DmC: Devil May Cry is a 2013 reboot of the original Devil May Cry game/franchise that was first published and developed by Capcom in 2001. The game no longer stars the young, white haired, demon hybrid version of Dante, but instead stars a more human reminiscing version of the character. Though Dante is still considered a half-breed, there are some major changes from his character in this Ninja Theory retelling of the franchise. His character design is one change that instantly comes to mind. The original Dante from the 2001 game looked to be in his mid/late-20s, while this Dante seems to be between the age of 17-19,  maybe early 20s like in Dante’s Awakening. His beloved white hair is no more, in fact Ninja Theory actually throws in an inside joke at the expensive of long time fans of the franchise about the removal of one of Dante’s key character designs as you progress through the game (as one of the aforementioned people, I actually laughed at it).  This game also reintroduces Dante’s brother Virgil, but rather than being his twin like in the original, he is instead Dante’s little brother who runs an origination known as The Order, which acts similarly to the real life hacker group Anonymous. Also introduced is a new love interest for Dante, Kat, The Order’s second best hacker.

THE GOOD:  When it comes to the good in a game, DmC has plenty. The re-worked gameplay was phenomenal, reminiscent of Bayonetta and Dante’s Awakening, while also adding its own original thing. The new weapons switch system was flawlessly done, though it did take some getting used to if you were a player of the original franchise.  Ninja Theory stayed closer to Dante’s Awakening more than any of the previous four games, as one thing that returned was the energetic heavy metal soundtrack with songs written and sung by the band Constantine.

The weapons were cleverly designed, and were used effectively against all different types of enemies, making for some interesting combos when used correctly. There’s also a new “colors” system, where you can only attack certain enemies with certain colored weapons. This of course isn’t anything original, but it was an interesting addition to the Devil May Cry franchise.

The crazy boss fights that Devil May Cry is known for returns, in most cases you have to use a certain colored weapon in order to defeat them, which was fun, but it would make certain boss battles feel tired.

THE BAD: Note to developers; bad language DOES NOT make for a good M-rated story, and DmC is full of more f and s bombs than an hour long episode of South Park. It felt really unnecessary to hear a “fuck” or “shit”, almost every cut scene.  Sure, Dante is no stranger to dropping those bombs, but I don’t recall them being so often that you could almost lose count in previous titles.

The lack of varying enemies was also an issue, Devil May Cry is no stranger to this either, so I don’t know if this was worth mentioning or not. The color weapons= damage to colored enemies gets a bit old as well.

The platforming would often get a bit confusing at times, there were times when you’d think you went the correct way, but ended up at one of the extra mission doors, or would go into a complete circle.

The difficulty was mixed from super easy, to somewhat hard, some of the tougher enemies were only hard if there were about 2 or so ganging up on you. The boss fights would also be incredibly easy as well, in fact I think the only boss I had that much trouble with was Mundus.

Kat also kind of seemed like her sole purpose was just to be Dante’s piped in love interest.

THE UGLY: None in particular.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Despite the controversy caused by Dante character redesign, DmC is a fine entry into the franchise. The gameplay and weapons switch system are great. The color weapons/system is a nice addition, but can also get a little boring. The crazy boss fights are back, but got too easy. There was too much unnecessary bad language, and the return of the heavy metal soundtrack was a good decision.