A gothic mansion, a sword, a gun in each hand, and the wild idea of grading your style while you fight.

When the community picks on pure gut feeling, with no criterion, Devil May Cry sits ahead of a bit more than six games out of ten. Decent, nothing more. But break it down criterion by criterion and the game shifts into another league. Its art style puts it ahead of 96% of titles, its soundtrack ahead of 90%, attachment and the wish to rediscover it for the first time ahead of 84%. Controller feel climbs just as high, though that rests on few votes so far, one to confirm. Only the desert island question keeps it modestly above average. That is the tension: analysed piece by piece, Devil May Cry impresses almost everywhere, yet the instinctive pull stays cooler than its own detail suggests.

Not so surprising for a 2001 game born from the ashes of an aborted Resident Evil, and which invented stylish action as we know it. The combat style grade, the pace, the dynamic camera: all of it set a template. Its heirs polished the formula, but the visual and sonic shock still belongs to the original.

So, who is it for? For you if you want combat that asks you to be beautiful and not just efficient, an unashamed gothic rock mood and a look that stuck. Much less so if you are after the comfort game you take everywhere and relaunch without thinking.