DmC: Ok, time to stop being lazy and finally post this up. Yes, that's the only reason I haven't...I was lazy...
Let's get this out of the way: The game is decent. It's not amazing or ground breaking or anything, but frankly, I think it succeeds exactly at what it set out to be. The game maintains DMC level gameplay to some degree, but streamlines it a bit to try and let newer players catch on. Given it's a reboot, and all that, it makes sense to take this angle. It doesn't completely butcher the gameplay like some claim, but there's definitely less depth due to lack of styles, and individual weapons aren't as varied as DMC3/4's are, though made up for a bit by how you have access to all 5 Devils Arms and all 3 Guns at all given times, as well as the Angel Life/Demon Pull option being something that Dante never really had comparable (Nero's Buster is the closest thing)
So lets get one of the more controversial things out of the way: The fact that it's a reboot.
Honestly, the Amazing Spider-man Parallels are a little too perfect here. You have to go in with a mindset of "this is a different take on the concept." As such, don't compare it directly to previous iterations, at least in terms of aesthetics, plot, etc. Gameplay...I'll get to that later, touched upon it a little already.
Dante's new look is...well, he's not intolerable to look at like he was in the first trailer (emo twilight rip off Dante, IOWs), but still not convinced it's a change for the better relative to the white haired bishie he use to be. I think the White Wig nod was a little overdoing it too, as it's completely out of nowhere and easily viewed as a slap in the face (especially with the "Not in a million years" line. HIm simply taking the wig off would have gotten the point across without feeling like "SCREW YOU OLD FANS!") His personality is some cross between Nero and DMC3 Dante. Immature Punk whose more about having fun than taking things seriously. He does swear way too much though, something I feel that needs toning down (actually, they went overboard on the swearing in this game, but I'll hopefully touch upon that later.) One thing he does have on Classic!Dante though is actual development and a legitimate character arc. DMC3 is the only time we see Dante actually go through any sort of development, and it feels kind of rushed there. To illustrate:
Beginning: My Brother Vergil wants me? Ok, I'll play his game!
Vergil fight #1: Father? I don't have a father! I just don't like you! </actual line of dialog>
Vergil fight #2: Hey, dad's plan was smart...but now to get back at you, brother, for stabbing me in the chest!
Lady Fight: Thanks to you, I know what's important!
Vergil Fight #3: WE ARE THE SONS OF SPARDA! IT IS MY DUTY TO STOP YOU EVEN IF MEANS KILLING YOU!
Yes, that's development but none of it really makes SENSE because Dante doesn't actually go through any sort of events that would make him get from beginning to end, just kind of goes "ok, we need Dante to act differently, press the Character Development Button."
DmC, his progression feels actually natural. He starts off not giving a shit about anything, just likes booze, sleeping with women, and busting demons heads. Then he meets Kat, who drags his ass to Vergil, despite him wantnig otherwise. Note that Dante is a little emo here with the "I didn't ask for your help!" claims and all that, and being all "I'm a loner, I work alone!" when he meets Vergil. Then he learns of his past, and gets insight on who he is and the truth of his amnesia, etc. Now suddenly he has a reason to care about doing things; the parents he had forgotten about and childhood memories with them have come back, he's reunited with his twin brother, etc.
From here, it's a case of getting an insight and interacting with Vergil and Kat that we get a better sense of "Working with others isn't so bad, actually having friends is cool!" By the end of the game, there's definitely a sense of him being a potentially likable, grown up hero.
So I guess what I'm saying is New!Dante is an OK character. Definite room for improvement, and not as fun as the original, but at least they gave him a legitimate character arc and development, and could easily be a cool character if they make a sequel to this game.
Kat...isn't that good. She shows promise at first, but then basically becomes mostly just a female lead for purpose of being a female lead. They let her at least do useful stuff with her medium powers, and all that, but then she gets kidnapped, requires saving, blah blah blah...yeah, she's not as good as Trish or Lady, the badass girls who could somehow keep up with Dante in a fight. Better than Lucia because Kat has a personality, and better than Kyrie because Kat at least does things other than being Princess Peach.
Vergil, now, I find the most intriguing, mostly because he's literally the COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF HIS DMC3 SELF. DMC3, he's a major douche with a sense of honor. Here, Vergil's some awkward heroic figure with no honor whatsoever. The fact that
Vergil was really in it to take control of humanity because he thinks they are weak and need a strong ruler to insure their survival doesn't really shock me. He showed signs of having little respect for humans before, and seemed clearly just in it to kill Mundus whose a scumbag. Killing Mundus' child further showed just how far he will go for his motives. At the same time, it's easy to see how Dante and Kat wouldn't pick up on it. I think the one thing this game got right in terms of actual writing is the interaction between Dante and Vergil. The two do have some amusing moments of brotherly conversations. Heck, I got a little chuckle out of this sequence:
Vergil: Wait, Dante, let me go in first.
Dante: Why? I'm stronger than you!
Vergil: Yeah, well I'm smarter than you!
Dante: I'm better looking!
Vergil: ...really? Well ok then, we'll go together then...and I have a bigger dick.
A little juvenile? Sure, but it was still garnered a bit of a chuckle. Also, while Dante's design I feel is a downgrade, I actually like Vergil's new design a fair amount. It's a good job of changing the design, while still using elements of the old to not feel totally alien. White Haired (or at least pale blonde), black trench-coat with obvious blue designs on it, etc. Looks quite good if you ask me. Also, he wears a fedora from time to time, how can you argue!?
Mundus...is one of the better villains in the series, actually. Oh sure, he's not DMC3 Jester whose...well, Jester, but they did more with him here than just "demon king, DEAL WITH IT!" He worked at his role, and they gave him actual scenes too, despite his practically never interacting with the heroes until the end. Not deep or anything, but at least he's more than just a statue who created a clone of Dante's mother of which to screw with his mind, and said clone ended up betraying him so Dante could fill her DARK SOUL WITH
LIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!Lillith...umm...er...I get that she's a demon but my god was she just ungodly ugly to look at. She's like a 65 year old woman trying to look like a super model. Beyond that, she's just Mundus' female henchman/lover.
Bob Barbas...just doing Gods work! For those who don't know, he's basically the demon version of Bill O'reilly. Do I really need to say anything else?
Succubus...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPdEzyKtgasThat is all.
SINCE WE'RE DONE WITH THE CAST, ONTO THE PLOT!
Let's make one thing clear: This game's plot IS an upgrade from the previous series. This is a good deal because DMC games have never been good on plot. DMC1 has barely any plot scenes until like the last 20 minutes of the game (though has the best scene in the series arguably...you know the one!), DMC2 doesn't understand basic story structure at all, and DMC3 was clearly Style >>>>> Substance, just kind of having serious plot intermingled because it's sort of a requirement. DMC4 tried at serious plot, and ended up just being "DASHING KNIGHT TRYING TO SAVE THE NOT!PRINCESS FROM THE EVIL GUY!" it did give us a DEMONIC POPE though, as well as
this scene though!
This game had several things on it that the others games didn't have. First off, full flexibility; so long as there are demons, and Dante/Vergil are half demons, they could do what they wanted. They just tried to actually DO SOMETHING with it, and as I said, the characters have legitimate character arcs, backstory, etc. I wouldn't say the plot is good, just better than the rest of the series, so...uhh...minor success <_<?
Though, one thing this game does well with is setting. The Limbo idea was just really neat and pulled off nicely, and has all the right visuals to compliment it (having a game where the world itself tries to kill you comes to mind.) Yes, they took Bayonetta's idea of Purgatory, but tehy basically amped it up to be something other than just "dimension that exists between all dimensions, where Bayonetta can fight Angels without noticing her." Still has that concept, only the entire world of limbo is out to get him. Mundus' "control the world through subtle means" was actually well handled. They actually legitimately explained how each thing he controls plays a purpose in his scheme, rather than just saying "conspiracy, deal with it!" Oh, and I have to make this clear:
DmC handles it in a way that does NOT make it sound like it's trying to be a conspiracy. Comes off as more of a fun "Hey, what if all these things were controlled by demons?" and goes from there. It's not saying these are evil...actually, having seen the developers reasonings, it was "modern people view THESE as evils of reality, as opposed to the old classic definition of Fire and Brimstone Demons, so we decided to merge the two and see what happened."
That said, ONTO GAMEPLAY! Mook Combat is quite good, for the most part. Yes, it has the OMG WEAK POINT ENEMIES! and ENEMIES CAN ONLY BE HURT BY CERTAIN WEAPONS but people blow these out of proportion. God forbid the game encourages you to keep swapping up your approaches, and makes you fight each enemy differently. It isn't like the other games ever did this...
*looks at Shadows*
*looks at Death Scythes*
*looks at Frosts*
*looks at Plasmas*
...OH WAIT THEY'VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE DMC1. Yeah, see, that's kind of what's going on with this game; the other DMC games had this stuff but were a little more subtle about it. Not saying it's worse that they're more obvious, just that because it's more obvious, whiners use it to snipe at something. If you don't like the idea, that's cool, opinions, but for the love of shit, HOLD IT AGAINST THE OTHER GAMES TOO. They did this as well, except DMC2, and it only didn't do that because DMC2 has a total lack of variety in combat to actually be exploited. And there aren't even that many enemies who function like this. Maybe on higher difficulties, they over abuse this, but it didn't feel abused here.
The game does have some flaws in combat, the big one being Auto Lock On. Now, I don't mind this too much, as I can get use to it, but what I do mind is lack of manual targeting, and no target prompt like other games had. In DMC2/3/4 you could change your target with the R3 button, which was handy. Here, you're at mercy of the game; it's rarely a deal breaker mind, but still a legitimate flaw that should have been programmed around. Again, I understand having auto-lock on in general, but a manual target switch should have been implemented. Also no health gauges, something we haven't seen since DMC1 (DMC2, of all things, did this best by having a simple health bar. DMC3/4 had Health Gauges but in a more subtle way) but whatever, Tyrants and Butchers aside, enemies never felt TOO durable that a health gauge felt necessary, and it's a bigger deal when bosses don't have it...
Which, thankfully, they do. Speaking of which, bosses in this game are...all over the place. I might as well go through each one:
Hunter: Tutorial style boss. DMC4 did this with Dante, they did this here; don't mind this since it's Mission 1 and an attempt to get you use to the game, so whatever.
Succubus: A neat concept but a bit repetitive. I like the usage of grappling to get around the field and evade her, but I feel they could have made the fight a little more dynamic as well, rather than being a little too much "hit it until it dies."
Bob Barbas: Ok, THIS is how you do an original fight. Stylish, uniquely done and a dynamic fight.
Mundus' Spawn: ...feels like a Ninja Gaiden reject. too animated for it's own good so you can't tell what's going to be an attack and what's merely walking, weak points tend to be traps, etc. I eventually beat it when I found an exploit with charged shot gun shots.
Mundus: ...did they just...reuse Succubus' fight and make it LESS INTERESTING? Seriously, his moves are more telegraphed, he has less attacks, Guns actually do damage to him (Poison, you'll auto target with guns to a bullet immune spot, which given Sit Back and Shoot would be an Auto Win against her, I have no problems with, so they did work around DMC2 syndrom there)...yeah, I feel like they used up all their creativity on his boss design here, which is, I'll admit, quite good.
Final Boss: Pretty much shoe-horned in because they needed a fight like this, but honestly I can't complain because it's a great way to end the game, gameplay wise. One complaint is how you need to finish with a DT hit and there's little hints to this, but that wasn't too bad...
Speaking of DT, mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's effective at what it does. Regen is notice-able, slows down time obviously has uses, damage and defense make a notable upgrade, and best part is that any enemy defensive gimmicks (bosses not withstanding) go completely wayside, so it's really an effective Trump Card.
Downside is that it takes a while to build up (though, I hear White Orbs, normally used for upgrades, become DT building after you get them all, so that might help some), and barely lasts anytime and a little too easy to DT out of and blow gauge as a result. Also, it launches enemies a little TOO high though this might be my fault for not trying Angel Lift to catch up to them.
Speaking of Angel Lift, and Demon Pull, PLATFORMING! It's...actually not bad in this game. They punted the Artifacts and Puzzles of previous games in favor of streamlined platforming. Due to this, Missions are more like Stages than missions, so every level is uniquely designed and actually new, and there isn't much in the way of backtracking at all, which is a series standards. Penalty for failing platforming is merely some loss of health, just like Bayonetta, though it's potentially lethal, unlike Bayonetta, don't mind this though as it's forgiving enough, as opposed to stuff like God of War where a slight mistep = YOU DIE! WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOWER THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL!? even though your constant deaths had nothing to do with combat -_-
The weapon variety is nice, though individual weapons are, again, not as varied as in previous iterations. Rebellion is Rebellion, it's about what you'd expect. Eryx is the DMC fist weapon, it's about what you expect. Osiris is a good crowd control variation of Rebellion; straight forward moves but hit a wide area for little damage. Aquilla is hilariously fun to mess around with and decimates groups and probably the most practical use of Round Trip the series has to offer, partially because you can actually use it to lock down one enemy while still use your melee weapons on the others. Arbiter is a good guard break weapon that hits hard, and has an actual ranged attack unlike Eryx.
Guns...E&I are pure lock down, plain and simple, don't do much on damage, ricochet shot is cool conceptually, but not useful. Shotgun is amazing at blasting enemies back, and the charged shot is really good at holding enemies off (it's basically a Brawl Sticky Bomb), and Fireworks is the best it's ever been, being legitimately useful "GET OFF ME!" move instead of only kind of sort so. Kablooey is...a weird way to handle the token explosive weapon though given the SHotgun's charged shot, guess it had to be to avoid redundancy. Kablooey works that you implant the guy with a dart (up to 6 when fully upgraded), then you choose to detonate them whenever you want. So basically, shoot an enemy, bait them into a group, detonate, watch fireworks! Also can blow up Tyrants armors and stun them. Cute weapon with gimmick uses, I approve.
As far as Demon/Angel Dodges go...eh, indifferent to them. Game never asks you to rely on them too much, so I can't hate it for that, but the timing on Demon Dodge is a little too sensitive, and you can end up dodging into an attack anyway, so kind of annoying there. Angel Dodge just felt like a watered down Trickster.
So overall, this game is decent. Don't go into it expecting typical DMC style, nor an evolution of the gameplay. It is what it is. It's fun enough and frankly, I would like to see an actual sequel that takes this games ideas, and enhances them, as well as actually makes good on Dante's development of this game. It's not as good as DMC1/3/4, but leagues ahead of DMC2, as it actually plays like a DMC game and doesn't feel lazily made. The target audience of this game is, as I said, more people who haven't been into the series all this time, but it tried to keep some elements in tact to not alienate the fans entirely. personally, I think it does a good job overall, if there are obvious areas of improvement. Call it a 7/10 game, and frankly, I wouldn't fault someone for saying they like this more than the others, because there are legitimate things this game does have over the other games, and some stylistic choices that could easily be in someone else's favor (as opposed to DMC2 where saying you like it more is pretty clearly trolling.)
Oh, and one last thing:
Game does a good job of at least paying homage to the original series. The White Hair thing was the only case where the game felt like it was twisting a knife per se (exaggeration, etc.) The rest of it felt like "Fans of the series will get this!" style nods, like Sparda's Mansion looks a lot like the castle in DMC1, or the fact that ALL of the Achievements are named after lines in the previous games. If you're curious...
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/dmc-devil-may-cry/achievements/Looking forward to Vergil's Downfall DLC, as well as the DMC3 Costume to be released on Tuesday. Also, while I want to see a sequel of this, I do hope they still continue the main series, in particular I'd like to see DMC5 be about Nero so we can actually learn a damned thing about him.
I feel like I'm missing stuff but whatever, this should give you a good idea!
