have to spend time somehow, and it's been raining for a while. (Right now, the sky is grey. All of it.)

Both games take a similar approach to their introductions: The introduction to the universe is done through a opening cutscene of some length. Many games do this, that's not the issue, the point is how well the two opening cutscenes show off their respective game's style.

I'll first talk about the Disney/Square-Enix collaboration, Kingdom Hearts 2. That game's opening, unsurprisingly, is an expensive looking FMV masterpiece that looks like a million bucks, (It may in fact, have cost that much money to produce...) complete with an absurdly catchy and somehow driving piece of J-Pop. (If anyone has this song, do let me know what it is and where I can find it...) The character, Sora, is seen falling down, headfirst, for quite a bit of time, then catching up with his friends, watch them turn evil, turn good again, slip through his fingers, and so on. It is above all, serious. When Goofy and Donald appear, it is to battle by Sora's side, and nary a quack is heard out of Donald, perhaps for fear it might ruin the atmosphere. And that, is one of Disney's primary concerns.

What is for sure is that Disney was sure that none of the three main characters to wield bladed weapons or anything that looks real. Good brand management (thank you, Websnark) dictates that the cognitive dissonance of Goofy in Disney World bouncing and happy without a care in the world juxtaposed with Goofy swinging a sword, knife in his teeth screaming "I'll take on all you brigands!" in a lisenced videogame is not going to go over well with the consumer, so Goofy's weapon of choice is a shield. Is Goofy serious about his adventures from Twilight Town to whichever mighty jungle the lion sleeps in? Hel..Heck yes he is. But is he ever without the lacksidaisical, slouching grin? Heavens, no. So. Goofy is still Goofy, even in his new-ish digs and Disney's kid-friendly stamp remains.

The obscenely high production values, serious demeanor and kid-friendly vibe all reassure me it's going to be like the first Kingdom Hearts, except with a couple cosmetic changes, better graphics and a mode of travel or planet hopping that's a lot easier.




Capcom's Devil May Cry 3 SE, on the other hand, takes another route entirely. It's Capcom, so the opening mission video (I'm discounting the actual opening since the scrolling credits take you out of the experience) is in the games graphic engine, which is admittedly, pretty impressive.

It makes me smile a wide, meat eating grin. The main character, Dante is opening up a music shop. He is the kind of half-demon that answers the phone by pounding on the table to have the reciever spring into his hands. In comes a visitor, who is not looking for the bathroom, as Dante finds out, but is instead muscle of his half-brother demon brother Vergil, who has just arrived, by standing atop a mile-high castle that quite recently sprung up from the earth and devalues real estate for a couple square miles. After an unsuccessful intimidation attempt, the muscle leaves and Dante goes back to eating his pizza. This is until a good 6 or 7 demons appear out of the air around our main character and use Dante's body to insert the business ends of their scythes.

Dante is unfazed.

He doesn't even put on his (trademark?) red jacket. He, instead, gets up and walks over to the old jukebox, in the far corner of the room (blades still in his body) where tries to put on a song. It doesn't play. Dante, visibly annoyed, smashes the jukebox , and still no sound eminates. He sighs, accepts that he's going to have to kill these demons without music. Having now shaken off the blades, he turns and faces the assembeled crew of malevolent spirits, and defeats them by using whatever is lying around, including pool balls, and using one unfortunate soul as a skateboard while firing both of his pistols. After clearing the room, but finding still more enemies, Dante looks around and asks "The end?". More enemies show up. "Don't bet on it." Here is where the player gets control.

As you can tell, the entire entreprise is incredibly stylish, but done with a wink and a grin. That is to say, Devil May Cry 3 is serious and as self-aware as any of the new Ocean's movies. The game's m.o. is simple: you want to devastate your enemies with the variety of weapons in your arsenal, and you are given more in game currency the more you use your arsenal. (Your starting weapons are Dante's sword, Rebellion, and his dual pistols, Ebony and Ivory. Yes, one pistol is black, the other is white. Yes, that is how the game rolls.)

For example, you could just stand 20 feet away from an enemy and pour lead into their somehow corpeal forms with Ebony and Ivory, and that would get you a small amount of points. But, if you ran up to them slashed them with Rebellion, then launched the demon with an uppercut with the weapon, only to keep them in the air with fire from Ebony and Ivory, you'd get a hell of a lot more points, as shown when your onscreen point meter goes to Crazy!. You later get a guitar to use as a weapon. To get that weapon, you have to defeat the rock singer boss. It's pretty awesome.


It is that kind of style, the pardon the pun, devil may care sense of fun, that the introduction of Devil May Cry 3 embodies perfectly. Unlike Kingdom Hearts 2 where you get the distinct impression that you are someone else's oyster, Devil May Cry 3 gives you a knife and says get to it.

And that's, probably why ultimately, I'm spending a lot more time with Dante and not Sora...

Theme Week: Hello?

Saying hello is something every person has to do, eventually. It is an introduction to the person that follows. That's simple enough, but when you're a band who is putting out a new release, with what track do introduce the listener to your new material? How do you present your new artistic statement? Do you start a track that reassures fans that you haven't changed too much? Do you start with an example of your new sound? Do you start with the best song?

If you're Rise Against, and you're introducing Siren Song of the Counter Culture, you start with the absolutely ripping/nearly speed metal of State of the Union, which, by the way, will have you flailing your arms pretending there's a drum set in your immediate vicinity. This CD, of course, contained, their acoustic radio hit, "Swing Life Away", but as an introduction to the "new" Rise Against disc, it worked wonders. Put on the internet by the band a month in advance, the response was electric, and silenced the critics that said their new digs at Dreamworks softened them.

If you're dance-punk collective Head Automatica, and you're introducing Decadence, your best foot forward is the 2:14 ass-shaking "At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet", whose lyrical content is about an arms dealer. "I'm burning houses, baby!" Darryl exclaims and you're wondering just the guy is saying and why your hips are moving to it, but the beat just keeps going, and your body continues its motions.

If you’re math-metal wunderkinds Dillinger Escape Plan, and you’re introducing your new full length Miss Machine, you choose “Parasonic Youth” (currently downloadable on their MySpace page) as your opening track with your new singer screaming WE WROTE THESE PLANS, then you start with the inhumanly fast drumbeat with absurdly heavy guitars and you let that greet listeners who wonder if the 5 years between records and the new singer has had changed Dillinger dramatically.

Of course, if you're former-Misfits-fiends-turned-quazi-Brit-rockers AFI, and the disc you're introducing is the hotly anticipated Decemberunderground, you'll start with "Prelude 12/21" the same kind of gang vocal chanting that introduced your other major label release, Sing the Sorrow, with hints of the "cold-pop" flavor that is to come on Decemberunderground in the background.

If you're genre-defining act Minor Threat, you'll sequence your career discography such that possibly your most angry and to the point song "Filler", a 1:32 song about religion and violence, is the first song the listener hears. The aesthetic, short, fast, loud and nearly incomprehensible vocals would resonate through America.

And if you're me? You avoid the topic altogether, and weakly point back to your original post as evidence that you’ve followed through on the theme before it was announced If that doesn’t work, talk about some bands and releases you've come to cherish, and hope through speaking about the bands, the music, man, you've made a nice introduction to your character.

Oh well. Here’s how I introduce myself in public: nervously. Perhaps with a joke. A self-deprecating shot at least a minute into the conversation. Leave the vicinity as quickly as diplomatically possible, hoping I’ve come off passably.

If it’s an attractive member of the opposite sex, I just aim for not stammering and putting together a couple coherent sentences. Really, it’s all you can hope for in an introduction. Real conversations are for later.

P.S. Tom, as for who I’ve been mistaken for, the ones I remember are Daniel Radcliffe, a couple times every year, someone’s girlfriend (twice in the same week!) by the same guy, various 30 year old women and really, not much else.