All credit goes to Shrekfan of the Escapist Forums.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.400476-DmC-Dante-May-Cry-With-Joy
I agree with a lot of what this guy says. A good review without needlessly praising it. ^_^
Review Starts Here:
See, if I got it, I would've hated the game like everyone else does. So I must not get it and be the weird one out, because nobody who liked the previous games could possibly like this one too, because it's an insult to the franchise (I guess it doesn't fill the franchise's soul with LIIIIIIGHT) and an insult to the fans of the franchise!
Devil May Cry is a series of hack&slash games developed and published by Capcom that began back in 2001 on the Playstation 2. It focused on smooth, swift combat with free-flowing multi-weapon combos against enemies that would tear main protagonist Dante's intestines out if so much as a simple mistake was made. The franchise has blazed a rocky trail ever since, with the sequel generally being regarded as worse in every way and the third game (a prequel to the first, for those keeping track) usually regarded as the high point. As far as the gameplay is concerned, I'd personally pick the fourth title as the strongest, but that's just me.
DmC is a reboot, or reimagining, or set in an alternate universe, or just flat-out retconned everything; nobody seems able to make up their minds about the damn thing. It's in some way related to the original franchise but not actually connected outside of housing the same protagonist, his family, and primary antagonist from the first game - and the protagonist and his family look different - so you could be forgiven for being confused on the subject. In any case, Dante stars as a cocky young man with black hair and so much attitude that he would make Sonic the Hedgehog look like a square. Long-time antagonist Mundus shows up once again as the Demon King, effectively ruling over what we see of the world, and Dante's twin brother Vergil stars as the suave leader of a rebel movement whose aim is to destroy Mundus' rule.
The story opens up with Dante living quite the care-free life, in a mobile trailer on a pier near a carnival. After being warned by a girl named Kat that he's being hunted, he is pulled into the main "gimmick" of DmC, Limbo, while stylishly getting dressed. In Limbo, the world itself seems determined to fight back and bend to the will of the demons, intent on stopping Dante no matter what. As the story progresses, Dante meets up with his brother by way of Kat, who is part of the rebel movement being run by Vergil. He finds out that he and his brother are something known as Nephilim, a spawn created by the union of a demon with an angel. They're the only people who can overthrow Mundus, who has grasped the world in an iron grip by way of... manipulative media and a soft drink. Well, it had to hit that typical Capcom cheese at some point, right? Fortunately, the writers had the foresight to skip right past dwelling for too long on how Mundus' master plan works, so while it's a bit silly, it feels right at home in the inherently silly Devil May Cry universe.
Overall, the writing stands about half a head higher than the original DMC games did. Let's face it, Capcom doesn't have the best writing staff in the world. They don't even have a mediocre writing staff; they're just downright silly. But in DmC, they've managed to characterize Dante, Vergil, and Mundus rather well. Dante still sports his classic cocky, sarcastic persona and once you're past the opening he really feels like he's still the same Dante we all knew and loved, just slightly more human - ironic considering his new heritage. Vergil isn't the same crazy, power-obsessed madman hell-bent on destroying practically everything as he was in DMC and DMC3, but he's still a decent character and his interactions with Dante are what really push along the sense of Dante's humanity. Mundus feels a bit like a pastiche of Marvel's Kingpin, but I think it's excusable given the franchise's previous examples of primary antagonists.
But, this is Devil May Cry we're talking about here, and nobody cares about the writing in Devil May Cry (apparently I'm the only one who doesn't care about the writing in Devil May Cry according to internet forums), so the real question then focuses on the gameplay. Does it feel like Devil May Cry? And it's a bit of a complicated question to answer, because various people stipulate what defined the gameplay of the franchise before in different ways. Some people believe that the insane difficulty is what made the games what they were, and I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. I've always had issues with damage-sponge enemies in games, and the higher difficulties of the past DMC games were no stranger to making enemies into virtual tanks, even for the pathetic cannon fodder ones there solely for you to rack up your Style meter.
What's always been the defining feature of the franchise for me was the smooth combat, with the ability to rapidly switch between weapons and chain elaborate combos essentially on the fly with a simple control scheme. On that point, I can't fault DmC. The combat system is surprisingly fast and fluid, and though the control scheme has changed rather dramatically since DMC4, it remains intuitive and simplistic. Above all, it's simply fun. The moves Dante can pull off are ridiculous, and the swift pace of the combat itself leads to some situations that feel very similar to the action sequences Capcom always deemed too cool to let the player control in the older Devil May Cry games.
The largest changes come perhaps in the lack of a lock-on system and the way switching weapons actually works. Dante is always equipped with his sword, Rebellion, and receives weapons sorted into three categories as you progress through the story - Angel Weapons, Demon Weapons, and guns. Instead of switching out Rebellion for another melee weapon, holding the corresponding trigger buttons will switch Dante into an Angel or Demon mode that smoothly swaps out Rebellion for another weapon and continues your combo instantaneously.
These Angel and Demon modes actually play into more than simply switching weapons, though it's never particularly explained all that well. There are certain enemies (which are helpfully color-coded) that can only be damaged by an Angel or Demon weapon, and patches of fiery ground that one enemy lays down can be negated by being in the Demon mode. Dante also receives two types of whips; An Angel whip which pulls him toward targets, and a Demon whip that pulls targets toward him. This plays into both the combat and platforming elements of the game, and really allowed the world designers to go crazy with how they structured the missions.
The lack of a lock-on is both a blessing and a curse. In some cases, it becomes incredibly annoying when you're trying to target a specific enemy but they're grouped up with a bunch of other enemies; However, in this situation it's not really any more annoying than trying to cycle through targets to lock on to the proper one. No, the biggest change effected by the missing lock-on is how you perform moves like Stinger (a long-distance closer attack) or High Rise (an uppercut that sends enemies into the air). As they couldn't have people accidentally doing the moves when they didn't want to, the button previously used for Style-specific moves in the previous games has been rebound to using High Rise and the other special moves Angel/Demon weapons have, while the closing move is done by a movement modifier before the attack - Namely, pressing towards whichever direction you want to move in swiftly twice. It's a bit unwieldy, especially when compared to the fluidity of the rest of the combat system, and the Angel whip renders it as a very situation-specific move to use, but it's certainly not completely useless.
Challenge most assuredly still exists. The game may not be as punishingly unfair as the rest of the franchise, but working your way up through the unlockable difficulty levels still presents a challenge far beyond what most other big-name titles are doing these days. I suppose to a person who has continuously played Devil May Cry 3 on "Dante Must Die" for the last seven years, DmC would likely present them with little difficulty, but even as a veteran of the franchise myself, having spent much of my gaming time with other games (non-hack&slash, I feel I should mention) over the past few years has left me a bit rusty and the game still provides me with a very enjoyable balance of difficulty to fun. Getting to an S-ranked combo is fairly simple, but reaching SSS still requires you to vary up your attacks and refrain from taking damage, and obtaining SSS ranks for missions on "Son of Sparda" (the game's Hard mode) or "Dante Must Die" is still a significant feat.
For the masochists, DmC also includes "Heaven and Hell", a mode in which everything dies in one attack, and "Hell and Hell", a mode in which Dante dies in one attack but enemies are as powerful as their "Son of Sparda" counterparts.
The combat has always been the central focus of Devil May Cry, but I hear some of you asking about the puzzles and platforming that were always featured as well, especially given the teasing mention of platforming that I've already made. Well, Ninja Theory decided (probably wisely) to stray away from the convoluted puzzles that always ruined the flow of gameplay in the previous games. No timed jumping puzzles for us here, guys. Well... not quite, at least. The way Limbo has been implemented, there are segments of the game that require you to platform across the level by way of the whips or an air dash in a certain amount of time, but the smoothness of movement and relatively simple layout of whip targets ensures that it never becomes a chore like that one room in Devil May Cry 4 with the spiked ceiling and lower floor that spawned new enemies every time you fell down. And as I mentioned before, the introduction of the whips means that the level designers really had an opportunity to flex their creative muscles, and flex they did.
Every mission (with the exception of missions solely focused on boss encounters) features several collectibles - challenge doors, keys which are used to open said challenge doors, and lost souls that you kill for Red Orbs (the "currency" of the game). Many of these collectibles are behind paths that you won't actually be able to take your first time through, and a number of them are surprisingly well-hidden, engendering a high amount of replayability to those completionists who just can't rest easy if a mission isn't 100% completed.
DmC is absolutely gorgeous to watch in action, as well. Truly grotesque bosses clash spectacularly with beautiful backdrops, and while the argument can be made that there's more style than substance, that's really no different than the previous entries of the franchise. From dilapidated city streets to a mirror world through the water, a demonic nightclub and a hellish business building (or would that be business as usual?), the environments pop out in a way that hasn't really been a trademark of the franchise before. Sure, the Gothic Resident Evil-esque architecture of the first three games was relatively unique, but nothing exactly stood out in the games themselves. And none of them had the same level of vivid coloring that Limbo expresses over the course of the twenty missions in DmC.
As a game in itself, DmC is some of the most fun I've had in a long time. The quickness of combat, the variety of enemies that require you to mix and match your weapons, and the interesting level design (for a hack&slash game) have ensured that even through three complete play-throughs, I haven't gotten bored. As a Devil May Cry game, it stands head and shoulders above the first two and runs neck and neck with the latter two. The characters are different, the gameplay is slightly different, but it's all still good and it all still feels like Devil May Cry. It's rare that a game makes me feel like playing through again on a higher difficulty right after I've finished it, but DmC accomplished that spectacularly, and even while I'm writing all of this I still feel like I haven't quite gotten enough of it yet. If Ninja Theory are given the reigns to continue on with this new branding of the Devil May Cry franchise, then I for one am excited to see where it is taken.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.400476-DmC-Dante-May-Cry-With-Joy
I agree with a lot of what this guy says. A good review without needlessly praising it. ^_^
Review Starts Here:
See, if I got it, I would've hated the game like everyone else does. So I must not get it and be the weird one out, because nobody who liked the previous games could possibly like this one too, because it's an insult to the franchise (I guess it doesn't fill the franchise's soul with LIIIIIIGHT) and an insult to the fans of the franchise!
Devil May Cry is a series of hack&slash games developed and published by Capcom that began back in 2001 on the Playstation 2. It focused on smooth, swift combat with free-flowing multi-weapon combos against enemies that would tear main protagonist Dante's intestines out if so much as a simple mistake was made. The franchise has blazed a rocky trail ever since, with the sequel generally being regarded as worse in every way and the third game (a prequel to the first, for those keeping track) usually regarded as the high point. As far as the gameplay is concerned, I'd personally pick the fourth title as the strongest, but that's just me.
DmC is a reboot, or reimagining, or set in an alternate universe, or just flat-out retconned everything; nobody seems able to make up their minds about the damn thing. It's in some way related to the original franchise but not actually connected outside of housing the same protagonist, his family, and primary antagonist from the first game - and the protagonist and his family look different - so you could be forgiven for being confused on the subject. In any case, Dante stars as a cocky young man with black hair and so much attitude that he would make Sonic the Hedgehog look like a square. Long-time antagonist Mundus shows up once again as the Demon King, effectively ruling over what we see of the world, and Dante's twin brother Vergil stars as the suave leader of a rebel movement whose aim is to destroy Mundus' rule.
The story opens up with Dante living quite the care-free life, in a mobile trailer on a pier near a carnival. After being warned by a girl named Kat that he's being hunted, he is pulled into the main "gimmick" of DmC, Limbo, while stylishly getting dressed. In Limbo, the world itself seems determined to fight back and bend to the will of the demons, intent on stopping Dante no matter what. As the story progresses, Dante meets up with his brother by way of Kat, who is part of the rebel movement being run by Vergil. He finds out that he and his brother are something known as Nephilim, a spawn created by the union of a demon with an angel. They're the only people who can overthrow Mundus, who has grasped the world in an iron grip by way of... manipulative media and a soft drink. Well, it had to hit that typical Capcom cheese at some point, right? Fortunately, the writers had the foresight to skip right past dwelling for too long on how Mundus' master plan works, so while it's a bit silly, it feels right at home in the inherently silly Devil May Cry universe.
Overall, the writing stands about half a head higher than the original DMC games did. Let's face it, Capcom doesn't have the best writing staff in the world. They don't even have a mediocre writing staff; they're just downright silly. But in DmC, they've managed to characterize Dante, Vergil, and Mundus rather well. Dante still sports his classic cocky, sarcastic persona and once you're past the opening he really feels like he's still the same Dante we all knew and loved, just slightly more human - ironic considering his new heritage. Vergil isn't the same crazy, power-obsessed madman hell-bent on destroying practically everything as he was in DMC and DMC3, but he's still a decent character and his interactions with Dante are what really push along the sense of Dante's humanity. Mundus feels a bit like a pastiche of Marvel's Kingpin, but I think it's excusable given the franchise's previous examples of primary antagonists.
But, this is Devil May Cry we're talking about here, and nobody cares about the writing in Devil May Cry (apparently I'm the only one who doesn't care about the writing in Devil May Cry according to internet forums), so the real question then focuses on the gameplay. Does it feel like Devil May Cry? And it's a bit of a complicated question to answer, because various people stipulate what defined the gameplay of the franchise before in different ways. Some people believe that the insane difficulty is what made the games what they were, and I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. I've always had issues with damage-sponge enemies in games, and the higher difficulties of the past DMC games were no stranger to making enemies into virtual tanks, even for the pathetic cannon fodder ones there solely for you to rack up your Style meter.
What's always been the defining feature of the franchise for me was the smooth combat, with the ability to rapidly switch between weapons and chain elaborate combos essentially on the fly with a simple control scheme. On that point, I can't fault DmC. The combat system is surprisingly fast and fluid, and though the control scheme has changed rather dramatically since DMC4, it remains intuitive and simplistic. Above all, it's simply fun. The moves Dante can pull off are ridiculous, and the swift pace of the combat itself leads to some situations that feel very similar to the action sequences Capcom always deemed too cool to let the player control in the older Devil May Cry games.
The largest changes come perhaps in the lack of a lock-on system and the way switching weapons actually works. Dante is always equipped with his sword, Rebellion, and receives weapons sorted into three categories as you progress through the story - Angel Weapons, Demon Weapons, and guns. Instead of switching out Rebellion for another melee weapon, holding the corresponding trigger buttons will switch Dante into an Angel or Demon mode that smoothly swaps out Rebellion for another weapon and continues your combo instantaneously.
These Angel and Demon modes actually play into more than simply switching weapons, though it's never particularly explained all that well. There are certain enemies (which are helpfully color-coded) that can only be damaged by an Angel or Demon weapon, and patches of fiery ground that one enemy lays down can be negated by being in the Demon mode. Dante also receives two types of whips; An Angel whip which pulls him toward targets, and a Demon whip that pulls targets toward him. This plays into both the combat and platforming elements of the game, and really allowed the world designers to go crazy with how they structured the missions.
The lack of a lock-on is both a blessing and a curse. In some cases, it becomes incredibly annoying when you're trying to target a specific enemy but they're grouped up with a bunch of other enemies; However, in this situation it's not really any more annoying than trying to cycle through targets to lock on to the proper one. No, the biggest change effected by the missing lock-on is how you perform moves like Stinger (a long-distance closer attack) or High Rise (an uppercut that sends enemies into the air). As they couldn't have people accidentally doing the moves when they didn't want to, the button previously used for Style-specific moves in the previous games has been rebound to using High Rise and the other special moves Angel/Demon weapons have, while the closing move is done by a movement modifier before the attack - Namely, pressing towards whichever direction you want to move in swiftly twice. It's a bit unwieldy, especially when compared to the fluidity of the rest of the combat system, and the Angel whip renders it as a very situation-specific move to use, but it's certainly not completely useless.
Challenge most assuredly still exists. The game may not be as punishingly unfair as the rest of the franchise, but working your way up through the unlockable difficulty levels still presents a challenge far beyond what most other big-name titles are doing these days. I suppose to a person who has continuously played Devil May Cry 3 on "Dante Must Die" for the last seven years, DmC would likely present them with little difficulty, but even as a veteran of the franchise myself, having spent much of my gaming time with other games (non-hack&slash, I feel I should mention) over the past few years has left me a bit rusty and the game still provides me with a very enjoyable balance of difficulty to fun. Getting to an S-ranked combo is fairly simple, but reaching SSS still requires you to vary up your attacks and refrain from taking damage, and obtaining SSS ranks for missions on "Son of Sparda" (the game's Hard mode) or "Dante Must Die" is still a significant feat.
For the masochists, DmC also includes "Heaven and Hell", a mode in which everything dies in one attack, and "Hell and Hell", a mode in which Dante dies in one attack but enemies are as powerful as their "Son of Sparda" counterparts.
The combat has always been the central focus of Devil May Cry, but I hear some of you asking about the puzzles and platforming that were always featured as well, especially given the teasing mention of platforming that I've already made. Well, Ninja Theory decided (probably wisely) to stray away from the convoluted puzzles that always ruined the flow of gameplay in the previous games. No timed jumping puzzles for us here, guys. Well... not quite, at least. The way Limbo has been implemented, there are segments of the game that require you to platform across the level by way of the whips or an air dash in a certain amount of time, but the smoothness of movement and relatively simple layout of whip targets ensures that it never becomes a chore like that one room in Devil May Cry 4 with the spiked ceiling and lower floor that spawned new enemies every time you fell down. And as I mentioned before, the introduction of the whips means that the level designers really had an opportunity to flex their creative muscles, and flex they did.
Every mission (with the exception of missions solely focused on boss encounters) features several collectibles - challenge doors, keys which are used to open said challenge doors, and lost souls that you kill for Red Orbs (the "currency" of the game). Many of these collectibles are behind paths that you won't actually be able to take your first time through, and a number of them are surprisingly well-hidden, engendering a high amount of replayability to those completionists who just can't rest easy if a mission isn't 100% completed.
DmC is absolutely gorgeous to watch in action, as well. Truly grotesque bosses clash spectacularly with beautiful backdrops, and while the argument can be made that there's more style than substance, that's really no different than the previous entries of the franchise. From dilapidated city streets to a mirror world through the water, a demonic nightclub and a hellish business building (or would that be business as usual?), the environments pop out in a way that hasn't really been a trademark of the franchise before. Sure, the Gothic Resident Evil-esque architecture of the first three games was relatively unique, but nothing exactly stood out in the games themselves. And none of them had the same level of vivid coloring that Limbo expresses over the course of the twenty missions in DmC.
As a game in itself, DmC is some of the most fun I've had in a long time. The quickness of combat, the variety of enemies that require you to mix and match your weapons, and the interesting level design (for a hack&slash game) have ensured that even through three complete play-throughs, I haven't gotten bored. As a Devil May Cry game, it stands head and shoulders above the first two and runs neck and neck with the latter two. The characters are different, the gameplay is slightly different, but it's all still good and it all still feels like Devil May Cry. It's rare that a game makes me feel like playing through again on a higher difficulty right after I've finished it, but DmC accomplished that spectacularly, and even while I'm writing all of this I still feel like I haven't quite gotten enough of it yet. If Ninja Theory are given the reigns to continue on with this new branding of the Devil May Cry franchise, then I for one am excited to see where it is taken.