I have been meaning to play this for a long time. After falling in love with Wanted: Dead I finally decided to bump it way up the backlog list and I really should have done so sooner. I’m not really going to review it normally though because there is something else that interests me instead. What the hell happened here?

Devil’s Third is sitting on a 43% on Metacritic with a bunch of 2 and 3 out of 10 scores. What? How? It is a good, fun action game. It is mechanically interesting as it tries to marry melee combat with third person shooting but when aiming it goes into first person. You can sprint quickly, slide, jump, shoot from the hip, shoot from first person, throw grenades, take cover, blind fire from cover, block, dodge, heavy melee and light melee. It can all be put together too. Slide while hip firing into a melee, slide into a jump melee, precise fire your gun at close range then swap to a melee finish, jump over cover and drive an axe into an enemy, etc. The finisher animations are excellent and there is quite a few of them because of the melee weapon variety and because they are location dependent. You can aim with your melee weapon out too and throw it but also do a leaping targeted attack that is very satisfying. The action takes place across a good assortment of locations, with the later stages being the highlights. It has multiple bosses and does mix things up well too with set pieces, moments of defending positions, a fun over the top vehicle section, long range shooting sections, being on a stationary gun taking out tanks and more. All these moments are nice and brief, never overstaying their welcome. Gun variety is decent too with some having an alternate fire.

Closing distance on enemies is very easy with this move set and the character you play as (the always shirtless Ivan) moves quickly. Good, quick movement is key to not taking too much damage when out of cover as well and on top of that movement speed is impacted by the weapon equipped. Guns can be used to thin the herd before running through blasting, hacking, slashing, bashing and decimating. Shooting enemies can stun them, creating openings to close the distance. Melee attacks and kills are rewarded with filling a meter so Ivan can power up briefly for more satisfaction. Using all the tools at your disposal in conjunction and in a fast and aggressive way is stupidly enjoyable. The game encourages it too. This is not hack n slash or a third person shooter or both, it’s a hybrid. Don’t just shoot and don’t get stuck playing this rigidly or conventionally, have fun with it. Ivan can be a little fragile though but he quickly regenerates health. They really focused on what is important in game like this and it is good, like really good and so likeable. Ivan drinks from a flask for his standing idle animation and he lights up a smoke for his cover idle animation. Limbs and heads burst off with a blood trail and blood coats the walls and floor. Ivan kicks doors open and his wall climb is slick. I was smiling through most of the game and even laughing at times. As soon as I finished I started a new play through and I’m still playing it now. So I might come back and add to this. It just feels great to play. Devil’s Third is brilliant, rough yeah, but brilliant. I really wish I got to try the multiplayer too.

During the PS3 and 360 generation Devil’s Third would have been around the 60% to 70% mark on Metacritic. I know this is true because I have played some of those games and seen the reviews. I just played Wet for the first time recently. Wet is sitting on a 70% with plenty of 6s, 7s and even some 8s. Devil’s Third is just as good as Wet, actually it is even better. What happened between 2010 and 2015? If Devil’s Third came out a few years earlier its legacy and sales could have been very different. Did Itagaki and/or Valhalla Studios piss off game critics? Were they unhappy that they needed to dig out, dust off and set up the Wii U again? Were critics trying to make an example out of this game? Were simple, violent, fun, gameplay focused action games just not okay anymore? There are multiple reviews claiming it is a relic or archaic. I know this happened to Wanted: Dead and other games a bit as well but in this case it seems greater than the typical game critic problems. Did game critics think it was mature to shit on this game? Did they find this game to be some kind of affront to the serious and mature medium of video games? ‘It’s the kind of soulless, perfunctory action game I fear people judging the medium of video games by.’ – Taken from IGNs incredibly short, shallow and unhelpful review. Soulless and perfunctory? It is deliberately unconventional and full of heart.

I kind of want to grab my tin foil hat and get to the bottom of this collective and coordinated smear campaign against a perfectly fine, but rough, video game. There’s actually not much to it. Itagaki implied that game critics are bad and that they didn’t understand Devil’s Third after previews. A dumb move, he should have waited a few more months at least or just stayed quiet. Also probably not fair after people likely only had a very short time with the game during previews. The fans of this type of game would have played it even with middling reviews but instead it was trashed. Still not good all around and it was probably more than just the state of opinions at the time, myopia and the typical incompetence, failures and harms of market driven, access dependent journalism/reviews. Itagaki was kind of correct though and the evidence of that is there throughout the reviews but then they may have gone into it wanting to hate it.

Devil’s Third went through development troubles, it is rough around the edges and it does not have the same level of charm as Wanted: Dead. It is still good to play and the technical issues are not that bad. The issues are the frame rate at times is a problem and it can get bad, texture pop in, small hiccups and the AI isn’t great. None of this was that serious though. To be fair I have a tolerance for this stuff. It does have lower production values across the board but isn’t an ugly game at all. It looks how you would expect a lower budget Wii U title to look. I don’t know about the microtransactions in the multiplayer but this issue has never been a problem for games getting a good review still. The game is not awful, broken or unplayable in any way and I had no crashes. It is not a particularly difficult game either and it has regular checkpoints. The story isn’t ‘good’ but it is fun in a similar way to, maybe Vanquish. It’s over the top and silly but plays it straight making it even better. So basically what you would expect and want from this type of game. I know it is slightly short (not really) too but it is meant to be replayed, has a score mode and there was the multiplayer. It is undeniable that this game feels unfinished and unpolished but the problems have been blown out of proportion and I was enjoying it too much to care anyway.

Having just played Devil’s Third I find the critical response of its time to be ridiculous and harmful. Thankfully Digtally Downloaded didn’t get the memo and had this to say, ‘Devil’s Third is a hell of a lot of fun because it breaks every rule in the book. I would take that, technical warts an all, over the glistening and safe nonsense that we’re exposed to from almost every other shooter out there.’ I think the writer at Digtally Downloaded might be on to something with the idea that this game is a response to western third person shooters, or western shooting games in general as well. And a response to what happened to Japanese games during the PS3/360 generation. Maybe that’s another reason why Devil’s Third got such a poor reception.

I was under the impression that Devil’s Third had technical issues so bad that it would seriously harm the experience. That’s not true at all. I was under the impression that even if it worked perfectly and looked stunning it still wouldn’t be any good. That is completely untrue. What the hell, if I knew what Devil’s Third was actually like I would have happily bought it day one at full price and played it right away, thanks for the misinformation, or perhaps disinformation, games media. I still did buy it though, only years later on clearance, because I suspected there was still fun to be had, but then I just left it in the backlog. So I am to blame as well. I should have just trusted my gut and played this sooner.

I really hope Devil’s Third gets saved with a remaster and is able to reach the audience it always should have, as unlikely as it is for this to get a remaster. If you can access this game then I recommend it. Devil’s Third is not a bad game and it should not be remembered that way. I’m not going to lie and say it is the best thing ever but it is a good game and a really fun time.