DMC Devil May Cry Review

 

Title: DMC Devil May Cry
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action Hack & Slash
Rating: M

 

 OMFG what happened to Dante’s hair? As much as it shames me, I must admit that I was one of 'those guys' completely turned off by Capcom’s rebooted franchise the moment the first images were released. I was convinced that Ninja Theory was trying to cash in on the Twilight craze and that one of my favorite characters was going to be ruined.  This punkish emo kid wasn’t the Dante I knew. Hell he didn’t even sport the red jacket-Blasphemy I shouted.  I didn’t even bother to try the free demo on sheer principle. Well now that the game is now out, I decided to stop being a whiney fan boy and give it a shot. Were my prejudices justified or did I walk away satisfied feeling juvenile thanks to my previous attitude towards it?

Dante lives the life that most of his demographic can only dream of.

The story in DMC goes as follows. Dante is just a young guy living in Limbo City, a place filled with corruption and disarray. The city and maybe even the world is under the control of Mundus, a human disguised demon who runs a giant bank that threw the economy into the crapper with humanity drowning in debt. Now people are financial slaves completely unaware that their misery is caused by demons living in their world. If you haven’t already guessed the satire political commentary couldn’t be any more heavy handed if the developers tried. Citizens are even brainwashed by a right wing combed over propaganda news host named Barbas - a representation of Bill O'Reilly -who also is within the demonic hierarchy.

Babas would like to give you his take of the war on Christmas.

Dante roams through life with no memories of his past but is no stranger to dealing with demons. He lives his life by being a rebel by day and having wild sexed up outings at night until one morning he is visited by a psychic named Kat. She warns Dante that Mundus is out to kill him and helps him escape so she can introduce him to his lost brother Virgil. He reveals that Dante and he are both nephilims – a mixed race of demon and angel- and are the only ones capable of bringing an end to Mundus’s tyranny. From there the three head out onto an epic action filled quest between limbo and the real world in an effort to free humanity.

The reboot uses clever art direction to tell the story.

Fans will be happy to know that DMC still controls the way it always has and that Dante has a ton of outlandish moves that are used to string together combos in order to combat enemies. The point system still exist encouraging players to rack up the best scores possible depending on style and how long one can go before slowing up. Throughout the game, players will unlock a total of eight weapons including five melee types and three ranged types. Each has their own strengths, weaknesses, and element bases needed to combat the plethora of demonic forces Dante encounters on his journey.  The game continues to have a decent upgrading system but it should be noted that these serve more for unlocking stylized moves instead of making your favorite weapons stronger. As a result upgrading isn’t really necessary to beat the game and is just a tool to rack up your combo scores. Dante is still easy to control for the most part so both skilled players along with button mashers should have no problem navigating him around.

It was Dante's battle with a hunter that destoyed Seaside Heights not hurricane sandy.

If there is one area Ninja Design really deserves praise it’s in how the game looks. The character and creature design are top notch bringing some unique and original designs into Dante’s world. Monsters have a rich variety of textures ranging from the small and heavily armored, to the giant and fleshy, to even the mind tripping digital types. Big monsters move like they have weight while smaller creatures are harder to catch etc. The level designers need to be awarded for their efforts as well. Even though the gameplay never changes, the vastly different level designs combined with certain timing elements always keep the game feeling new and fresh. The digital themed and schematic interlaced levels were by far some of the most interesting designs I’ve seen in a while.

Smeagol's larger demonic cousins are a terrifying sight. 

All of DMC’s graphics and gameplay would be nothing without a kick ass soundtrack to bring the various atmospheres to life and gladly it doesn’t fall short there either. DMC has some of the best thumbing techno music around with contributions from both Noisia and Combichrist. The beats supplied never fail to get the adrenaline going and the player into that bad ass state of mentality before and during each battle. The voice over work is decent but sometimes can feel hoaky due to the simple script dialog but no real complaints can be made and sound effects are right on par where they should be.     

Kat helps out her fellow nephilim when not striving to become the next female Banksy.

As far as cons go, DMC’s biggest drawback is in its replay value. Let me be clear in saying though there is quite a lot here for hardcore fans and point jockeys.  First off, the game rewards you various items for completing the story mode on various difficulties and has 4 other unlockable modes as well. These modes however are just more of the same story mode with the difficulty amped more and won’t succeed in attracting the average player. The game does have secret missions within each of the levels that reward items and the unlockable concept art is nice to collect as well. The story is rather short too as I was able to complete it in a little over eight hours and overall all didn’t get too much out of it. Its plot is really watered down and doesn’t really bring anything really new to Dante’s mythos. A lot of plot holes arise with just as many unanswered questions and some characters survive just because the writers wanted them to when logically there’s no way they should be around at the end. DMC can become infuriating at times during boss battles since most require you to act fast without any audio or visual guides as to what to do next and when health, along with continues are hard to acquire, that is inexcusable. Load times can be a little on the long side and even though I praised the level designs, there is a set of flashback scenarios that do end up wearing out their welcome-especially since they add nothing really to the story.

A demon without a thirst for blood helps Dante on his quest.

Overall Ninja Theory I believe deserves a big apology from the gaming community including myself for judging the game so harshly on details that are rather meaningless in retrospect. Without giving away spoilers the development crew took exceptional care in paying homage to such a well-known character. Throughout the story subtle touches referencing Dante's past in previous games are shown from previous DMC titles and I will say those obsessed with the whole hair color issue will find out it will be ok if they give this release a chance. Personally I prefer this new version of Dante. He has way more personality than the original and I would love to see where this character goes next. The game just won’t keep casual players interested for long but regardless I must congratulate Ninja Theory on a job well done.

Ryan Pierce

Rating 8 out of 10

 Pros:

Amazing art direction and level design.

Respects Dante's mythos in a way that should appease fans.

Keeps the easy gameplay similar to the original.

Kick ass soundtrack.

Lots of unlockables.

 

Cons:

Story mode is a little short and lacking in depth.

Unlocks will only serve to the interests of diehard fans.

Upgrade system is as deep as it should be.