- Nov 16, 2006
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I had some hesitations going into DmC (lowercase "m" for the reboot I guess) based on my spotty recollection of playing the original Devil May Cry at a friends house on his PS2. I distinctly remember that, besides being a relatively fun game with a pretty good soundtrack, it suffered from the same things a lot of games published by Japanese developers did, which was that sort of "animu" style and substance. Brooding protagonist, convoluted story, something lost in translation etc.
What I got was something extremely enjoyable: beautiful game with strong art direction, a decent story, interesting (although initially kind of aggravating) characters, and fun gameplay. The game also seems to have badly split the DMC community, and has spawned strong defenders as well as harsh critics. I personally am sensitive to how people can feel due to a change of direction in a series (Lets say I was a big fan of the original Fallout 1/2 games...) and it was interesting to see the whole escapade play out from the other side.
As a hack n slash platformer novice, I found DmC to be very entertaining: its forgiving enough thar button mashing can get you through some of the basic encounters, but has enough substance and variety to allow more seasoned players to get through entire levels without taking damage. As you develop a moveset and explore the combos, the game really opens up. Its not without its issues, its definitely possible to cheese/spam some attacks, but generally the mixed unit composition of the enemies forces some thought and movement on the part of the player. The platforming elements definitely did not annoy me like they did some other players of the game, and I found the whole thing relatively easy to control.
The strongest elements of the game, for me, were the art direction and character development. The game is built using the legendary Unreal 3 engine so the graphics hold up quite well to this day and the locals that you visit in "limbo" are very memorable and surreal, a welcome break from drab monotonous reality simulators. The characters are also fun, although they don't start out that way. Dante (or Donte if you prefer) starts the game as an annoying, angsty, self centered, vagrant youth and slowly grows over the course of the game to be a more heroic archetype. Some Demons are presented as more complex than a cartoonish caricature (not suggesting they have the depth of russian literature, but they are handled with some care) and the main characters/antagonists have actual motivations for doing what they do. The game's final twist can be seen coming from a mile away, but its done well when it happens regardless.
Lastly, going back and playing earlier missions to unlock challenge missions and content with end game equipment and and understanding of the game mechanics is a lot more fun than it has any right to be, largely because the game never really feels like a chore to play. All content can easily be chunked down to 30 minute play sessions and absolutely no level is really longer than 45 minutes, so the game lends itself well to pick up and play.
All in all, if you can pick it up for a fiver, I'd strongly recommend DmC for about 15 hours of solid entertainment and fun.
I'm sure there are some mainstream series fans that will strongly disagree with my sentiments, and I'd be interested to hear what other folks that played this thought of the experience.
What I got was something extremely enjoyable: beautiful game with strong art direction, a decent story, interesting (although initially kind of aggravating) characters, and fun gameplay. The game also seems to have badly split the DMC community, and has spawned strong defenders as well as harsh critics. I personally am sensitive to how people can feel due to a change of direction in a series (Lets say I was a big fan of the original Fallout 1/2 games...) and it was interesting to see the whole escapade play out from the other side.
As a hack n slash platformer novice, I found DmC to be very entertaining: its forgiving enough thar button mashing can get you through some of the basic encounters, but has enough substance and variety to allow more seasoned players to get through entire levels without taking damage. As you develop a moveset and explore the combos, the game really opens up. Its not without its issues, its definitely possible to cheese/spam some attacks, but generally the mixed unit composition of the enemies forces some thought and movement on the part of the player. The platforming elements definitely did not annoy me like they did some other players of the game, and I found the whole thing relatively easy to control.
The strongest elements of the game, for me, were the art direction and character development. The game is built using the legendary Unreal 3 engine so the graphics hold up quite well to this day and the locals that you visit in "limbo" are very memorable and surreal, a welcome break from drab monotonous reality simulators. The characters are also fun, although they don't start out that way. Dante (or Donte if you prefer) starts the game as an annoying, angsty, self centered, vagrant youth and slowly grows over the course of the game to be a more heroic archetype. Some Demons are presented as more complex than a cartoonish caricature (not suggesting they have the depth of russian literature, but they are handled with some care) and the main characters/antagonists have actual motivations for doing what they do. The game's final twist can be seen coming from a mile away, but its done well when it happens regardless.
Lastly, going back and playing earlier missions to unlock challenge missions and content with end game equipment and and understanding of the game mechanics is a lot more fun than it has any right to be, largely because the game never really feels like a chore to play. All content can easily be chunked down to 30 minute play sessions and absolutely no level is really longer than 45 minutes, so the game lends itself well to pick up and play.
All in all, if you can pick it up for a fiver, I'd strongly recommend DmC for about 15 hours of solid entertainment and fun.
I'm sure there are some mainstream series fans that will strongly disagree with my sentiments, and I'd be interested to hear what other folks that played this thought of the experience.
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