History VideoGame / DevilsThird

Following a long {{troubled production}} that took the title from an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 exclusive to be published by Microsoft Game Studios, to a multiplatform game intended to be published by Creator/{{THQ}} to a Creator/{{Nintendo}} exclusive, the game received mixed reception from critics and players alike upon its release. Reception was particularly negative in the West, with reviews noting several issues such as mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, poor controls, and manipulative use of microtransactions in online play. This wasn't aided by Nintendo of America's reluctance to publish the game in that region due to its (lack of) quality, with the title being removed from the American eShop's "Coming Soon" section and its absence at E3 2015. However, backlash eventually pushed them to publish the title, albeit in limited quantities.[[note]]Retail copies were exclusive to [=GameStop=], with the chain only receiving 420 copies for ''the entire United States''. As a side note, even the Japan retail release was exclusive to Amazon.[[/note]] Shortly after the game's release, it was announced that the multiplayer servers would be shut down in all regions at the end of 2016, due to poor sales.

''Devil's Third'' is a third-person action game scheduled for a summer 2015 release exclusively to the [[UsefulNotes/WiiU Wii U]] from Valhalla Game Studios. The game is the brainchild of former Team Ninja/Tecmo personality Tomonobu Itagaki, the outspoken director of franchises such as ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''.

Players take the role of a lone wolf special operations soldier known as "Ivan". The setting of the game takes place after a catastrophic event called the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome "Kessler Effect"]] has come to pass; a theoretical scenario where man-made satellites orbiting the Earth will eventually collide with each other. As the satellites collide and break apart, that creates more debris, leading to a chain reaction of destroyed satellites crashing to the surface. The world, now stripped of satellite communication, is a much different place and warfare has had to change and adapt to this dramatic shift in technological deficiency.

Check out the E3 2014 trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yTldFe2m-A here.]]

The game released on August 4th in Japan, August 28th in Europe, and December 11th in North America.

The game was panned by critics and had a mixed reception from players upon its release on Europe due to poor-to-mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, simplistic melee combat and stiff controls among other things and was rumored that Nintendo of America had cancelled its release in America due to its (lack of) quality after the game was removed from the American eShop's "coming soon" section and its absence on E3 2015. However, Nintendo later released the game on late-December 2015, but in limited quantities. In early 2016, it was announced that the multiplayer servers were going to be shut down on all regions in late-December 2016 due to poor sales.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as ''Devil's Third Online'' in 2016, but this was also shut down in early 2017.

The game was panned by critics and had a mixed reception from players upon its release on Europe due to poor-to-mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, simplistic melee combat and stiff controls among other things and was rumored that Nintendo of America had cancelled its release in America due to its (lack of) quality after the game was removed from the American eShop's "coming soon" section and its absence on E3 2015, however Nintendo later released the game on late-December 2015, but in limited quantities. In early 2016, it was announced that the multiplayer servers were going to be shut down on all regions in late-December 2016 due to poor sales.

The game was panned by critics and had a mixed reception from players upon its release on Europe due to poor-to-mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, simplistic melee combat and stiff controls among other things and was [[OvershadowedByControversy rumored that Nintendo of America had cancelled its release in America due to its (lack of) quality]] after the game was removed from the american Eshop's Coming soon section and its absence on E3 2015, however, Nintendo later released the game on late-December 2015, but in limited quantities. In early 2016 it was announced that the multiplayer servers were going to be shut down on all regions in late-december 2016 due to poor sales.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as ''Devil's Third Online'' in 2016 but this was also shut down in early 2017.

* MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial: The vast majority of SOD is male, except for the unit with [[InvisibilityCloak optical camouflage]] which is all female. In addition, of the SOD leadership, [[spoiler: all 3 men die while the 3 women survive. In detail, C4 pulls a FaceHeelTurn, Ivan spares Jane Doe (though not without a price; see EyeScream above), and Ludmila also survives although this is more down to luck than anything else, as Ivan definitely meant to kill her but the explosions in the control center gave her a chance to escape.]]

The game was panned by critics and had a mixed reception from players upon its release on Europe due to poor-to-mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, simplistic melee combat and stiff controls among other things and was [[OvershadowedByControversy rumored that Nintendo of America had cancelled its release in America due to its (lack of) quality]] after the game was removed from the american Eshop's Coming soon section and its absence on E3 2015, however, Nintendo later clarified that they were going to the release the game on late-December 2015. In early 2016 it was announced that the multiplayer servers were going to be shut down on all regions in late-december 2016 due to poor sales.

Upon release, the game was panned by critics and had a mixed reception from players due to poor-to-mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, simplistic melee combat and stiff controls among other things and was [[OvershadowedByControversy rumored that Nintendo of America had cancelled its release in America due to its (lack of) quality]] after the game was removed from the american Eshop's Coming soon section and its absence on E3 2015, however, Nintendo later clarified that they were going to the release the game on late-December 2015. In early 2016 it was announced that the multiplayer servers were going to be shut down on all region in late-december 2016 due to poor sales.

* {{Badass}}: If you hang out behind some cover, Ivan will light up a cigarette before leaning out to address his foes (something first seen in ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}''). Itagaki has said he also might take a drink instead.

* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: Exaggerated to the degree of high fantasy. The two "evil" female members of [=SOD=] wear what's essentially lingerie into combat (though the transparent catsuit one of them wears seems to be inspired by the stealth suit worn by Major Makoto in the original ''Film/GhostInTheShell'' movie), while the two "good" female characters (a non-evil member of [=SOD=] and a U.S. intelligence officer) both dress like actual soldiers. Granted, Ivan and the other male high-ranking members of [=SOD=] also wear barely any clothing into combat.

** There's a lot of background text that's in [[SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage very good English, Russian, and so on]] that's location appropriate. Unfortunately, this makes some of the sillier Japanese all the more noticible. Case in point, the Embaku [[SuperMode]][[note]]oat[[/note]] creates the [[Narm]] inducing image of Ivan being [[CerealInducedSuperpowers powered by a healthy breakfast]].

* SuperMode: Embaku, which is filled by dealing melee damage. When activated, Ivan's tattoos begin glowing, enhancing his attacks and giving him BulletTime while aiming.

* TattooedCrook: Ivan's body is heavily inked with Sanskrit characters, spelling out various Buddhist scriptures. Apparently his design takes cues from an old Japanese folktale named "Hoichi the Earless". When activating [[SuperMode Embaku]], his tattoos start glowing.

** Carraway calls the Navy SEAL team that raids the Cosmodrome "DEVGRU" which is the official name of the team that is [[CommonKnowledge far more popularly known]] as "SEAL Team 6."

* EqualOpportunityEvil: [=SOD=] is led by a Russian general of Japanese descent who appears culturally Japanese-American, and its officers include a Latino-American cowboy, an African man who admires Gurkha culture and has a British accent, a woman who looks like Amy Winehouse and adopts Japanese cultural affects, and two Eastern European blonde women. In fact the gender ratio of the group's leadership is an even 50[=/=]50 split. Most of the basic mooks are men, though one class of EliteMooks is entirely female.

* OneManArmy: Ivan goes in without backup, not that he need it.

* TheStinger: During the credits there's a ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''-style phone call revealing that [[spoiler: the President of the United States was seemingly the real mastermind behind [=SOD=]'s rampage.]]

* ScaryBlackMan: Grundhla Saha, tall, fast, muscular and WakeupCallBoss
* TheStinger: During the credits there's a ''MetalGearSolid''-style phone call revealing that [[spoiler: the President of the United States was seemingly the real mastermind behind [=SOD=]'s rampage.]]
* {{Stripperiffic}}[=/=]EvilIsSexy: Exaggerated to the degree of high fantasy. The two "evil" female members of [=SOD=] wear what's essentially lingerie into combat (though the transparent catsuit one of them wears seems to be inspired by the stealth suit worn by Major Makoto in the original ''Film/GhostInTheShell'' movie), while the two "good" female characters (a non-evil member of [=SOD=] and a U.S. intelligence officer) both dress like actual soldiers. Granted, Ivan and the other male high-ranking members of [=SOD=] also wear barely any clothing into combat.

* WalkingArmory: Ivan can carry two guns and a sword to deal with enemies at any given time.

* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: Ivan has one eye gone and his others does not look that good either.]]

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ivan never wears anything more than a gun-belt on his chest. Saha likewise goes around shirtless, while Big Mouse is bare-chested underneath his leisure suit and General Kumaro also goes shirtless to fight Ivan.

* PoweredArmor: The MauveShirt U.S. special forces squad that accompanies Ivan throughout the game wear exosuits similar to those seen in ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare''.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ivan never wears anything more than a gun-belt on his chest. Saha likewise goes around shirtless, while Big Mouse is bare-chested underneath his leisure suit and General Kumaro also goes shirtless to fight Ivan.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: [=SOD=] is led by a Russian general of Japanese descent who appears culturally Japanese-American, and its officers include a Latino-American cowboy, an African man who admires Gurkha culture and has a British accent, a woman who looks like Amy Winehouse and adopts Japanese cultural affects, and two Eastern European blondes. In fact the gender ratio of the group's leadership is an even 50[=/=]50 split. Most of the basic mooks are men, though one class of EliteMooks is entirely female.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ivan never wears anything more than a gun-belt on his chest.

* {{Stripperiffic}}[=/=]EvilIsSexy: Exaggerated to the degree of high fantasy. The two "evil" female members of [=SOD=] wear what's essentially lingerie into combat (though the transparent catsuit one of them wears seems to be inspired by the stealth suit worn by Major Makoto in the original ''Film/GhostInTheShell'' movie), while the two "good" female characters (a non-evil member of [=SOD=] and a U.S. intelligence officer) both dress like actual soldiers.

* EvilIsSexy[=/=]Stripperiffic: Exaggerated to the degree of high fantasy. The two "evil" female members of [=SOD=] wear what's essentially lingerie into combat (though the transparent catsuit one of them wears seems to be inspired by the stealth suit worn by Major Makoto in the original ''Film/GhostInTheShell'' movie), while the two "good" female characters (a non-evil member of [=SOD=] and a U.S. intelligence officer) both dress like actual soldiers.