DmC: Devil May Cry Review

Life’s tough as a demon slayer for Dante, especially when his the most hated person on the planet, thanks to the demon jerk at Raptor News Corporation that’s branded him a terrorist causing him to become public enemy number one. To make matters worse the entire forces of Hell are constantly on the hunt for him, as well as his dad’s brother, who happens to be the emperor of Hell, also wants to make him into a McFlurry with Oreo sprinkles. Oh Dante how life must be o so bright for you.

Capcom returns to deliver the latest instalment of the Devil May Cry series, DmC: Devil May Cry. However Capcom are not taking point for this title and have given lead reigns to UK game developers Ninja Theory, creators of the exclusive PS3 title, Heavenly Sword.  This decision has caused an uproar amongst long-term fans of the series, mainly arguing the choices Ninja Theory have made in shaping the title and where DmC is headed in future. However although I myself am a long-term DMC fan, I actually enjoyed this title a lot and recommend this title as a starting point for new comers to the series.

DmC: Devil May Cry depicts the origins story of the hero of the series Dante, and shows his developmental process of how an amateur low life ends up becoming the world’s greatest guardian, a very Superman like tale of discovering who they really are and the destiny they are meant to embrace.

The main line in the story is demons are manipulating the human world from the world of Limbo, an alternative world that’s connected to Earth. From here the demons are slowly taking over the human race by manipulating their way of thinking by using the media, consumable goods, the music industry, politicians etc. brainwashing them into becoming satanic servants, which is part of the plan to enslave mankind and replace the existing world with a free roaming demon society. And so the tale of the last line of defence to save the world starts when Dante teams up with his brother Vergil and his companion Kat, who are members of a demon resistance faction known as, ‘The Order’. Together the three of them work together to bring the demons diabolical plan to an end.

There are a lot of things I adore about this title that convinces me that it is the best title to start the series from, mainly because of its storyline.

The story does a great deal in explaining a well portrayed origins story of Dante and his rising of becoming earth’s guardian. It provides information on Dante’s background, his relationship with his parents, as well as info on who they were, what kind of family they were and why they were hunted down. Although there has been some minor alterations such as Dante being half-angel, half-demon, there is a lot of insightful background the game covers. As well the title goes into detail about Dante’s close relationship with his brother Vergil before the events of DMC 3, which is why this title is a crucial starting point for new comers to the series.

Another outstanding factor about the game are the level visuals, which are amazing. The amount of detail NT have put into the creation of the levels as well as the level environments are done so well you can’t help but admire your surroundings.

The combat in DmC is based on aerial combat and is insanely better than the previous titles. However it does take some time getting use to switching between Dante’s angel and demon weapons, but once mastered the experience becomes incredibly fun. Just smacking your enemies into the air then latching back on to them and hitting them further into the air before exploding them with a finisher, makes you just want to latch onto the next poor soul that’s about to face an aerial execution.

The Devil Trigger is also based on aerial combat as the moment you activate the ability it sends your enemies airbourne, which allows you to latch on to them and execute aerial combos, which does heavy damage thanks to the Devil Triggers heavy damage capability.

DmC: Devil May Cry has also undergone some changes to its upgrade system, rather than using red orbs to purchase new moves, upgrade points are used to purchase new abilities which are obtained by completing missions. The upgrade system follows the concept of stage rank, the more higher your rank the more upgrade points you obtain.

Red orbs are included in the game but their purpose is only to purchase health and devil trigger upgrades and items.

Collectibles have also been included items such as keys that open up doors with challenges behind them. By completing these challenges you earn upgrades for your health and devil trigger, or else red orbs. As well trapped beings known as Lost Souls are distributed around the level finding them all won’t give you anything but an unlockable trophy, however it doesn’t hurt to find them all.

The only thing that I disliked about the title was that it lacked a lock-on-system. Most of the time I’d be swinging away hoping that I’d at least hit something, but I’d always have a 75% hit rate or couldn’t direct my attacks to one particular person which was quite annoying mainly against bosses. I really thought that this brought the game down, as well as its annoying camera, just having to adjust it all the time was a real a pain.

VERDICT: 9/10

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Besides the minor flaws, DmC:Devil May Cry is still a fantastic game and is a great illustration for a reboot. Definitely worth having as part of the collection and the best game to kick off 2013.

DmC: Devil May Cry is available on PC at GameFanShop. XBox 360 and Playstation 3 versions are available at Play-Asia and Amazon. The DmC demo is now available to play, to see some more screenshots of DmC: Devil May Cry check out our preview article here and our news about the DLC here.