With the release of the new Devil May Cry game this week, I just thought I would like to share my two cents on it all, as someone who considers Devil May Cry as one of his favourite game series of all.
Looking at the game from a less-biased point of view, judging it by its merits, citing its positives and negatives like any level-headed gamer should... that's all well and good, and should absolutely be the goal of any review that comes out for the game. It can come out with 8's and 9's across the board if it deserves it. There's nothing wrong with that.
But there's also nothing wrong with fans of the old games not being happy with the changes that have been made. Much in the way that the new Hitman might be good but it has enough changes in place to understandably upset fans to a degree, so too it could be the case with this one. DMC fans are in a bad position if we wanted to see a proper DMC game come back. If this does well we get DmC2. If not, Capcom blames fans, or the IP, and doesn't support it further.
I've read and watched reviews for the new DMC and personally it's a game I don't like the look of. It's basically got the same elements of a Devil May Cry game (red orbs, Ebony and Ivory, air juggling etc) yet has slower combat and horrible character redesigns. So why all the praise? I think it's down to the fact that people playing it haven't been fans of the series or even at the least played other games in the series. When reviewers come out and hail the adaptive difficulty, or difficulty modes like Dante Must Die/Heaven and Hell/Hell and Hell as new features, when they are elements that have been in DMC 3/4, then it makes you wonder. From what I've heard from reviewers, it's almost like they're trying too hard to defend it.
Sadly, building up the style meter is easier than in past games, no doubt about that. I've seen it jump up two style levels in as many moves and all it seems like is just vary your weapons slightly and don't get hit so much. Getting a SSS in DMC3 made you feel like a god, what kind of worth does this have to offer? Also it doesn't play like Devil May Cry. I love how everyone is trying to stress that it does when it doesn't at all. You can't change pretty much all of the controls and say "Oh but it plays the same" You could actually argue that RE6 has more in common with RE2 then Devil May Cry has with DMC.
This is in all likelihood a fairly good action game. It's just not a Devil May Cry game.
This is an interesting point of view...having just spent about a week with the game--and finishing it just yesterday--I'd like to touch on a couple things about it. Just to preface, I consider myself a pretty big Devil May Cry fan, if not just a fan of action games in general. I usually acknowledge the original DMC as pretty much the godfather of this type of action game, though for me the series peaked at DMC3 (as I'm sure it did for a lot of people). My favorite action game of all time, though, has to be Bayonetta. Ninja Gaiden 1 and God Hand get honorable mentions. I also have not read any reviews for this game, so I'm not sure what the reception is like for new fans or old fans.
With that out of the way, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this DmC remake. The major gripe most people have with it right off the bat is the visual style; specifically, everything about Dante. I definitely get that, as I don't really care for his look myself, but it's nothing I'd dwell over for too long. In terms of the way he acts, imo it's very Dante. They removed the iconic white hair and red coat, which, while being an odd choice that's borderline offensive to fans of the series, isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. What really matters is the gameplay. I typically find myself liking Japanese developed action games much more than western ones. I don't really like God of War, didn't care for Heavenly Sword, etc. They usually move significantly slower, and oftentimes the difficulty, when it's hard, is frustrating and cheap as opposed to challenging and rewarding.
That said, Ninja Theory did a pretty good job with this one. It
does play more or less very similarly to other Devil May Cry games, at least with regards to the feel. It's not particularly slow and heavy, and while there are clear differences, especially with button configurations and how moves are executed, the end result is very similar. I imagine one would have an
incredibly difficult time arguing RE6 has more in common with RE2 than this
. Devil May Cry 4 was also a bit of a departure from the typical DMC, specifically during Nero's half, with his limited arsenal and the Devil Bringer, so it was nothing too jarring for me to handle.
Still, SSS rank is definitely too easy on the standard difficulty. Basically you just have to not get hit and switch it up a little. The combo meter holds up for way too long. Not switching up your attacks only causes it to rise a LITTLE BIT more slowly, as opposed to having it drop. It pretty much barely ever drops, and you can often get S - SSS by varying with just a single weapon. I can't speak for the higher difficulties, but it wasn't very challenging at all. In fact, the only times I died were due to clunky platforming. You had to SERIOUSLY work and vary your attack to keep up S ranks in DMC3, so that's definitely sad, but the fun is still there if you choose to vary your attacks, and it's possibly less forgiving on higher difficulties. It's fun to switch through the different weapons, push/pull enemies, hold them in place with certain attacks, alternate from ground/aerial attacks, etc. It feels fast, it feels light, it feels fun and rewarding.
This game's got more pressing issues than just being a departure from the usual DMC, though. Holy hell this game DRAAAAAAGS. There's very little variety in anything. For starters, the enemy types are rather bland. Most of them have some sort of gimmick to them, but overall the game just feels sort of....
empty. It's like hours of padding and repetition. The platforming sections, while it's pretty to look at the world crumbling as you move on, are also repetitive, bland, and not very original. The game barely managed 10 hours, and some of the later missions had me looking at my watch. There really isn't a single set mission I can immediately recall and say "ah yes, that one was special". They're practically indistinguishable. I do like a lot of the visual touches, but they really did a number on the aesthetics and the scenery/mood you would expect from a Devil May Cry game.
tl;dr: Gameplay wise I think they did a good job. It plays similarly, albeit slightly different, but that's inevitable. The combos are fun, the weapon variety is decent, and it's got a nice pace to the action. I feel like it has more similarities than some people give it credit for. Everything else is not very Devil May Cry, and as a game in general it's got plenty of faults, but it's a decent, solid Devil May Cry game.
Topic: The Gaming Postwhoring Thread (Read 1001668 times)