Developer: Ninja TheoryPublisher: Capcom
Platform: Xbox 360
Other Platforms: PlayStation 3, PC
Price: £42.99 (I actually got mine half price, Thank you Kaskad)
DmC was one of those games that was destined to split the fanbase from the get go. When Capcom announced that Ninja Theory was going to be working on a reboot of Devil May Cry, fans were sceptical as the franchise was still technically young and with reboots, anything can happen. When Ninja Theory shown what they got in store for Dante, fans were pissed. The White haired cool guy that inspired many cosplays at conventions turned to what appeared to be some junkie scum bag with the facial looks of that one kid that beats them up at the back of the school shed. Of course, I was one of them and I pretty much made a bunch of jokes regarding DmC's art direction and how the main character looks suspiciously like the lead designer and there's that "controversy" where the creative director, Tameem Antoiades pissed the fanbase off even more by stating that they "Just don't get it.".
Nice one...
I remained sceptical about the whole game until I heard more about it such as the gameplay taking place in Limbo. Where I replied "So you're ripping off Bayonetta?" It's just funny to me how Bayonetta, the sister series of Devil May Cry is being ripped off by the original. Then came the demo, the last chance this game had to impress me and afterwards, I left the demo not hating it, Which is a promising step in the game's favour, for sure but I still wasnt sold on the look but the character himself kinda grew on me once I had some time with him.
A piece of history before I begin the review, As much as I was fond of Devil May Cry, the series as a whole has never really been my thing if I'm being brutally honest. By the I mean I loved the first game but I the other entries in the series had some serious problems that prevented me from actually enjoying them. First off there was Devil May Cry 2 where the controls were broken to try and appeal to a casual crowd that didn't exsist yet and had an overall shitty story with boring characters going from one place to another. People never speak of DMC2 but I think that was mostly because it was instantly forgettable than anything else. THen there was Devil May Cry 3 which had the promising premise of a prequal that told the interesting tale of Dante and his twin brother, Virgil. This was regarded as a classic but I personally couldnt get into the game with it's 3 way style which just confused me.
Finally there was Devil May Cry 4 that started off pretty good where you played as a new guy called Nero who had this mutated demon arm which introduced grappling from platform to platform. Sadly that didnt last long when you suddenly had to play as Dante and had to retread your steps back to the beginning of the game. beacuase the player was so used to Nero's Demon claw, jumping back to the series main character with a completely different game style just ruined the game for me which is tragically ironic.Moving swiftly on, welcome to the rebooted world of Devil May Cry where the humanity is blissfully unaware that they've been lobotomised and brainwashed by demons and the only way to fight back is for a young punk like Dante to somehow fall into limbo, slay some demon scum and get laid. That is until he's picked up by the organisation known as the Order to reunited with his long lost brother, Virgil and put his demon slaying use to taking out the main source and the 1% to the human race economy Mundus the Demon King. Mundus himself wants to hunt down and kill Dante. Dante is actually the son of Sparda, a demon that turned against his own kind by falling in love with the angel, Eva. Dante is a nephilim, a half demon, half angel and is the only threat that would destroy Mundus' rule over the human race.
Unlike the previous Devil May Cry games, the game shows Dante's past involving how his parents became lovers, how they were punished by Mundus for doing so and how Dante and Virgil's memories were wiped and remained hidden amongst the human populace. Dante starts off as a bit of an ass hole who couldn't care less about what happens to the human race but as the game progresses, he quickly changes his views after getting to know his human partner, Kat. A human witch that helps Dante out while he's in limbo. Its also interesting to see Virgil being a good guy and trusted ally for Dante during the story as with the previous games, we're used to seeing Virgil as a villain or an obstacle for Dante to get threw, so seeing Virgil in the side of good is a nice change.However, there are some nit-picky moments such as the writer had this crezy idea that meningitis is able to act the same way as amnesia. Yeah, I know its a lie told to Dante when he was 7 to protect him from the truth of his past at the end of the day but I'm pretty sure the the uneducated will think that this is legit and that frightens me. Also, Dante discovers about his past when he meets Virgil, how did Virgil discover his past when he too suffered from amnesia around the same time as Dante? Finally, isnt it a little too convenient that the game takes place under one city when the story involves the entire world being at stake? These are nit-picky I admit and I don't expect the plot for a game to be flawless but you have to point these things out.
Silly plot aside, the game play is where the game really shines. The game play is pretty much what you would expect from a devil may cry game in traditional hack and slash fair with Dante's rebellion sword and twin pistols that are as effective as bb guns but the twist is Dante's ability to change from angel mode and demon mode by holding down either the LT trigger or RT trigger respectively. In angel mode, your able to pull yourself towards enemies and perform enemy stopping spam attacks while in demon mode, you can pull enemies towards you, Scorpion style and perform shield bashing powerful attacks. As the game progresses, Dante gains more powerful weapons. When discovering his origins, he will start off with the a demonic axe for devil mode and a sythe for angel mode but as the game progresses, Dante will gain more weapons from bosses megaman style which are the inferno fists and ninja star blades. Dante also gets a shotgun from his brother Virgil and a gun that can plant bombs on enemies and blow up. All of the weapons can be upgraded via the shop system and what makes the upgrade system interesting is how you can take points away from your upgrades if you want to fully power up one weapon or if your not happy with a certain upgrade. And of course, when things aren't going your way, you can always rely on Devil Trigger in which everything turns white along with Dante's hair and you can simply whale on the enemies.
hacking up demon scum isn't the only thing for Dante to do in this reboot. As the game is mainly based in "limbo" like in Bayonetta but UNLIKE Bayonetta, limbo is a pretty messed up place where anything is possible such as floating chunks of pavement and the sky is below up. As you venture threw the fucked up worlds, you will come across some demonic text that are giving orders to demons and giving Dante let-downs which is a nice touch and makes the game feel like that the levels themselves want Dante dead. The levels shift itself around to try and kill the main character which provides interesting platforming segments in the game combing with the grappling hook where your able to either pull yourself to platforms or pull platforms over to you.
Another welcome change is how in the past, most of the exciting action came from the cut scenes but in DmC, its different. YOU throw the enemies up in the air to jumping with them and slash them, YOU can pull enemies towards you to give them a brutal fisting while in the air. All the action comes from YOU is what I'm trying to say rather than the action happening mostly in cut scenes This is very welcome as it was one of the main complaints this series stuck with and put a lot of people off.speaking of cut scenes, the cut scenes are phenomenal Its all done in mocap including the facial expression similar to what L.A. Noire did...with the exception of destroying the studio. The game itself is powered by the unreal engine which means that the game will look amazing in HD and the graphics would sometimes take some time to render. There will be some minor glitches while playing the game. None that are game breaking or worth recording but the kind of graphic glitches that can be activate by accident.
For a gritty realistic look the game certainly is colourful which is mostly due to the game being based in the colour alternate dimension of limbo which really shows in the level design and there is lot of variety from the dance club stages to the street like levels, none of the levels appeared the same and would sometimes move around while the player is exploring and jumping on platforms would move due to the characters weight.
Then there is the music. The soundtrack to this game is pretty impressive by mixing rock with dubstep. While I don't really like dubstep, it certainly works well for the game. I really like the music at the beginning of the game and apparently so did Ninja Theory as one of the "extras" is the priveledge to be able to watch the entire intro cut scene A bit stretching it for bonus content but I wont condemn them for loving their work. Its not until you see them start sniffing their own farts is where you should start worrying.
This has been my mental analysis and I'll see you next time!
