This new look for Dante and the world of Devil May Cry has been meet with a mixed reaction by long-time fans of the series. I won't deny that I absolutely hated this new look for Dante, but I still managed to play through the game in its entirety to garner an opinion instead of completely forsaking it like the most of the players who hate it just to be cool.
Is this game worth the hate and negativity surrounding it? Let's find out...
Plot (Full Spoilers):
Along the way, Kat explains that she is part of "The Order", a rogue vigilante group led by a masked man intent on exposing the demons and releasing the world from their control. The leader of the Order introduces himself as Vergil, who tells Dante that he is exceedingly important, and with his help the Order can bring down the demons. Dante scoffs at the idea, but Vergil pleads with him, saying he will show Dante their shared past. Vergil, Kat, and Dante arrive at Paradise, a dilapidated mansion outside of the city that seemingly holds the key to Dante's past. While exploring, Dante's sees apparitions of his youth, including playing with a young Vergil, showing that the two are brothers, pictures of his father Sparda and his mother, Eva, and their mansion being attacked by demons. Escaping from the mansion, Dante requests more information from his brother.
Dante, with help from Kat, gradually takes down Mundus' operations: the Raptor News Network, which brainwashes the public with its propaganda, and the Virility Plant, which manufactures a soft drink which keeps the people of Limbo City docile. After destroying the Virility Plant’s controlling demon, Dante is contacted by Phineas, an elder demon imprisoned by Mundus. In return for helping the demon escape, Dante is gifted with the ‘Devil Trigger’ a powerful form of attack that makes him invulnerable for short periods. In taking down the Raptor News Network, Dante sees that the Order is being massacred. He returns and finds Kat and Vergil alive. While Vergil escapes with his brother, Kat is brutally captured by SWAT troops.
Hoping to get Kat back, and against his brother's advice, Dante kidnaps Mundus' demon concubine, Lilith, who is pregnant with Mundus' heir. He offers to exchange Lilith for Kat (as opposed to Mundus' own offer of her life for Dante's). However, Vergil kills Lilith and her child, triggering a firefight from which the three allies only narrowly escape an enraged attack by Mundus from his stronghold in Silverstack Towers. Kat, recovering from torture, tells them of a way into the Towers. With the remnants of the Order, Dante and Vergil infiltrate the Towers and confront Mundus, who is drawing power from the Hellgate, a portal to his realm within his office. The Demon King tries to kill Dante, but Vergil closes the Hellgate and stabs Mundus in the back. But, far from dying, Mundus form a new body for himself and attacks the brothers again. Mundus is eventually defeated, and with him the shield keeping demons across the world invisible dissolves, leaving the demons visible to humans and fusing the human world and Limbo together.
Gameplay:
Defeating your foes nets players unique grades and scores on DmC's trademark Style Meter that grades player performance in battle from D ("Dirty" - being the worst) to SSS ("Smokin' Sick Style!!" - being the best). Using a multitude of attacks and not being hit allows Dante to garner massive amounts of Style points from battle. This game also rewards players for keeping enemies juggled in the air as long as possible without touching back down to the ground. Compared to the Style ranking in the original series, this one is VERY forgiving. I found it rather easy to acquire and maintain S and SS ranks easily in battle rather consistently by simply stringing together the same few attacks over and over again. By the time most players acquire all of the weapons in the story, they will be raking in SSS ranks on foes in roughly every encounter consistently with relative ease.Replacing the Devil Bringer from Devil May Cry 4, are the Angel Lift and Demon Pull mechanics. Angel Lift drags Dante to his foes' location with an air dash of sorts, allowing for easier positioning in battle for follow-up attacks, while Demon Pull can yank enemies towards Dante or snatch away enemy shields for counter-attacking. Some players may argue that Demon Pull is better than switching to Demon Weapons to disarm shielded foes. I personally prefer that method as you don't have to risk them counterattacking during the slow start-up of those attacks.
Dante's commando roll from yore is absent in this game, replacing it is a simple Evade button. With ability upgrades, you can add the Angel Perfect Evade that distances Dante further from his opponent after a perfectly-timed evasion, or acquire the Demon Perfect Evade that boosts Dante's pending attack after a perfectly-timed evasion.
Players are encouraged to spend skill points at their leisure as there is no penalty on buying skills as you can try them out then refund your currency if you don't find that ability to fit your particular playstyle. DmC takes a page from Bayonetta, offering players with a Training Room of sorts to practice timing of stringing together Dante's attacks and juggles to devastating results.
Much like any Devil May Cry title to date, Dante is armed with a variety of toys to take down his foes with in this game:
Demon Weapons:
Rebellion - Don't let the label fool you, this weapon functions as your 'middle ground' in terms of combat. It's neither demon or angel-oriented so you can keep this weapon as your primary weapon of choice in roughly every encounter in this game. Much like it's past iterations in the series, it suits a multitude of playstyles.Series veterans will be sad to learn that Dante's trademark Stinger attack doesn't have as many uses as it did in previous entries of the series here. In this game, it serves primarily as ground combo ender.
Arbiter - This is the first Demon weapon that Dante will acquire throughout the story, specializing in destroying enemy shields. Many players seem to favor Eryx over Arbiter, but I find Arbiter to be vastly superior in more situations. For example, it's Flush (Towards, Towards + Y) attack easily kills most standard foes by tacking this move at the end of most combos. It serves as an excellent option on crowd control as well as this weapon can easily launch multiple foes into the air.
Eryx - Slower than Rebellion, yet faster than Arbiter, these flaming gauntlets are reminiscient of Beowulf (DMC3) and Ifrit (original DMC), allowing players to charge up their attacks for devastating results. The fully charged variations of attacks can stop/interrupt enemy attacks, leaving even Titans stunned. But much like Arbiter, this weapon is rather slow to get going. Several bosses are highly susceptible to this weapon's attacks.
Angel Weapons:
Osiris - This is the first Angel weapon you obtain in the story. In terms of attack speed, it is faster than Rebellion, but deals slightly weaker damage to foes. This is the first of Dante's many crowd control options. When coupled with Rebellion, this weapon can keep foes airborne in juggles for lengthy periods of time on the ground AND while airborne. This weapon also has the ability to grow stronger from feeding on the energy from defeated foes, allowing its attacks to become even more powerful over time.Aquila - Dante wields two shurikens and throws them at opponents at high speeds. This is Dante's only melee weapon that allows him to attack from long distance. This weapon is mainly used for destroying Witches' barriers, allowing Dante to collect collectibles easier. Dante's trademark attack, Round Trip, is available with this weapon alone, allowing Dante to lock down his foes by charging up and hurling the shuriken at any foe while they are shred to pieces. This allows Dante to keep other foes preoccupied while focusing on more deadlier foes.
I personally find it to be a bit overpowered that you can spam Round Trip almost endlessly without consequence. You could simply fire this thing back to back into a mob of enemies and clean house with little effort afterwards. You have to stupid for NOT abusing this technique. I personally found it hard to go back to Osiris after making that little discovery.
Firearms:
Ebony & Ivory - Dante's signature pistol that automatically target an enemy when fired. Like previous iterations of the series, Dante can still use these to juggle opponents and to "bullet hover" (slow his descent from falling from the air). Outside of that, these weapons are useless for the most part in this game.Revenant - Dante's shotgun that is acquired about halfway into the game. This weapon is recommended for crowd control, but I suggest using it as your primary firearm of choice. This weapon does massive damage up close to foes while it charged ability gives it the ability to stick time bombs to your adversaries.
Kablooey - This weapon fires up to 6 darts that must be detonated manually. The more darts you stick onto one target, the bigger the explosion and damage. This weapon is good for smaller enemy encounters as you won't have the time to fire all of the required darts in larger crowds of enemies. I personally would have preferred for the return of Kalina Ann (Bazooka from DMC3) or the grenade launcher (original DMC) to make a return in some form.
Later into the game, Dante acquires the Devil Trigger ability, which allows him to regain health while all onscreen opponents (all enemy types with the exception of bosses) are launched airborne by the sheer force of the release of his demonic power. Dante's attack strength is amplified while being in DT state as well. They maintain airborne as long as Devil Trigger is activated. This is a rather shocking change to the DT state of the older series as this gives players an easy combo and juggle opportunity. Unfortunately, this marks yet another sequel in the series where the fan favorite DTE (Devil Trigger Explosion) is unavailable. In DMC3, you could 'charge' your DT gauge and instead of transforming, you could release your DT as a powerful explosion that dealt massive damage to any opponent crazy enough to be nearby when you released this attack.
Enemy types are diverse and never boring in this game as the game always mixes things up to keep players on their toes. Foes with shields and particular adversaries only weak to either Angel/Demon weapons give combat a bit of a Megaman-style approach as players have to experiment to see which tactics and weaponry work best.
By default the game offers 3 difficulty settings: Human (Easy), Devil Hunter (Normal), and Nephlim (Hard). Most players should get by fine on Devil Hunter after getting used to the controls, but DMC veterans may prefer Nephlim difficulty at bit more on their initial playthrough as the enemies are more brutal and unforgiving on this setting. After clearing the game you unlock Son of Sparda mode, but there's still Dante Must Die, Heaven or Hell, and even Hell and Hell modes to conquer. DMC purists will be playing this for a LONG time conquering these difficulties, collecting all of the collectibles (Keys & Lost Souls), and clearing the Secret Missions scattered throughout the game. Those features alone should keep most players busy for well over 20-50 hours of gameplay, honing their skills and mastering the combat system. Sadly, the single player campaign can be completed in roughly 7-10 hours tops.
After clearing the game, players unlock "classic" Dante, complete with his iconic white hair and red trench coat. Players can purchase other skins via DLC, but by the end of the game, I was personally fine with this Dante's 'transformation' of sorts, so I felt the alternate skins weren't really needed.
Bloody Palace Mode (FREE DLC)
The infamous Bloody Palace mode is a free add-on for DmC fans can enjoy in this newest entry. The Bloody Palace is a bonus mode that made its debut in Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition. It is the series of challenges for any Devil May Cry player, forcing them to endure 100 floors/rooms of enemy hordes without the use of items - only Dante's arsenal and abilities. After every 20 floors, players must defeat a boss from the story mode. Unfortunately, this version is timed and lacks the option to skip/jump ahead several floors in succession. Players can score more time by scoring high stylish rankings, but completing this mode doesn't unlock anything for the player. Your exploits won't show up in the Stats menu either. It's really a complete waste of your time unless you just want to grind away against enemy mobs, earning experience for buying out all of the available abilities and special moves.
Also, players who download the Vergil's Downfall DLC will be disappointed as he is NOT playable in this additional mode.
Sound:
If I didn't give a rave for the guys at CombiChrist for this game's stellar soundtrack, I would feel bad for it later. CombiChrist did an excellent job of bringing the world of DmC to life through its music. At times, I felt like the soundtrack told a better narrative than the actual cutscenes and voice acting. Here, take a listen for yourself.
Other than the sounds from CombiChrist, Ninja Theory managed to make every impact, explosion, or gunshot echo throughout battle, so there isn't an instance that you don't doubt that the frantic action isn't chaotic in the least.
If I could, I would replace DMC3's soundtrack for this game's in a heartbeat.
The Verdict:
I have to admit, that writing a review for this game has been one of the hardest tasks that I have had to do in recent memory as far as my experience on critiquing games goes. I'm not part of the majority that simply hates on this game for no apparent reason, nor am I part of the minority that loves it over the rest of the series to date either. I'm in that middle ground on my reception of this game.
In terms of the narrative, it borrows far too much from Bayonetta's lackluster story for my taste, but at the same time, I give Ninja Theory a nod of approval for taking the time to distinguish Limbo from Bayonetta's Paradiso realm. Limbo is an ever present threat in DmC as players (on their first playthrough anyway...) will be on the edge of their seats wondering how the world will warp and deteriorate around you as it bends to Limbo's whim.
 |
| Rush Limbaugh... err Bob Barbas |
"The Union Jack patch on the arm of Dante's coat was Ninja Theory's small way of adding in a nod to themselves as their offices are based in the UK." - via DmC Wiki
Yeah, whatever...
Back to the narrative... The game spends more time discussing this corruption to society by these evils, but little on The Order itself. Am I the only one who found it to be a bit strange that the group only is essentially, Vergil and Kat until they recruited Dante? Sure, we see the other members when they are gunned down near the end of the game, but there is little emotional attachment to be had for those nameless individuals in The Order when the player has no previous opportunities to become attached to these characters before hand. No fucks were given when those nameless people died.
 |
| Much like this image, Kat is always stands in the foreground in this story, while everyone else is in the background. |
Sadly, Kat only represents the good for females in this game. The others? This game is up there with the God of War series on being derogatory to women. Every woman in this game is either killed, beaten up, verbally abused, or forced to degrade themselves to the sexual satisfaction of this game's primarily male audience. The game literally opens with Dante getting a lapdance followed by a blowjob and threesome from some strippers he met at a local bar. Shortly into the game, Mundus is banging Joan Rivers (Lilith) over his desk for what could have been implied instead of shown for the most part. What happened to strong females in this series like Lady and Trish, who didn't take shit from their male co-stars? Oh yeah, did I mention that this game features an abortion too?
Dante and Vergil's bromance falls flat in a lot of areas, but I did find myself laughing at their banter before the epic clash against Mundus near the game's finale. "...But my d*ck is bigger." I don't get where all of this hate comes from for Dante's voice actor, but I thought he did well for the most part. I blame Ninja Theory more on the shitty dialogue they cooked up for him. The man did the best he could with what he was given. It could be worse - we could have Ichigo (Johnny Young Bosch) again as the main character. I'll go on record saying that I hate Nero a thousand times more than this Twilight reject that they made Dante into.
***WARNING*** Ending Spoilers in the video below!!!
The video above is the perfect example of one of this game's biggest issues in terms of gameplay - the camera. The player has manual control of it, but very often during gameplay, that's not good enough. Enemies warp or move out of your field of vision and you're literally screaming, "Where the fuck did he go!!??" as you're in the middle of combat. This issue is even more apparent on higher difficulties, where this game's other issue comes to surface - the lack of a lock-on targeting feature. Dante does not always target the most threatening adversary in an encounter and more times than not, he ends up hitting the wrong enemy altogether or nothing at all as your attacks whiff completely.
That being said, when the camera isn't against you and your attacks hit their intended target(s) that's when this game truly shines. Despite all of the doubt prior to release this is still the chaotic, yet stylish over-the-top action that we have come to enjoy from this series. To say that Ninja Theory is a company known for their storytelling and jaw dropping graphics, rather than actual gameplay, this was a quite a shock that they didn't completely blow it in that department.
The inclusion of the MetroidVania-esque platforming was hit or miss for me at least. One thing this series is NOT known for is its environments, but Ninja Theory did a fine job leaving their own unique mark on Dante's world. Each stage isn't lackluster and full of boring cathedrals and crypts like the ones scattered throughout the original series, instead each stage is an unique sight to behold on its own. My favorite was the Limbo-warped game show realm that set the stage at Lilith's nightclub. With Ninja Theory at the driver's seat, I can see that Devil May Cry can learn to be known for something more than just its stylish combat. Ninja Theory can assure that the environments can be just as stylish as Dante himself.
I would be lying if I didn't have a blast in combat with Dante, but if anything turned me off was the lack of boss encounters. The gap in combat from the first boss fight to the second was long distance in time and I was a little depressed that they didn't take the opportunity to scatter several boss fights throughout the story. Without a shadow of a doubt, the fight versus Bob Barbas was the best and the interesting usage of Angel/Demon Pull against Lilith and her unborn child takes the pick as the second best boss encounter. The climatic clash against Mundus was a huge disappointment, but at least it wasn't a clusterfuck like that "Savior" boss near the end of DMC4... The final boss fight here was a bit lackluster as well. It was a lot easier than I expected it was going to be, save for the end phase when he starts using Doppleganger, but still, nothing most of us who have faced him in DMC3 can't handle.
I know I have discussed this game from both sides of the coin in-depth here from my own experiences with the game and I still don't see where the bulk of the excessive hatred and disgust comes from. I honestly feel that players would be singing a different tune about this game if it was just another original IP from Ninja Theory and did not carry the weight of continuing the legacy of the Devil May Cry franchise. Devil May Cry is a series that a LOT of us in the gaming community has come to love for many, many years. That was the series that was my sole reason for begging my parents for PlayStation 2 in middle school and it was the main reason I decided to pick up a Xbox 360 a few years ago. We all necessarily don't like to deal with change, but it's just a part of life and we have to learn to deal with it.
In a lot of ways, DmC (Devil May Cry) exceeded my expectations after my initial impressions of it and playing the demo last year. In other areas, such as the plot and character development, it fell flat on completely. But does that make this game the absolute worst in the series? No, as many DMC fans tend to forget about the mistake that was Devil May Cry 2. When the original Devil May Cry debuted on the PlayStation 2, that game was originally modeled to be a sequel to the Resident Evil franchise and barely made it's mark as it's own unique title. With polish and further sequels, it stood out on its own as the beloved franchise we hold dear today. I see the same thing here with this game. It's not perfect, but it's far from the worst in this series. It manages to correct some of the mistakes made in Devil May Cry 4 in terms of gameplay and offers a few unique twists of it's own accord. Is it better than our beloved Devil May Cry 3? Nowhere even close.
Much like the narrative this title presents, this game is a lot like this new version of Dante. It exists in a realm that hates and loathes him with extreme prejudice - while this game, like Dante, struggles with finding what it is and where does it fit in this world. I'm not asking my fellow Devil May Cry fans to like this game, but just give it a fair chance. Newcomers will definitely feel at home as everything is dumbed down, but veterans will find enough to satisfy them until the campaign ends. After a lot of thought, I'm giving this an 8 out of 10. The lack of a lock-on targeting button and the camera issues really hinder this game from getting a higher score from me.
Post a Comment