DmC: Devil May Cry Review
Just like Dante’s favorite sword, Rebellion, DmC is a sharp edge sword of awesomeness. From the opening scene to the closing boss fight you will be gripping your seat and enjoying the ride. With very few blemishes, Ninja Theory provides a great revival of this storied gaming franchise.Though a change in the main characters look and personality; this still is Dante, this is still Devil May Cry and even with those drastic changes; possibly the best of the series.
With beautiful, stunning and impressive skills Ninja Theory has taken all the standards of the original Devil May Cry series and thrown them out the window – for the most part. Honestly the only things that really has traversed this major style change from the games of old is a short list. Gone are the dark, cold castles of the past. Gone are the bleak color pallets. Gone is the less-than-stellar story. Ninja Theory has truly done an excellent job at taking this series and making it their own, and have made it better.
DmC’s story tackles two overall ideas; a story for the origins of Dante and a compelling tail of freedom, revenge and brotherly love. The origin tale of Dante plays more as a second fiddle to the main show of Dante taking on demons as he tries to save the world. Without really realizing why this has happened to him, Dante is thrust into a battle against the most evil of evils and through his journey learns that this particular fight will define him.
Dante learns, with the help of his long forgotten brother Virgil, that the demon world is far more entrenched into the human world than he ever thought. Banks, economies, governments and even soft drinks are all influenced by the demon world, and in particular, the Demon King. After being attacked by the Hunter demon, Dante makes it his goal, his passion, to rid the world of demons; to give the human race their freedom they deserve. Doing so takes him to breath-taking, trippy landscapes against big, horrible demons. Along his path he learns of his past; his brother, mother, and dad – which brings a whole new level of motivation to his goal. DmC brings a first for the franchise – character development and a story that is good enough to actually
Combat in DmC can be boiled down to two words – fun chaos. When it comes down to it, DmC is a button masher; hit triangle over and over and over and over, now hit circle, now back to hitting triangle. Don’t let that fool you though because DmC is full of strategy and depth. Starting the game off Dante has his trusted sword, Rebellion, and his two handy guns, Ebony & Ivory, along with a rather short list of moves. Combining attacks with these two weapons can be complicated enough, and will take time to master exactly how to pull off those ‘SSS’ combos. But once you begin to feel a bit of mastering of those, more weapons get added into your backpack. By the end of the game, Dante can switch between 10 different weapons on the fly. Chaining together combos, mid-air combos and devastating special attacks into a fluid dance of death. Dealing with masses of enemies without breaking his movement. Combat is fluid, fast, demanding, skillful and a blast. Any isn’t that all we can ask for? A fighting game that has a challenge, but in the end is just plain fun? I think so.
Taking place in two similar, yet drastically different worlds, DmC offers a wide range of color and beauty. Throughout the game you will transfer between the real world and Limbo. The real world is the place where the story, for the most part, unfolds. It is through the story that Dante is transferred into Limbo, where the demons reside, to kill them. Limbo is a take on the real world that you were just in and messes it up. Buildings move around, bend, break; gravity can flip at any time – it is basically chaos. Streets fall apart into oblivion, train tracks twist into a corkscrew and hallways seem to expand forever. You will never see the same place twice; each location in the real world and Limbo are crafted perfectly and offer a constantly changing battleground to use your brutal moves in.
The scoring system that has become the most recognizable aspect of the series makes a return. A new addition though that is highly welcomed is as you fight your way up to that coveted SSS ranking each of your moves are displayed on the screen with the corresponding score for that move. Though the move can flash by in a second, you learn to rely on that as a means of getting the best score you can before all the enemies are put out to pasture. At the end of each mission you overall score is calculated from what you accomplished throughout the mission and you get an overall score ranking. That score is then automatically uploaded to an online leaderboard where you can compare your skills with your friends.
Enemy progression in DmC flows naturally. As you eventually learn the best way of taking down an enemy, a new one is introduced providing a whole new problem to solve. Just learned how to deal with that enemy with a shield? Well how about a flying enemy with a shield? Oh, figured that out too? Take the ground based shield enemy and the flying shield enemy at once! The combinations of enemies get far more complicated than that later in the game; giving a real challenge at parts.
DmC: Devil May Cry is a wonderful game. Forget about all the hate that is being said about the game and judge it for what it is. Ninja Theory has create a great re-imagination of this long-running franchise and possible the best it has had. From the fast-paced fighting to the engaging story and character, this 10 hour game is definitely worth your attention.
