DMC Devil May Cry is Ninja Theory's shot at rebooting what was originally an in your face Stylized combat fest with lots of camp, but had become stale and pointless after three horrible sequels. After Ninja Theory released their first trailer a great deal of doubt arose that the developers wouldn't be able to deliver and that this would be another flop in the franchise, but I can tell you, once you sink your teeth into the first level all your fears will be put to rest as the gameplay is everything you want and more. Set in a type of dystopian future where demons control and enslave mankind using a popular soda drink, a brainwashing news network, and of course debt, you play Dante, a half angel, half demon, all attitude demon hunter.
Most of the game is played in what is called limbo, a parallel dimension to ours consisting of mostly demons and really bad architecture. It is here in limbo that you battle what have to be some of the most grotesque and amazing enemies in game development history. Speaking of battle, fuck it is good! I will admit I don’t care for hack and slash style games. I hate them as a matter of fact... no really I think they are the "lazy fat bastards" of game development these days and only get made so someone can collect a new paycheck, no innovation. This game however from mission 1 slapped me in the face with its stylish visceral free-flow combat dick and made me its bitch.
Ok maybe that is a little too over the top, but I seriously could not put this game down. The way they do combat is a tiny bit repetitive at first, but then you acquire your angel and demon weapons and from then on out it is a slaughterfest of fast paced balls to the wall action. My personal favorite thing is the ability to either grab an enemy and pull him to you, which had me screaming "get over here" at 3 am waking my wife up, or a hook move pulling you to the enemy. When used Correctly the two moves in combination with the ability to switch your weapons with a quick button press make for a rain of pain and chaos that I have never experienced in any other hack and slash.
The only complaint on the controls is that at times I was a little overwhelmed with all I could do with the combinations of buttons, but that just makes me a pathetic excuse for a gamer. This game isn't just about hitting the Y button till you hand bleeds, you actually have to think about what you will throw in next so you can rack up a super sexy combo and get that SSS battle ranking, which was something I thought would be pointless and stupid, but dammit, did I find myself in the training section trying to figure out the best combos. I even thought that the few platforming parts were a nice way to break up the pacing and let my blistered thumb rest from all the carnage.
While this game is all about the gameplay I was impressed by the storyline. It was well written and despite being a little too easy to predict, left me with a satisfied feeling after the credits rolled. Mind you, I went into this expecting the story to be garbage, so the high rating on storyline may be from my low expectations. The music mirrors the grizzly and adrenaline-filled levels with songs from Noisia, Combichrist, and others that I immediately went looking for after beating the game. I played the game on 360 and other than the occasional pooping in of layers I felt the art style and over all look of the game was very good.
With Several difficulties to play, 7 in fact, the game offers a pretty good amount of replayability. My favorite thing about the higher difficulties is that they don’t just give everyone
more health and keep the same monsters there as easy and normal. No no. They throw different variations of enemies at you including end game monsters on stage one.
For you completionist/masochist types out there after you beat the first 6 modes the "Hell and Hell" mode opens up which gives all your enemies more health and defense and you die in one hit.... yeah. Don't be afraid however, as this title is open to everyone as the first 2 difficulties are easily completable by the most casual of gamers, something that cannot be said for all of the DMC franchise, but i think is a nice addition.
Really after all is said and done there is only one real problem with this game... The boss
battles are trash. From a game that is innovative in combat every other way, the boss battles really left me with a sour taste in my mouth. The same usual "hit the glowing thing" and "learn the pattern" doesn't cut it with this game, actually I feel it may be a victim of its own success in
this way. With any other game, I would have excepted these boss battles and been done with it. Hell, I thought the 3rd boss battle was even a bit fun as it had you jumping and trying to dodge lasers being projected from a giant head, but fuck that, not good enough. I really don't know how you would fix this problem but when your simple run of the mill fights are more enjoyable than the boss battles it's time to go back to the drawing board.
If I had to tell you to buy this or not I would say YES absolutely do. If you cant afford it right now or this style of game doesnt interest you enough to pay 60 dollars at least do yourself a favor and rent it, or buy it on a sale. This game is amazing and I truly believe it can be the 2nd coming for stylized hack and slash as long as developers take a good hard look at this and use it as the blueprint.
