Devil May Cry

This party's getting crazy! Let's rock!

 Let's get some misconceptions out of the way first. DmC is a reboot/retelling of the popular demon busting franchise which has a flamboyant, arrogant and overpowered protagonist named Dante. The new story takes place in modern time, with characters of familiar names and roles but very different personalities.

"Man, I must look homo."

Take note, Capcom REJECTED the original designs, story and plot that Ninja Theory had for DmC and Dante's appearance. So please, don't hate on the devs. I'll try to keep this as short as possible, no one likes walls of text.


STORY + PLOT
The storyline of DmC is refreshing: Dante, who's a demon and angel hybrid (known in-game as Nephilim) works together with Vergil and Kat to defeat Mundus. The story revolves around Dante discovering his identity, his role, his powers and being badass in general. DmC takes place in our modern society where demons walk among us and control humans through corporate and media brainwashing. This setting allowed the team to be more creative in character design and art direction.

Like this graffiti mural. IT'S GORGEOUS ISN'T IT?

DmC's plot accelerates at a steady pace with no shortage of action and twists. It kicks off fast albeit depressing at first and then you'll start to appreciate what the story is about. Dante starts off as an apathetic sleazebag with the most mundane and abrasive dialogue ever then gradually develops empathy and trust for the other characters as well as using wittier taunts and swearing lesser. New Dante's notable differences from his renowned counterpart aside from a character design that could've been better (coat lacks details) include New Dante's conventional and practical methodology as compared to his counterpart's flamboyant and often unnecessary badass actions (DMC 4's Lucifer cutscene is a great example)

I got nothing much to against the story and plot except that SPOILER

the story and plot of DmC is actually similar to that of  DMC 3 and the lackluster/cliffhanger ending.

GAMEPLAY
The game does a good job in welcoming new players to the jungle combo fest as well as maintaining what ye olde DMC was about. The game provides tutorials and tips for all the weapons and nearly every situation you may come across (parrying, rebounding projectiles, interrupting attacks, etc) and offers a skill tree that can be UNLEARNED to adapt to various scenarios or just finding out what's best for you. In addition, you can always restart from a checkpoint if you're unsatisfied of your combos or you just want to be OCD. This sort of low-risk experimentation is great for people who are having trouble getting used to the game or unsure of what skills to acquire/stack.

"Unlearnable" skills

DmC encourages players to explore the world. Players discover optional objectives to improve your mission's "Completion" rating and also acquiring health fragments through optional missions scattered throughout levels (They're well hidden I tell you). Ninja Theory further encouraged exploration by allowing the camera angle for DmC to be fully controllable with very few exceptions unlike it's predecessors. Just take note that the "Time" rating will be affected if you decide to explore but the "Completion" rating is unaffected when you backtrack.

While most of aspects of DMC are explicit, puzzles are now replaced with platforming and there is a heavy focus on cutscenes. Dante can use Ophion (which is a whip) pull himself to platforms or pull objects to him. In addition, Dante gets an air dash that's used mainly for platforming. These are major mechanics of the game that allows Dante to progress through the mission and even in boss fights. However, it is up perspective to determine whether such a replacement is a good or bad move. Personally, I like it for the action scenes and how it makes you appreciate the art direction for DmC's environments. DmC uses cutscenes almost everywhere to punctuate important moments of the mission that you must pay attention to or moments of badassery.

Platforming is a major game mechanic

Combat is as tight as ever, with the possibility of more combos thanks to Dante's new combat mechanics. Dante now shifts into angel or demon mode which has their own perks, weapons and downsides instead of using Styles. Players have to hold a button to access demon or angel mode which changes the active melee weapon that Dante uses. Ninja Theory compensated the lack of Styles by providing a large skill tree which expands combo variety. This system is more streamlined and simple compared to using Styles but once again it's up to preference (though really skilled players may prefer DMC 4's Style system).

The DT for DmC is unique compared to previous installments but not creative. Activating it gives you a brief cutscene of Dante changing his appearance slightly and the background fading to white then all enemies will be launched into the air and frozen (like DMC 3's Quicksilver). However, DT during boss fights might reveal new grapple points or slowing the boss's attacks. For comparison, previous DTs had different appearances according to weapons and moves only usable in DT.

The only downside may be the game's difficulty being too easy. The streamlined (restarting from checkpoints, bosses have their own separate stage) and scripted design of DmC proved less challenging to veterans of previous games such as how enemy spawn points are set and how some enemies will always use a specific move at that particular checkpoint. In addition, the removal of puzzles made most of the game into a linear walkway with pitfalls and platforms which aren't too hard to begin with. However, I can't comment on difficulties unlocked after beating the game because I haven't tried them out yet.


GRAPHICS
The new art direction looks superb and detailed. Gone are the gothic themes and designs of the environment and enemies. Both pretty and deadly, the sentient, sinister and twitchy world of Limbo (that also talks) threatens to kill you whenever it can by changing the environment like shifting floors, making walls and even elongating hallways. There's a whole gamut of enemies although there are quite a lot of variations of old enemies as well.

All the character designs are amazing except for Dante where a quick comparison with Vergil could make you ponder why does Vergil's trench coat have so many more details compared to Dante. Also, the graffiti-like HUD and interface suits the new art direction while being as minimalistic as possible.

Limbo and minimalistic HUD

AUDIO
DmC has great attention to soundtrack, voice acting and sound effects. Noisia's ambient music and dubstep combined with Combichrist's aggrotech music provide suitable and good soundtrack for every occasion. Sound effects for DmC is top notch, with every slash and thwack clearly heard through the empowering soundtrack. In addition, a demonic wail and slow mo will congratulate you for beating the last enemy followed by a punctuation in soundtrack before shifting tracks. The voice acting for all characters is good though the dialogue could use lesser swearing. I mean, have you ever heard ye olde Dante swear?

Fuck everything.

 Personal favorite OST:

  
CONTROLS
Controls are decent for the keyboard and controller. The keyboard controls is a little more ergonomic compared to DMC 4 but you'll still kill your fingers especially since you have to hold a button to maintain usage of demon/angel weapons. Controls for an Xbox controller are more comfortable but the camera angle might get a little messy to maintain. The only downside is that you have to hold a button to access and maintain angel/devil mode as some people might mess up the controls (like me :D) so a toggle option would've been nice.

You'll have to hold the button to use angel/demon weapons.

 SUMMARY
Great game in all aspects with bits and pieces of flaws. Play DmC with an open mind and you'll learn to love the game and it's characters although Dante isn't as flamboyant and overpowered as his over the top counterpart.