Devil’s Third

Genre: Third-Person Shooter / Action

Players: 1

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Review:

Devil’s Third, released on Wii U in 2015, is a Third-Person Shooter with Action elements that is so adorned in extremes that I’m not sure where to start. It’s a game helmed by the extravagant and controversial Tobonobu Itagaki, famous for creating the Dead or Alive series and the modern reimagined Ninja Gaiden series. It’s a game that went through a tumultuous development and publishing period, jumping from platform to platform, publisher to publisher, until Nintendo published the game as a Wii U exclusive. It is a game that can be purchased on the Wii U eShop for a mere $30 (until the Wii U eShop closes in March 2023), yet to get a physical copy on eBay you will be looking to spend upwards of $200, making this one of the most stark differences in digital and physical pricing of any game on the Wii U. And of course, there is also the fact that Devil’s Third was thoroughly trashed by critics, with many pointing to this as one of the worst games on the Wii U.

Perhaps, in the midst of all that insanity, the most outlandish thing I can say about this game is… that I think it’s okay?

Graphically, Devil’s Third looks quite good, with detailed 3D character models and fairly detailed environments, with decent voice acting and backed by a soundtrack that seems to want to give this the presentation of a big-budget Hollywood movie. However, it’s pretty clear that this game was never going to live up to that sort of image – this is a Tomonobu Itagaki game, after all, and that man’s game’s tend to have plotlines that range from absurd and silly to insane and outright incomprehensible, and Devil’s Third is no exception to this.

Players take on the role of the Russian-accented Ivan, a bald, scarred, tattoo-covered inmate at Guantanamo Bay who inexplicably has a room full of guitars, drums, and other music equipment, all due to his cooperation with the prison’s officials, apparently. When Ivan’s former terrorist cell enacts a worldwide attack on international military infrastructures, Ivan is tasked with leaving the prison in the midst of a riot (fighting his way through every inmate he encounters on the way) and hunting down his old terrorist cell. Why he would want to do this, and why the government officials entrusting this duty to him believe that he’ll follow through on this, are apparently not something the game believes the player needs to know. Yeah, so… this is just really, really dumb.

As an Action game though… this is fine. Early on, the game insinuates that you’ll be fluctuating back and forth between melee combat and Third-Person Shooter gameplay, but really through most of the game you’ll mostly just be doing the shooting. And the shooting is… fine. It’s a lot of crouching behind cover, taking shots of opportunity, wash rinse repeat. There are some issues with things like poor signposting and wonky hit detection, but it’s not so terrible that it makes for more than an occasional frustration.

When this game originally released, there was an online multiplayer mode, but that has apparently long since been shut down, so now all that remains is the single-player game. And I suppose that’s decent enough, except, well… Devil’s Third does not exist within a vacuum. This game was released on the Wii U, which also has two Call of Duty games, a Splinter Cell game, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, all superb shooters with far more depth and enjoyable gameplay than what’s on display here.

So in the end… no, I don’t think Devil’s Third is a bad game. It’s actually a pretty decent game, though one that’s not without its flaws, and one that has had a significant portion of its gameplay removed now that it’s no longer playable in multiplayer. However, the fact that it’s not a bad game doesn’t really matter, since it’s definitely not a great game, and players on the Wii U looking for this sort of gameplay have much better options.

Really, the best reason to get Devil’s Third at this point is… as a conversation piece. After all, if you scroll back up to that opening paragraph, that’s quite a lot of insanity, and surely some players out there will undoubtedly be curious about a game surrounded in such extremes. If you count yourself as one of the curious, then I have two pieces of advice for you: First, get the game now before the Wii U eShop closes in March 2023, or you’ll be paying through the nose to get your hands on the game. Second, don’t expect anything particularly revelatory – this isn’t a hidden gem nor a delightful train wreck, it’s just a middling experience that has earned a reputation that’s probably more extreme than this game deserves.

tl;dr – Devil’s Third is a Third-Person Shooter with some Action game elements about a prison inmate recruited by the government to hunt down his former terrorist cell. Despite all of the behind-the-scenes turmoil and the extreme hate this game received upon release, I don’t think it’s terrible, just mediocre. However, it’s also one of the games that’s due to see a tremendous price increase the moment the Wii U eShop closes and the digital version becomes unavailable, so if you’re curious to see this game for yourself, now may be your last chance to get it. That is, if you even want to – even on the Wii U, you have better alternatives.

Grade: C

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