DMC: Devil May Cry – Review

Dante is back in a reboot of the Devil May Cry series. This game has all the charm and style of the previous games.  I am in love with juggling enemies in mid air while I swap from guns to sword to axe. A lot has been said of Ninja Theory and not all of it good, but give this game a chance. I did and I’m happy I did. The story is told in such a stylish way with cut scenes and great voice acting. We meet our hero Dante in his trailer park home as a cute little witch called Cat starts talking to us. We are then flung into the game head on. The story is that Mundus is controlling the world and he has used a financial way to control the world through debt.  As for Dante himself he knows he is not human but not his life story.

As we play the game we explore Limbo, a living breathing world where everyone is out to kill us. The walls, floor and everything suddenly morph and change around Dante to trap him so the highly varied enemies can kill us. Early on you encounter a massive beast and for novice players it may be a steep learning curve. We then meet up with the witch that helped us out of Limbo and we are taken to meet a friend who is the leader of the anti-establishment group called “The Order” and meet up with Virgil, our twin brother. We are then told the full story of Dante’s life. Virgil and Dante are twin brothers of the demon Sparda and the angel Eve. We are Nephilin a cross of angel and demon. Our father has been imprisoned and our mother was killed. The earth is under the control of the evil one and we are out for revenge. The story is nothing spectacular, but I love it.

The gameplay itself is hack and slash at it best. The various weapons and stylish combos that can be achieved are just lovely. Of course we have the “Rebellion,” our mighty sword given to us by Sparda. Hitting the “b” button will give us a variety of attacks, while launching the enemies in the air gives us another level to fight on. The Ebony and Ivory dual guns are back to split up the slashing. You don’t aim in this game instead hitting the “x” button targets the nearest enemy. Some gamers may not enjoy this however. New to this game is the demon and angelic weapons. The arbiter is a mighty axe that can deal vast damage, it’s slow but packs a punch. Holding the right trigger and hitting “x” also allows us to pull objects out of walls and gives us access to platforms and secrets. This is called the Ophion demon pull. The angelic scythe called the “Osiris” can be used to deal with large crowds of enemies, getting more powerful with each successive kill. The Eryx are powerful gauntlets that deal massive damage and can also be charged. My second favorite weapon is the Aquila which are death stars of the angel variety. The Aquila has long range and is the perfect weapon for large groups of weak foes. There are also two other guns as well as the ebony and ivory. The Revenant is a powerful shotgun that can be used for clearing crowds of enemies.  The perfectly named Kablooey is a mini grenade launcher that can be detonated manually.

The various ledges and platforms are colour coded so you know what weapon is needed to be used for each different platform. You can also combine the various pulling abilities. So, for example, you can use the Ophion demon pull to pull a ledge out and then use the Ophion angel lift to pull yourself up on to it. The combat is perfectly balanced in my opinion as switching on the fly is easily done. You can use the left or right triggers to use the angle for demon weapons as well as using your sword or guns. You need to switch to get the highest style rank though which is “SSS”. If you can get this rank I applaud you. The level design is varied, great and highly fun. The enemies are very clever, the various attacks they have is mixed together very well. The flying harpes, the shielded knights, the massive titans and various other types pose a tough challenge.  If you dare play on higher difficulty levels forget about having thumbs after you finish. If you just button bash however your rank will not go up and you won’t get the highest style points.

Trust me you want the high points as you get to unlock more combos and attacks. You can also use red orbs to purchase items in the shops accessed via Devine statues. These vary from the gold skull which revives Dante when he dies, green stars that refill the health bar and the Devine cross that increases the life bar by 10%. These all cost red orbs so kill away. Red orbs are also found in the destructible elements in the environment so be sure to destroy everything you see. The graphics are crisp and clean, bright but also dark and twisted. The letters that appear in the world and all over the place really add to the atmosphere of the game. This is a fast paced game where the level design and enemies all combine to give this game a real Devil May Cry feel. The DNA is here and present. There are also secret missions you unlock by collecting keys which can be either kill X enemies in a time period, run to the finish on a certain course or hit all of the flags in a certain time limit.

Ninja Theroy have done a great job with this reboot of Devil May Cry. The combat is spot on, while the weapons and the mix of attacks is easily accessible via the controls. Switching on the fly takes a little getting used to but you can head in to the training area to hone your skills. There is a lot about this game I like and the only issue I have is not being able to save when I like. In all the Devil May Cry games you have to finish a level when you start it. This is a truly fun game as the hard pouncing tunes and frantic action keep you going. The story telling is very well done as the voice acting is spot on, the actual characters are believable and overall this is a great step by this studio. Reboots can be hit or miss but this is turned out great. I highly recommend this game to all DMC fans and to non-fans I say try this and you will be hooked.

DMC: Devil May Cry – Review, 9.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

AB

A gamer that loves to write and play games.

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