Time to finally do another game review, this time on a game that received much backlash after it's release; DMC Devil May Cry, the remake to the popular game series.
DMC still has the same basic plot of the original games but with a lot of changes, the first being that the world of Demons (Limbo) and the world of Humans are separate and only certain people can pass in between them. Dante is one of those certain people because he is a Nephilim (a hybrid of Angels and Demons) and he battles the Demons when ever he is dragged in to Limbo. Unbeknownst to him and the rest of society the whole world is under the control of the Demon King Mundus, who prefers to operate in secret and control the Humans through finance, politics, media and drugs. However a mysterious person named Vergil, who leads a resistance group called The Order, challenges Mundus and wishes to recruit Dante to his cause.
DMC was developed by Ninja Theory and I admit I am not that familiar with their work however I know of their two other games, Heavenly Sword and Enslaved, both of which are third person, melee action oriented gameplay so it seems that is their main type of genre. What they have done with DMC is that they have decided to try and make it more appealing for the Western and younger audience.
Namely this includes changes to character designs such as Dante; gone is his trademark silver hair and long, red leather coat (which is a Japanese, anime style) . Instead he is given more of street punk redesign where he has brown spikey hair and a hooded trench coat. But that is not all; Vergil has gone through a similar redesign where they have removed a lot of his Japanese influence (luckily he still keeps his katana sword and silver hair) and Mundus, instead of being a demon in the form of a Roman - looking statue, his human form is that of a business typhoon who resides in a massive office tower.
Also it is not just the characters that are changed it is also the whole entire tone of the game as well like the overall gothic tone of the original games. Instead it has a more Hollywood action movie feeling to it whether it is the heavy metal music that is in much of its soundtrack or the fact that the setting is in a twisted version of a city instead of a ancient castle or tower.
As for gameplay it is still very similar to what you expect from the original game series however I noticed that while I was playing it that it was a lot easier. This was because the developers wanted it to appeal to newcomers but veterans of the original series and hack and slash games in general would want to put this on the harder difficulties when playing this.
It still has the same multiple button combos for new moves with your weapons and guns and you can still buy new skills with orbs as well however they have introduced a new colour coded mechanic. Since Dante is Nephilim he can switch between his blue, low damage, fast paced Angel moves or his red, high damage, slow paced Demon moves. This offers an interesting variety to the gameplay because their are certain enemies that can only be killed by a certain colour however while this is good there is a severe lack of weapons in this game for my taste. Dante has only two weapons each for red and blue and even though he can instantly switch between them in game so you don't have to break off a combo, I would much rather have had to pause the game and equip a new weapon like the original series if it meant more weapons. One thing I dislike but also don't mind much is that they have removed the option to lock on to any enemy you want however the automatic lock on feature is really smart and can accurately predict which enemy you want to attack anyway.
The enemies in this game are really good, like I mentioned above some can only be damaged by a certain weapon, however I have played through every difficultly setting in this game and I didn't really have any trouble with them no matter how hard the difficultly said it was. The same goes for bosses too, they have some great designs but I was just a bit disappointed in them. Also thought I'd say that since this game was published by Capcom they have put a chainsaw wielding enemy in it and I am getting sick of seeing them (There is enough of them in the new Resident Evils!).
There isn't that many cast of main characters in this game and their personalities have also changed with this remake. Dante is a lot more cocky and outspoken now and less laidback like in the original, I guess this was another change that the developers wanted to appeal to a younger audience. Vergil however is a lot more reserved in this, preferring to take a back sit throughout the majority of the game. There is the lead female named Kat, a member of The Order, who is really good but not as good as Trish or Lady from the original. However I do like the new Mundus in this because he has a lot more personality in this than when we barely got anything of his ideology and reasoning from the original.
Now I guess the most important question in my review is; Do I like it? Are all of these changes for the better?
I do really like this game however I do not agree with many of the changes. Devil May Cry 1 and 3 where known as one of the hardest games back in the day and while it was really frustrating at times, who really wants a easy game? I do not like the removing of the gothic themes and while the character redesigns of Dante and Vergil are cool, I still prefer the original. This is probably because I am more of a fan of Japanese style when it comes to creating characters (Anime and Manga). However I do really like the overall story of this game because it creates a more detailed backstory for Dante, Vergil (in Devil May Cry 3 it is implied that they have battled many times before but it doesn't go in to detail) and the world they are apart of in general. Also despite not being a challenge like the originals I immensely enjoyed the combat system because it was so fluid and smooth.
Overall this game, as I already know, will have a very hard time pleasing veterans of the original Devil May Cry series however newcomers will find this easy to pick up. It has it's flaws to be sure but if they can be looked past that then you can find an enjoyable and fun hack and slash game.
SCORE: 7/10
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