DmC: Devil May Cry is
an action-adventure, hack and slash game developed by Ninja
Theory and published by Capcom
for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft PC. DmC is the fifth
game to be developed under the Devil May Cry banner and is a reboot
of the popular franchise, taking away everything we've come to known
and – well, most folks never got past Dante's hair.
Ninja
Theory is an independent video game developer based in Cambridge,
England. Founded in March of 2000.
They were originally known by Just Add Monsters before their name
change, and was put in charge of the new Devil May Cry game by
Capcom.
“My
mother? I don't know my mother, but if you're calling me a “son of
a bitch” you wouldn't be the first!”
As
always, the game stars Dante, a rebel youth demon hunter who lost
both his parents to demons when he was just a boy. This time around
his human half has been replaced with a new angel half, making him
what is referred to as “Nephilim.” Half demon, half angel. A
being capable of wielding both demonic and angelic abilities to kick
your ass. He learns that he has a twin brother named Vergil, and
together with a Spirit Medium named Kat, they have to overthrow the
demon king Mundus that controls the whole world through debt. Now,
obviously before I can get to the game I have to address the changes
done to the characters now.
I
have no problem with the new Dante design. Don't get me wrong, I love
the silver hair wonder as much as the next person, but the new design
works just fine for the game and he gets the white hair by the end
anyway. He looks worse with it. The new Dante may not be as laid back
as the old one, but he's still a cocky kid who doesn't take bullshit
from anybody and doesn't shy away from breaking some skulls.
Despite taking out the human half, he actually feels more human than
his past incarnations. You see his anger directed at the demons, and
you see his relationship with his brother and Kat grow as the game
progresses and he is just all around more well rounded.
“All
war is fought with deception, and you have been deceived.”
Vergil
is still just as sophisticated as his older self, only he's more of a
people person. The old Vergil came across as a man who only
tolerated your existence in order to get what he wanted. The new
Vergil comes across more as a man who'd talk over tea and attend art
galleries. He's more charming and able to turn people to his cause
and get them to fight. While the former may be perceived as “cooler”
the latter is just more practical. You're less likely to have people
rebel against you when you have them convinced that you're the good
guy.
Seeing
Dante and Vergil work together was a nice change of pace. Their
banter is hilarious and they really do feel like real brothers,
which makes it all the more tragic when they eventually find
themselves on opposite sides. Vergil's motivations are more clear and
you can even understand his side of things. That's something I
honestly never been able to say during a Devil May Cry game.
“Me,
a god... versus you, a piece of shit!”
Mundus
looks like Lex Luthor. I'm sorry, but he does. He's bald, he has the
suit, and he operates from a tower. He's Lex Luthor. In appearance,
anyway. Personality wise, Mundus is every bit as ruthless as I would
come to expect from him and quick to anger. You don't see him do much
until near the end of the game where he takes matters into his own
hands, but he was the same way in the original. Only this time he
has more of a presence, since he's solely responsible for everything
that's going on in the world. Instead of trying to conquer the Earth,
he already rules it.
Unlike
his old self who didn't shy away from killing minions when they
failed, this Mundus shows some signs of actually caring for his
underlings. He was upset when he felt his succubus was killed and
became super pissed when his unborn child was murdered. I can
understand why losing his son would upset him, but the attachment to
the succubus was never really explained. Mundus is the weakest of
the three as far as development goes, he's more meant to be the “big
bad” the heroes overcome and not much else. His demon form is
still cool to look at, even if it might seem more generic when
compared to his original design.
Oh my god, I can control
the camera! Okay, just needed to get that out of my system. To start,
the gameplay this time around is just a lot more smoother. You can
easily switch between weapons and aren't just limited to two at a
time, the combination of demonic and angelic abilities are well
implemented and just as easy to switch between. The platforming is
fine for the most part, but Dante's double jump just looks awkward.
The guns are as useless as they've always been and you're better off
saving them for weaker enemies.
All your usual hack and
slash goodness is still here, as well as the stylist meter which
grades how good you are depending on combo execution and the less
damage you take. The Devil Trigger is a lot more of a spectacle,
too. Changing the colors of the screen and making Dante look like
more of his old self and rewards you for slaying enemies while
airborne. That said, the rest of the demons, abilities, and boss
fights feel more watered down than the older games. Like they were
trying to ground it in more realism. I can't determine whether or not
that's a good or a bad thing, but if you didn't like the “anime
physics” that were common in the older games, you may warm up to
this one more.
The premise is largely
the same: Sparda meets Eva, they fall in love, the love is forbidden,
they have twin boys, the parents are killed, the boys get separated.
Only this time, the world is controlled by demons and live among
humans in disguise. They have the ability to pull Dante into Limbo
which shows the demons as they truly are, and anyone on the outside
can only see what the demons want them to see. The concept is a good
one, but it could have been executed better. Going in, I thought
Limbo was going to be this big mind fuck where you didn't know if
you were facing real demons or slaughtering innocent humans made to
look like them. That would have played into painting Dante as a
terrorist since people would have been seeing him slaughtering
innocents he thought were demons. Instead, no one can see him while
he's in Limbo except for Kat, and all the humans are aware of is
the damage caused by his fights and the news media telling them he's
a terrorist.
The voice acting is
solid. There's really no one in the game who feel like they're
phoning it in keeping it on par with the quality that began back in
Devil May Cry 3. What does affect the voice acting, though, is the
writing. At times the writing just feels forced and no amount of
great voice acting can reconcile it. Interactions between Dante,
Vergil, Kat, Phineas, and Bob Barbas are genuine enough. But the
rest? I'm sorry, a big demon screaming at the top of her lungs,
cursing, threatening to piss on you, and calling your mother a whore
just isn't threatening. The only demon who's the least bit
intimidating is Mundus. The rest may as well be clowns.
I'm going to the special hell.
Conclusion:
The overall presentation is
well executed and left me wanting more. Sadly, I may never get to
see more since the game sold less than its predecessor, Devil May Cry
4. But here's hoping. If you can look pass the changes done to
Dante's character, then you may find yourself pleasantly surprised
by what DmC has to offer. Just like the Tomb Raider reboot, it still
holds the essence of the franchise while offering something new and
having more fleshed out characters I hope to see again.
Get
it.
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