• 2Jan 13

  DMC (Devil may cry) thoughts and concerns so far

  Initially, i felt an OVERWHELMING amount of apprehension for the latest installment of our beloved demon slaughtering series. Though it was encouraged by the Capcom team themselves, Ninja Theory has made some changes to Devil may Cry that many fans may find disturbing. Arguably the largest point of concern is our hero: Dante. Whom in this reboot, feels more like an anti-hero than he ever has. As far as original aesthetic preservation is concerned, Ninja Theory might as well have rendered Dante's appearance based off of James Franco's. He looks almost nothing like he usually does. In japan, heroic characters are often associated with the color red. One can safely assume this was the reason for Dante's interesting taste in fashion. Ninja theory's Dante is dressed is mostly black or gray. Perhaps an attire-based manifestation of Dante's new personality? It's possible. The color of his clothing is trivial for the most part. However, I found it idiotic and unnecessary that Ninja Theory decided to plaster a big, fat British Flag on the sleeve of Dante's coat. Most of the developers for the Devil May Cry series are Japanese. The original and most commonly known voice actor for Dante himself (appearing in DMC 3 and 4) is an American named Reuben Langdon. The voice actor for Dante this time around happens to be Australian. I can understand taking pride in one's nationality, but we've never seen a Japanese flag anywhere on Dante's apparel before. So why does Ninja theory feel the need to put their personal stamp of ownership on an iconic character? The fact that Dante is an American sounding man voiced by an Australian just makes this even more odd to me.
  
  
  
  Not only does Dante's face and clothing appear drastically different, his arsenal of classic weapons have undergone a transformation as well. The sword "Rebellion" looks like a tooth pick in comparison to it's previous appearances. Ebony and Ivory are a bit strange to look at as well. The twin hand guns were originally made for Dante by a gunsmith, always appearing modern but unusually large. In this game, they look more like demonically possessed relics that were stolen from Satan's end table next to his bed.
  
  While I don't personally prefer any of these new changes, I could certainly live with them and make the best out of the game anyway. My greatest concern however, lies not within the appearance of this game, but in it's script. Given, the demo can only show so much. But from what I have heard so far, I'm not impressed with the writing and delivery of lines in this game. It all feels very much like a soap. Less than engaging one liners coupled with gratuitous amounts of swearing (on Dante's part at least) assail my ears and cause me to raise an eye brow in the most uncertain of ways.
  
  Going back and fourth with a demon who's supposedly hundreds of years old saying **** you" feels childish and rather forced. Dante and Virgil's conversation about the origin of their family and heritage almost sounded like it was ripped out of a poorly funded, creature based teen drama. Again, this is just going off of only a fraction of the game's dialogue and footage. There is no way to be certain how the rest of the game will sound.
  
  Appearances aside, the game feels pretty good. Controls are tight and actions have a desirable sense of impact and purpose. We've all heard plenty of times how this game will only run at only 30 fps as opposed to the usual 60, so I'm not going to get into that. I will say that I'm disappointed about the lack of a Lock on system in this game. Sword attacks and bullets gravitate towards whatever enemy you are facing or aiming at, but the absence of a concrete lock on mechanism makes preforming moves like the classic "stinger" feel kind of clunky and difficult. I remain hopeful that this won't end up negatively affecting combat later in the game, but we shall see. It may sound like I'm brutally bashing this game in an abundance of ways, but I'm actually looking forward to playing it. I have very high hopes that it will deliver something Devil May Cry fans will be pleasantly surprised with. Myself included. Come January 15 th, I will cast my final judgement upon this title. Until then, I wait in eager anticipation.
  • Posted Jan 2, 2013 9:12 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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