Capcom and Ninja Theory’s reboot of the Devil May Cry franchise with DmC is sure to turn off a lot of fans of the series. Gone are many of the elements fans had come to know and love about the franchise, replaced with combo-based sword and gun attacks, witty banter from our hero Dante, and some truly hideous sets of enemies. Wait a second, that sounds exactly like Devil May Cry.
See, most of the disdain surrounding DmC resonates from the fact that Dante, the hero of our story, is younger, and therefore hasn’t blossomed into the white-haired devil hunter we knew him to be in the first trilogy. He’s still just as agile, and just as mean-spirited, only younger.
That’s essentially what we learned within minutes of sitting down to play DmC at Comic-Con 2012: this is Devil May Cry re-imagined, but not forgotten. A lot of the core mechanics remain relatively unchanged, with a few little tweaks added for originality. Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of Ninja Theory‘s stunning art design, which distorts the landscape into something fit for demons to inhabit. It’s not so much Enslaved or Heavenly Sword, but elements of that design combined with the Capcom’s original vision for Devil May Cry, still familiar but very much within Ninja Theory’s own wheelhouse.
Gameplay and platforming, two staples of the franchise, are still enacted with great ease, and the edition of a set of devil and angel-based powers provide a little more variety to Dante’s hacking and slashing. A combo meter will keep track of the ways in which the player can chain together enemy attacks, and the addition of a handy grab-and-pull mechanic will help facilitate that need for an ‘S’ rank nicely.
Not much was shown in the way of story; only that Dante’s enemy encounters take place in a distorted version of the real world, where only he and the demons can exist. Progress through said world is blocked at various points, forcing Dante to clear a room before advancing – once again, this is Devil May Cry.
With only a vertical slice to judge it was hard to tell just how much in the way of a classic Devil May Cry story the game is going to tell, but just looking at surface details was enough to convince me this game is the best of both worlds: Ninja Theory’s stunning attention to detail and Capcom’s wildly outrageous combo system-based gameplay. It’s still a gameplay formula that isn’t going to work for everyone, although the sales of Bayonetta and titles of that ilk suggests otherwise, but for the brief time it was available to me I was having fun.
Combat was just as fluid as in previous games, and the inclusion of a Devil Trigger Dante that flaunts the white hair (read: the more iconic look) might even do well to bridge the gap between detractors and die-hard fans. If you’re a fan of Devil May Cry then you’re going to love this game, plain and simple.
Does the more you see of DmC convince that this will still be a Devil May Cry game only with a different looking protagonist? What about the original series do you hope to see explained/explored in this game?
DmC: Devil May Cry releases January 15, 2013 for the PS3 and Xbox 360
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“Witty banter from our hero Dante,” Yeah, if witty means constant F-you’s to the point where it seems like Ninja Theory can’t write edgy characters without making it sound force. Also the game play is pretty dumbed down and the lack of auto-targetting leads to many awkward misses and cheap shots if not careful.
Complaining that game play is dumbed down and auto targeting isn’t there in the same sentence?
LOL Good stuff.
I think he means there’s no targeting what so ever. What kind of games doesn’t have targeting of any kind? Despite the fact that the game’s gonna feature enemies moving around. So far, it feels like the players have to either run close to the enemy or flair around, with the angel weapon most likely, until they hit something and launch it to perform air combos. If they want a Devil May Cry game to be crazy and fast pace, like it should, how about a higher fps and avoid things that lead to awkward misses and cheap shots. By the way, I’ve played the demos at EVO and found it okay, the guy working at the station said a lot of people who played to record the footage had to replay the levels over and over again to get use to no lock on’s to try and get high combos without it (Nothing new I guess, since they want to show the best this game can offer)… I’m not a fan of the new Dante’s “banter” or attitude shown but I can at least rank the demos higher than Devil May Cry 2 in terms of game play.
Also I have to add that a lot of the attacks, like the stinger or the million stab(dully renamed the Trillion Stabs) can now be easily done with a button or simple combos. So, I agree that the game play has been dumbed down. And auto-targeting has been a part of the Devil May Cry series which didn’t dumb it down or detracted from the difficulty… Then again I don’t know what difficulty the demos were.
There is auto lock on and there are more combos for a single weapon then the last four installments of the DMC games i have watched like 40 mins of gameplay from capcom unity.
“If you’re a fan of Devil May Cry then you’re going to love this game, plain and simple.”
Not even close . You can keep trying to brainwash people into thinking otherwise , the issues people got with the game , wich go beyond the awful new look of the hero .
Did you actually play the game?
I’m assuming no. And you say there are other issues but you still insult the game by saying Dante has an “awful new look”. Interesting. For all the people complaining Dante looks “emo” have they even played the originals? Long straight white hair with a trenchcoat doesn’t scream familiar?
Please enlighten us as to the issues which go beyond the look the Dante.
This is going to be awful
I’d really like to see a list of games you like if you think this is bad.
D’ya think it reads:
Call of Duty this
Call of Duty that
Call of Duty the other one
The game sticks to its roots which i like i can’t wait to play it and also another thing to mention you can’t complain about his looks because Dante doesn’t have a specific if your a fan and you played all of them every 3D model design of Dante is different and all his outfits are different the only thing that stays is the red trench coat and the white hair the only difference with this Dante is black hair and the red is on the inside of the trench coat but overall the gameplay sweet
Meh, i would prefer something that goes along with the original series, not a reboot. The gameplay does look good however. But id prefer something with the original Dante, or a game that focuses on Virgil would be cool.
I am torn between excitement at the next installment of my fave’ series DMC and fear of it being a total let-down.
Of course there is obviously only one way to find out, and that’s to play!
I would have like the lock on options, as opposed to the auto lock on, which could do ‘stuff’, I don’t want it to do!
Also, is there a ‘TAUNT?’
I logged 2000+ hours on DMC4 believe it or not and many more on the others over the years.
And what about young NERO? He surely deserves a game of his own? (once one has mastered the Max-act on exceed DT, he has exceptional fighting power!
Or perhaps an unlock of his character later on in the game perhaps.
I think it’s a waste to bitch and moan until we have played the game regards gameplay. But there better be a taunt!!!!
Just give dante a hat, that should make most of the bitching stop.
Ha ha..
Good one!
I agree with Jamesy above you as well..