The game which I'm reviewing today is a reboot to a franchise which I loved growing up, DmC Devil May Cry. This game was released back in early 2013 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. It had a rerelease in 2015 which made it available for the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One. The game was developed by independent game company Ninja Theory, and was published by Capcom. This is the 5th entry into the series, and this one takes place in an alternate reality instead of the one that the first 4 games took place in.
As with the previous games, this is a hack and slash combined with a platformer. The main character of the game is still Dante, albeit an alternate version of him which now matches the look of an antihero much better. This might bother some fans of the series, but I personally thought the redesign fits him quite well and makes him more of a modern day antihero with the new style used.
The game starts off with Dante waking up hungover in his trailer and then quickly spirals out of his control. You're very quickly thrust into the limbo like world where our reality isn't so far from the demon reality. In this place you'll find yourself fighting off demons and being your normal badass self with the help of your twin pistols ebony and ivory, not to mention Rebellion the sword which is your main weapon in the game. You'll also find quite an arsenal of different weapons along the way, each more interesting than the last.
The gameplay itself is very fast paced in it's nature. Between fighting off hordes of enemies, the fast heavy metal music playing in the background and the environment collapsing as you move forward you'll definitely be able to tell everything wants you to move quickly. Getting the hang of knowing which weapons you need for certain situations and enemies might take a minute, but you'll definitely need to adapt to it to keep up with the pace of the game.
Your combat encounters will constantly be judged by the game itself, giving you a score within it's ranking system as you fight. This helps to give you some feedback on your combat style and how well you're actually doing. You'll definitely want to change up your moves and juggle enemies while also trying to chain them for the best score possible. Ebony and ivory come in handy quite a bit for this aspect since you can shoot from a distance to keep it going, and if that's not enough you also have a grappling hook to bring enemies to you for some slashing or you can go to them.
The weapons you unlock through the game as I mentioned before will take some time to get used to with knowing when to switch at the proper time, and you'll have to learn which weapons work on which enemies. As, there are some opponents that only are affected by a certain blade in your arsenal. Thanks to this, none of your weapons ever feel useless or pointless since you'll be switching back and forth between all of them and find a fair amount of use for each. The biggest thing with the weapons is just getting the feel of when the perfect time is to switch blades and keep your combo's going on and on.
The camera controls and angles are very instinctual in a way, and will allow you to focus most of your time on learning this and getting used to the combat system. I personally never got very frustrated with not being able to see enemies in the area or not being able to see certain objects on the map since the camera knows just how to pan and where to go so you're not stressing over anything.
The story of the game isn't too complex to follow, but still retains an entertaining and interesting aspect. You of course play Dante, son of a banished demon and an angel. Along side a long lost brother named Virgil, you aim to take down the demon lord by the name of Mundus who rules the city with his army of demon minions. You'll be battling his demon lieutenants as well as their minions before you can make your way to the big bad boss battle later on in the game.
You'll be playing through quite a number of interesting maps and levels that have some very entertaining artistic elements to them. One level brings you into a club style setting where you'll battle within a pulsating wave while you move around on the dance floor which makes for a memorable level. Another cool mission will bring you into a digital setting of a TV world where you'll find the boss shooting TV static at you. Even the first part of the game has a fun pier/carnival setting which I thought made for a great introduction and a fun time while you bash your way through the demons attacking.
The limbo world itself is also quite an interesting experience with how mind bending the environment can become at the whim of whichever demon lord is controlling the area in question. Besides looking like a twisted up version of the normal world, the very reality can be warped of the limbo version where it's something akin to Inception or Dr. Strange with how the ground and buildings will behave. At times words like KILL DANTE will appear in the air out of no where, or colors will flash and change for no reason, streets will stretch out and warp, and corridors will appear from thin air. There's definitely some rich artistry within the limbo world which is pleasing to the eye.
Besides having some imaginative and heavily artistic levels, the game sports a wonderful soundtrack which only aids to the entertainment of it overall. There were plenty of battles where I just started getting pumped up thanks to the industrial metal songs blasting in the background. Most of the soundtrack is done by the band Combichrist, and I definitely feel like it fits right in with this game style. This is one of the few game soundtracks where I actually wanted to listen to it outside of playing the game.
Now, as much as I do like this game, it isn't without it's issues. It definitely has some glitches and bugs which can be irritating to deal with. One such thing is that sometimes the mini bosses won't spawn on the map leaving you stuck in certain areas before you can move on. So, you'll have to restart from the last checkpoint or at times just restart from the start of the mission entirely. This can be pretty bad to deal with if you're on the more difficult levels as well.
And, another thing with the game that can be annoying although not a glitch or bug is the direction of the game. What I mean by that is that it doesn't direct you very well to your goal since there is no map or cues letting you know what you need to do beyond kill the bad guys. You'll find yourself getting lost at some points due to this and how similar some areas look to one another. You might find yourself wandering for 10 or so minutes just to find out that you have to grapple to a certain spot that wasn't highlighted or cued up.
At times you might end up going the wrong way after a battle or event because there's not a real way to tell directions in the game if you don't have a master level sense of them. Between the lack of action and having to deal with the annoyance of backtracking because you'e went the wrong way, it can get to be a bit frustrating and feel like a utter waste of time. This especially happened to me in a subway level, where I paused the game and took a break for about 15 minutes before coming back just because I was so bored and annoyed.
Now, despite those annoying things there at least is a good system in place to keep track of the progress you've made throughout the game. There are frequent checkpoints that will save while you play, so even if you totally mess things up and die in an embarrassingly dumb way, you won't have to spend another 25 minutes getting back to where you were. As a little bonus you'll find that the enemies you've fought in that area are still damaged when you come back, so things will be slightly easier to deal with. There are also items you can get in the game which let you automatically come back to life, much like a phoenix down from the Final Fantasy games. These are harder to get, however, so you can't rely on these constantly.
In conclusion, even with the small issues the game has it will be tons of fun for any fan of the series or even new players. The hack and slash action is intoxication like levels of fun, and the wide amount of combos and weapons at your disposal along with the rating system just add another layer to it. The soundtrack adds to the draw of the combat, and you'll find most of the levels to be crazy and fun for the eyes. I'd definitely recommend this game to almost anyone, unless you get easily frustrated with games. Then, this one might not be for you.
Thanks for checking out my review! Hope it's helped you get interested in this game or that you've enjoyed it in some way!