DmC Review: Cry, Devil, Cry

DmC: Devil May Cry is my first Devil May Cry game. The Devil May Cry lore, which centers around Dante and has built up over the past four games, is all unknown to me. However, as a reboot and an introduction to the series, DmC does an excellent job of drawing new fans in, while still sticking to series staples that made the originals so great.

Vergil, Dante's twin brother

The story is rather well written and easy to follow, focusing on a few characters: Dante, whom you play as throughout the course of the game, is a Nephilim, a demon/angel hybrid. His twin brother, Vergil, and Kat, a witch who works with him, are heads of an organization called the Order. They work to undermine the empire of the Demon King Mundus, who controls humanity through a popular soft drink, which Mundus spikes, and the Raptor News Network, who brainwashes the human race. As Dante, you must work to bring down Mundus, starting out with his biggest assets and ending - well, I don't want to spoil it. But this is definitely a game you'll want to finish.

The best part of the game, easily, is the music. With custom tracks made by Noisia and CombiChrist, the music strikes a perfect balance between dubstep and metal, which gives a great feel to the game. The music isn't always something you notice, but as soon as you do you think 'hell yeah' and dive right back into the game, which fulfills the perfect function of music in a video game.

The combat is very fluid, somewhat reminiscent of the fighting in the Arkham games, but still unique. You switch between Dante's sword, 2 different demon weapons, 2 different angel weapons, and 3 different ranged weapons in order to kill demons. That might sound a little intimidating, and it is at first. But, with a fully re-mappable control scheme and an impeccable training mode, you soon are hacking, slashing, and grappling with the best of them. The game really only has two buttons used for attack, a quick attack and a special attack, which makes the moves easy to master. Getting a SSS rating is all about switching your weapons, mixing up your fight style, and pulling off big, damaging moves flawlessly.

Dante with his guns Ebony and Ivory

Another strong point in the game is the boss fights. The combination of the combat system and fresh concepts introduced in these fights make them the most memorable parts of the game. The different levels in DmC strike a wonderful balance between platforming and fighting, making the game's pacing impeccable. As soon as you're itching to kill some demons, some will pop up. When you want to watch Dante soar through the air and grapple from floating piece to floating piece, a platforming section will pop up. DmC does an excellent job feeding the player exactly what they want, while introducing awesome new elements throughout the course of the game.

The game does a good job of not punishing you for failing. If you fall off a level, you come right back with only a fraction of your health taken away. Even if you lose all your health, a game over screen only means that you are deducted some points at the end of the level. The games spawns you at the last checkpoint, which are frequent, and with full health, allowing you to jump back into the game quickly.

The game, however, is not without its faults. The item system in DmC makes it so that each time you buy an item, the price of it doubles, rather than staying at a fixed rate. This means that eventually, you'll be strapped for health and unable to do anything about it because the health item that at the beginning of the game was so affordable, is now way out of your price range. That can be incredibly frustrating, and generally just doesn't make any sense.

Kat, Vergil's assistant and resident witch

Also, the game does a good job of teaching you to use your weapons in creative ways in order to defeat difficult enemies. However, the point at which they choose to reveal these to you is questionable. For example, one enemy in the game can only be attacked at a very certain place. About five levels after you're introduced and have been fighting that enemy however, a screen pops up saying that you can parry their attacks. Really? That would've been helpful, like, a while ago.

Other suggestions for enemies are near impossible to pull off. One enemy charges at you and if you can time it perfectly, you can uppercut them and stop their charge. However, in all my hours of playing the game, I attempted the uppercut maybe 100 times and maybe pulled it off 3. The window for opportunity for some of the moves are frustratingly small.

The replay-ability of the game seems a little stale. Your motivation to replay levels comes from wanting to get a higher score on the leaderboards, but with some people reaching 30 million points on a level you barely scratched 1 million on, hopes seem sparse.

All in all, DmC is an excellent game with some truly amazing parts, and other parts which just leave you scratching your head saying 'I wonder why the hell they thought that was a good idea.' I wouldn't pick up this game for $60, but at $45, it's a steal.

 - written by John Schwartz, News Editor

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