DmC Devil May Cry - ThoughtsFollow

Finished this for the first time last night on "Devil Hunter" mode and have started slogging through "Son of Sparda" mode.

Having played through the story I think that I can safely say that the quality of storytelling on offer in this reboot is leaps-and-bounds better than that of any previous installment. Sure, Dante starts out as a bit of a douchebag who only wants to get by in life whilst having an absolute blast (opening sequence consists of Dante chilling in a nightclub before taking two women back to his place and getting laid) but as the story progresses players begin to see him becoming, both personally and physically*, like the Dante we know from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
I felt that the use of cognitive dissonance (where the player thinks a story is addressing their character but is really addressing themselves) throughout the story, portrayed through the use of "Modern Evil" really worked well in this rebooted universe. It actually got me feeling slightly uncomfortable at times where I saw a sequence where a newscaster was ranting about 'Terrorists' and how they 'should be put down like animals' only for me to turn on the news later that same evening to see allusions to the same. The references, some subtle and some not-so-subtle, towards things like a corrupt banking system, radicalism in media (the references to FOX NEWS and O'Reilly are too blatant to miss), and rampant consumerism all fit in well with the wider story.

The combat is signature Devil May Cry with some nice improvements. By default Dante is in 'Human Mode' and uses his sword Rebellion but holding down either LT or RT changes his weapon to either an Angel or Demon Weapon. Angel weapons (Osiris Scythe and Aquila Chakram) are fast-hitters and are excellent for crowd control whereas Demon weapons (Arbiter Axe and Eryx Gauntlets) are slow-hitters but pack serious damage and will shatter enemy shields. Changing between these weapons on the fly is very easy and opens up possibilities for some absolutely insane combos and any savvy player will be able to achieve S ~ SSS combos with relative ease, on the easier difficulties anyway**. Combat gets extremely hard on any setting above Nephilim mode as enemies on Son of Sparda or Dante must Die will victimize you; they have access to new moves, all become capable of reacting and countering your moves if you get too repetitive - you need to go big or go home.

The sound track is pretty good as well. You will be hard-done-by to find any sort of orchestral of choir music anywhere in here but the series staples of rock and metal have survived, this time accompanied by aggro-tech and some trance.


Overall, fantastic game. Easily on par with Devil May Cry 3 if not slightly better in some respects.
8/10.

What did you think of it?

Ending Discussion
SpoilerI felt that the ending was slightly rushed and unless it is elaborated on through DLC and/or new titles I will be pretty disappointed. Whilst it was good to see Ninja Theory respect previous series plot points such as Vergil's downfall I felt that they REALLY crowbarred Vergil's change in character in out of seemingly nowhere. You can totally see where this version of Dante will go from this point onwards however, with the demons of Limbo now exposed for the world to see Dante will have a reason to become a supernatural mercenary and open his firm "Devil May Cry". It wasn't explicitly stated whether or not Dante and Kat embarked on a relationship or not but the ending seemed to hint towards it.

* Spoiler about the Ending and Dante's looks: SpoilerIn the final battle against Vergil Dante is forced to use the full power of his Devil Trigger to overpower his brother. Whilst he is successful in overwhelming him and in coming extremely close to killing him the demonic energy released permanently turns his hair snowy white.
** Little note about the Aquila: SpoilerYou first get the Aquila around Mission 9 after you kill Bob Barbas of the Raptor News Network. On the easier difficulties such as Human and Devil Hunter the Aquila has two-move-combo which, provided enemies do not have shields, is impossible to block and racks up style points insanely fast. Buy-In followed by Tornado with 3-4 demons caught in it's vortex will put this look on your face.

Yeah I preordered through GMG and got the 25% off making it 37.50 +2 dollars cash back. I did a little research and the pc is a Good port for PC, not fps capped, AA, etc. Looking forward to it.

I watched that too and was about to get turned off but as a an of the series. 2 of the "cons" in his is the writing and story, which taken as its own game is pretty bad I guess, but this is DMC and well the story and writing have always been terrible in the series. Its the gameplay that keeps us coming back for the games. I understand Sesslers views and I respect them but I feel he comes from a PoV differing from mine (I used to watch Sesslers Soapbox and Xplay(Extended Play) back when G4 was TechTV(I think It was called something even before that, I can't remember) So I grew up watching this guy.

As for his lat con, sorry but Putting in enemies with "shields" that you have to work into your combo isn't anything new in games, that's the part that separates the people who learn the system from the people who don't. It forces you to think while you fight to keep a combo going.

Also I try to watch a few review to see the overall picture. Maybe Review person A wasnt that great at Platformers or style combo games, while person B was. They would walk away with very differing view points.

I mean I checked out 3 video reviews of the game and each had differing views on DmC alone, Sessler didnt like the levels while TGS Reviews loved them, I cant remember what GT liked.

I used to watch one or 2 reviews only before choosing a game but stopped that because I got a lot of games that I didn't enjoy at all eg Borderlands, everyone LOVED this game high marks everywhere but I hated it, It felt dull and repetitive (I played it a total of 5 times burning out every time near Sanctuary.) The quests had no tie in to the story really and there wasnt enough of a plot to hold my attention.

I know this comes off as defensive fanboy-ish talk, Ill agree the game (as I've seen reviews etc) has its fault, Im not a fan of the amount of vulgarity, while I understand that is kind character they are going for (I have a friend growing up that was big into the punk stuff and that is exactly how he would act every other word was some swear when he was confrontational). The combat itself Ill have to find out how it holds up (I didnt mind it on the PS3 demo, it felt 'weird' to me but not bad)

It's a terribly written internet petition with 16 out of 100k required signatures. If it hits even 1000 signatures, maybe I'd regard it with some base form of ire, but when anyone can create an online petition for anything they want, it's not surprising to find some like that one. I'd wager that there are more ridiculous petitions with more signature than it.

Meh there have been worse games when it comes to vulgarity. What I find annoying about that petition is how the person that made it wants the game pulled, not because of the vulgarity or violence in the game, due to "We, as consumers did not want nor need this reboot and we believe it violates our rights to have a choice between the original's or the reboot." which is just horse crap.

Damn entitled pricks. GET OFF MY YARD!

BTw Just finished the game on Devil hunter myself. While Its missing a few things from the "old" DMC its very workable. ATM I rate the games like such DMC2>DMC1>DmC=DMC3>DMC4. My take on it is as such.

Combat: is fluid, lock on missing does suck sometimes, Style needs to be changed back, In previous DMC games you needed to learn to use your moves this one is easier to get high style via damage. Otherwise Its fast and fun.

Graphics: At first they seem a tad out of place but about half way through it fits very well. Loved the Club level. Great fps/smooth as butter on PC (60FPS + Ftw)

Story: Well if you compare it to past DMCs this thing is great, I felt the characters developed, while the writing was a bit "bro" ish it was more tied to real life then the over the top of previous games, but no worse then your normal bigbuget action flick.. Don't expect any huge plot twists. It's weird but Ninja Theory made a kind of scape goat tactive with the game, while this is a "reboot" you could feasibly tie it into the existing series if they choose not to make more games.

I agree with 8/10. Its a solid game all in all.