Raiden Done Right
Since I’m still shifting and straining to squeeze into this relatively brand-new blog, I’ve decided to do a little experimenting. The first bubbly concoction you’ll bear witness to is a somewhat tried-and-true formula (we can’t all create an evil, alternate ego potion on our first try): the theme week. As such, most — if not all — of this week’s blog posts will focus, in some way, on story in gaming. Now, I’m not promising a cohesive collection of articles here, although a couple of them might connect in ways most profound. You’ll just have to read them all to find out.
Over the past few years, gaming has grown from a mostly-juvenile form of entertainment and escapism to a legitimate medium of artistic expression. Story and characters have evolved tremendously: whether you consider Bioshock’s Andrew Ryan, whose madness is chronicled through tape recordings placed conveniently throughout the failed utopia of Rapture, Half-Life 2’s (yes, Half-Life 2, specifically) Gordon Freeman, who never speaks a word, yet develops a near tangible bond with Alyx Vance, or Portal’s Glados, a maniacal A.I. who practically is the game’s story, you can’t deny that gaming — plot and character foremost — has come a long way.
Oddly enough, however, of all the colorful characters gaming has produced in the past couple of years, I find myself most drawn to the main character of a game that, for all intents and purposes, stuck its fingers in its ears and loudly sang “Lalalalalala” while other titles pushed gaming forward. The game? Devil May Cry 4. Now, I’m not saying DMC4 is a bad game; it’s an over-the-top, sword-swingin’, demon-bashing, good time. But if you can — without averting your eyes — tell me that it does anything other games in its same genre haven’t, then you probably also draw creepy, homoerotic pictures of characters from the series and sell them on Ebay, and you scare me. Now go on — shoe!
Of course, by now, anyone with even a passing knowledge of DMC probably would’ve guessed that the chatacter I’m talking about is perennial uber-badass, Dante.
And they’d be wrong.
Snowy-haired and cloaked in red, Nero might as well be a professional Dante impersonator, sharing a walk of life with the likes of Elvis #134 and most every anime fan. But look beyond the superficial and you’ll find that Nero stands strong in his own right; in fact, as a character, he accomplishes what even Raiden of Metal Gear Solid 2 fame could not: he surpasses his gruff, more experienced counterpart.
(See the resemblance?)
When we’re first introduced to Nero, we see him running down a slightly decrepit, gothic-styled alleyway. Ostensibly, he’s trying to reach Kyrie (his girlfriend) before she finishes singing a melody so loud that it seemingly pervades the air waves of an entire city. But the path to a giant, imposing chapel is always fraught with danger, and it’s not long before Nero is drop-kicking puppet demons in sloooow moootion. So yeah, Nero is just as slick as Dante, and also shares his appreciation of professional wrestling. And when the two white-haired wonders meet in battle, the fireworks really fly.
Here’s the funny part, though: in spite of all the obviously over-the-top similarities the two characters share, Nero comes off as infintely more believable. See, Dante’s too cool to express any emotion, save for an arrogant sense of snarkiness. This has its benefits in a series like DMC, where the storyline tends to become fairly heavy, and sometimes depressing. On top of that, you typically play as a lone hero, with nary a sign of company in miles worth of dank castle. Soon, however, you begin to notice that Dante wise-cracks about everything, and much of that crackin’ wise isn’t even clever. (Capcom’s writing staff is partially to blame, but I digress.) Dante begins to devolve from the Legendary Son of Sparda and demon-hunter extraordinaire to an exaggerated manifestation of early-onset mid-life crisis.
That’s why Nero is such a breath of fresh air; sure, he does his share of mouthing off to creatures who are 20 times his size and an infinite number of times more on-fire, but he’s brash and young. Plus, there’s an air of seriousness that pervades Nero’s mission; Dante just seems like he’s saving the world for the hell of it. Now, those fairly minor discrepancies are somewhat noticeable, but when Kyrie is kidnapped, Nero really comes into his own. He becomes a man possessed, a single purpose driving him through horde after horde of demons. And most importantly, when Nero is captured by his enemies and all hope seems lost, he uses his love for Kyrie — and his utter determination to save her — as motivation to unlock his greatest powers.
This inspiring — yet admittedly cliched — love story is tied inextricably to the yarn which the game spins. Nero devotes himself completely to Kyrie’s rescue, and he never looks back. Even though Nero spouts one-liners with typical Capcom proficiency and punches legions of demons with an ethereal demon arm, you never lose sight of his human side. So when Nero’s sure he’s lost Kyrie forever, it’s no surprise that he falls to the ground and weeps*. It’s bitter, too — let’s just say that his demon arm still packs quite a punch when it’s repeatedly slammed into the ground in dejected fury.
But it fits. And it’s a perfect realization of the idealized nerd love story. In essence, DMC4’s story is what every nerd dreams of: a knight-in-shining-armor situation where the hero is driven to save his girl, yet the he’s far from perfect. He falls, he fails, and we identify with him. Raiden’s problem was his lack of “knighthood.” While he was certainly just as down-to-earth as Nero — if not moreso — but he lacked any semblance of heroism. I mean, who wants to hear a blonde, long-haired picture of androgyny gripe at his girlfriend when he should be deftly snapping the necks of enemy soldiers? Raiden was too human, whereas Nero, who’s suitably part-demon, strikes a perfect balance between human empathy and heroic might. Raiden only served to hold up a mirror and direct the spotlight back onto Solid Snake; Nero steals the spotlight and never stays out of its warm glow for long.
(Maybe in Metal Gear Solid 4, my friend; maybe in Metal Gear Solid 4.)
Just as the advent of a new current generation of consoles signifies change in the videogaming world, Devil May Cry’s new residence on those consoles heralds a change in the series. Nero leads the charge, both hands raised in the air — one human, the other demon. Long live Nero, Devil May Cry’s new hero and a believable character in a medium that sorely lacks more of his kind.
*Yes, a Devil did Cry. Good job making that connection. You’re the person who named your character “Zelda” in The Legend of Zelda, aren’t you?
