My life has changed drastically. All I ever cared about was going out, getting drunk and scoring some ladies to accompany me to my bedroom. Of course I noticed the troublesome world I lived in, terrorists seemed to grow stronger each day. If you told me that those ‘terrorists’ actually were demons, I would have laughed and gave you a satisfying punch to your face. But that’s all in the past now, everything’s different now. My name? Dante, brother of Vergil and I’m a Nephilim. My goal? Kill that ugly and pathetic demon king called Mundus.
The Devil May Cry franchise is one of the most beloved hack and slash franchises of the past generation. People all over the world loved the game and couldn’t wait to finally get their hands on a new version of the game. Ninja Theory, the creators of DMC, took that ‘new version’ quite literally. Forget everything you know about Dante, this Dante is something completely different. No longer is Dante half human, he’s half angel and half demon, a Nephilim.
The ancient prophecies mention the Nephilim as the only creatures able to destroy demon kings like Mundus. Being a Nephilim enables you to access the full power of demons and angels. Dante, son of Sparda is the spawn of a demon father and an angel mother. He didn’t know it from the start but he’s a real life Nephilim. Being half demon and half angel is key in this game. Not only does it pave the way for a dark and interesting story, it’s also what makes the combat system so unique.
Just like in other Devil May Cry games, Dante wields a set of different weapons. This set includes: Rebellion (sword), Arbiter (battle-axe), Osiris (scythe) and of course Ebony & Ivory (Dante’s favorite pair of handguns). This isn’t the full list, you’ll get new and powerful weapons during your quest for vengeance. The fun part of the weapon system however, is that every button on the controller represents a different weapon. Some weapons can only be used when Dante uses his demon powers, others can only be used while in angel mode. Activating the demon or angel mode is simple, you just need to push the representing shoulder button in combination with a weapon button to enable a demon or angel attack. This is very important to the game because some enemies will only be vulnerable for certain kind of weapons.
Switching between angel and demon power is something you’ll have to get used to during this game. At first, the controls look rather complex and you’ll find yourself searching for the right buttons during the first fights. After a couple of minutes in the game however, you’ll get used to the button lay-out and you’ll be able to perform deadly combos with Dante. The combos are a big thing in this game. Each attack and each weapon can be chained together to create a devastating combo. Hit the enemy with your scythe, shoot him while he’s vulnerable, toss him in the sky with Arbiter and finish hem with the Rebellion sword.. One of the easiest combos and just the tip of the iceberg for this game.
The combos really are a big thing in the game and you’ll get rated in stylepoints for the way you end your enemies. Killing the enemies with one attack and one weapon, won’t gain you a lot of points. The game encourages you to be sadistic and find out the most brutal combos by yourself. It’s in moments where you find yourself killing demons on brutal dubstep or deadly rock, with a demonic grin on your face, that you realize that this new Dante really kicks ass!
The music is something that really supports the fighting system. Most of the tracks are produced by Noisia so you can expect raw and dark dubstep-like sounds in the game. The music creates a certain ‘dark’ atmosphere and controls the way you fight. Fluently creating the sickest combos while the music rages trough the speakers is something only DMC manages to achieve.
It’s in moments where you find yourself killing demons on brutal dubstep or deadly rock, with a demonic grin on your face, that you realize that this new Dante really kicks ass!
The fighting system is very important for the game and as you can see, the creators spend a lot of time and research into this. The fighting system therefore is almost perfect. The only downside to this is that you can’t lock on an enemy, rather frustrating when they come in packs and you want to kill the flying ones. Another thing that doesn’t always respond the way you want it to, is the camera. A lot happens during the game and you’ll have to face a lot of enemies, sometimes the camera struggles to get that all on one frame. Does this really matter? Not really, the combat still feels very good and we still have the amazing story to complete.
The story is about the young rebel called Dante. He really lived the life of a rock star until the day he met Kat. Kat showed Dante who he really is and introduced him to his brother Vergil. The path and goal of the game is clear, accept your destiny and slay the demon king called Mundus. The demons themselves aren’t a fan of Dante of course and want to kill him no matter what. To do so, they always trap him inside Limbo. It’s what makes the game so unique.
Limbo is a parallel universe and looks like the normal world but possessed with demons. In Limbo, you’re never safe. Enemies will spawn in big packs and even the city itself will turn against you. Shifting walls, falling floors, illusions… You’ll find it all in Limbo and it can drive you crazy. Limbo really is the star of the show and makes the game feel like something entirely new. By playing with your mind and forcing you to think outside of the box, Limbo is a hard but far from unpleasant place to stay in. In Limbo, Dante can see what the world is really like, without the façade mankind calls ‘society’.
It’s in Limbo that you’ll face your demons and where you’ll have to face several boss battles as well. The bosses really are one of the many highlights of the game. They all are disgusting, terrifying and really original if it comes to the design. DMC without any doubt features several memorable bosses to face. Fighting them however isn’t that hard because they always have a set pattern. Find the pattern and you can confirm your kill. The difficulty of the bosses isn’t really negative because the battles are brought with a lot of spectacle.
The overall difficulty of the game can be divided into different levels. You start with the regular ‘easy-medium and hard’ but you can unlock devastating difficulty levels after you complete the game. Completing the game won’t take you that long. You can finish the single player in less than 10 hours but you’ll miss a lot of unlockables and collectables. If you don’t really care about those, the only replay value you’ll find in the game are the different difficulty levels as well as some secret levels. All in all it’s enough to keep you going and to keep you entertained for quite a while. Most certainly when you take into consideration that the game ‘punishes’ weak gamers. Using health items will result in losing points and the health item will cost you more the second time you wish to buy it. It’s in those small things that gamers will find the replay value.
All in all DMC turned out to be a hell of a hack and slash game with an interesting and dark story. There’s so much going on in this game that I didn’t even mention the platform sections or the abilities to turn several weapons into grappling hooks. Ninja Theory really thought this trough and made a reboot fans all over the world should be thankful for. It’s not Dante as you know him but once you get to know this darker and impulsive young version of Dante, you’ll never want to go back to the old version. Dante made a great second debut and is here to stay. Let’s hope he’ll kick a lot more demon ass in the future!
9/10
