DmC Devil May Cry – Review

In 2001 Devil May Cry was THE game to buy for the PlayStation 2. Dante had a long black jacket that looked like a cape, white hair, guns blazing and fantastic swordplay. The action was fast and the environment was fun with a splash of Capcom gaming excitement written all over it. The follow-up Devil May Cry 2 wasn’t so great but Devil May Cry 3 and 4 were both decent and sold well.

Five years after the last game we now have the reboot of the series called ‘DmC‘ starring a revamped Dante, Vergil (his brother) and Kat a companion to the story. DmC was developed by Ninja Theory who last made Enslaved a brilliant game that was praised by all yet hardly sold enough units to warrant a sequel. Ninja Theory’s creative side Tameem Antoniades and Alex Garland were brought on by Capcom to reboot the Devil May Cry series and give fans something new to come away cheering – mission accomplished!

Say what you will about the ‘new-look emo Dante’ but the action, drama, fighting and pacing all make up one excellent ‘ride’ of a video game experience. DmC introduces us to some fun modifiers in combat much in the same way as the God of War franchise or more recently Lollipop Chainsaw. While fighting Dante can easily switch from weapon to ability with the touch of a button – his sword and guns get most of the action but you can hold down the right trigger or left trigger buttons to activate his Arbiter and/or Osiris weapons as well as Eryx.

Dante’s Arbiter is a demonic axe that acts as the ‘heavy’ weapon – smashing through shields and knocking enemies back while his Osiris looks more like a ‘heavenly’ sword which is smooth and slashes more gracefully making it easier to ‘air juggle’ opponents. If all else fails then conjure up Eryx which are a set of demonic gauntlets much like Kratos’ Nemean Cestus.

Bottom line – Devil May Cry is back – DmC is a great game and worth checking out. Fanboys all over the world may be upset at the drastic changes Ninja Theory made in the reboot but casual or hardcore gamers should recognize that in the big picture of things ‘change is good’ and ultimately the combat is still there with a ton of improvements.

DmC Devil May Cry is out now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with the PC version arriving Jan 25, 2013.

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DmC Devil May Cry – Review