Great moments in PC gaming are bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories.
DmC: Devil may Cry
(Image credit: Capcom)
Year: 2013
Developer: Ninja Theory
OK, he’s not really Bill O’Reilly. His name is Bob Barbas and he’s the host of Raptor News, which is totally unrelated to and legally distinct from Fox News. But, I mean, come on. He even quotes O’Reilly’s infamous meltdown.
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In DmC you fight demons who secretly run the world, and one of them is the news anchor who runs their propaganda and surveillance division. To reach him you have to go through Limbo, a twisted otherworld where the network tower is an inverted beacon, like an upside-down Eye of Sauron. Smashing through its TV eye you’re transported inside a bombastic news network ident, which you cross by platforming off the logos. Beyond this, in a magic circle, floats the talking head of Barbas. It’s a boss fight with The Media.
Bob’s head flings walls of shining infographic light at you, and to weaken him you smack the points of his summoning circle with your Hellboy fists, then rush up and wail on his giant head for massive damage. The whole time he’s shouting catchphrases and calling you a terrorist, of course.
After you slap his gob a few times you leap through his eye to get inside the news. Suddenly the screen becomes grainy footage of you fighting demons in public spaces from previous levels, only Bob’s spinning the story so people think you’re killing ordinary people. While this happens you’re in control, playing out the fight from the perspective of a high-angle camera like it’s an old-school survival horror game.
Escape from that and you get to punch and stab and slice his glitching face some more, with your variety of demon and angel weapons. You have a bunch by this point, including a sword that’s literally named Rebellion just in case you thought DmC was going to be subtle. But no, it’s as subtle as punk, or indeed, as subtle as a parody of Bill O’Reilly who shouts “We’ll do it live!” as a taunt.
Then you shoot him through the screen. It turns out that actually the thing he’s going to do live is die, right there in the studio. Somehow you absorb his power and get some sweet new three-bladed ninja star things because DmC is a hell of a videogame. It’s blunt, ridiculous, so extreme it’s a wonder it wasn’t made in the 1990s, and incredibly fun, with plenty of levels as inventive as this one and a combat system that’s accessible and technical at the same time.
It’s a shame it’s not totally unrelated to and legally distinct from Devil May Cry, because if it was its greatness might have been better recognized.