Let's Talk... DmC: Devil May Cry

As someone who has never been a fan of the Devil May Cry series in any capacity, DmC: Devil May Cry was a pretty great surprise. This flashy reboot moves away from the series’ traditional roots of extreme difficulty and replaces it with a considerably less challenging and more accessible experience. The game’s extremely stylish art style and excellent level design easily outweighs the satisfying yet simplified combat system, and it certainly seems to be more the focus of the game.

A satisfying and rewarding combat system is great fun, but it certainly isn't as difficult as previous DMC games

 A younger and controversially reinvented Dante takes center stage of the reboot. The story explores Dante’s past, as is the standard for reboots, and sees him team up with his long-lost brother, Vergil, to stop the demons taking over the world with a mind-numbing soda drink. It’s pretty ridiculous, and as soon as a flying pizza covers up Dante’s crotch as he flies into his clothes you know it isn’t going to take itself particularly serious. For as dumb as it is on paper, its execution actually isn’t half-bad. It manages to tell its own stupid story, somewhat build Dante as a character and makes enough room for potential sequels, whilst attempting to explore some harrowing topics like sexual assault and domestic violence (granted it’s only for a brief moment and touches on it in the lightest possible way).

When compared to the previous games, the combat certainly appears considerably “dumbed down” at face value. But as new weapon unlocks and a whole host of purchasable combos add layer upon layer, it eventually becomes pretty complex. Some enemies appear in ethereal forms that will only become solidified when using the right weapon. Some enemies require you to pull off particular combos to leave them vulnerable. And, of course, the Devil May Cry trademark of knocking up enemies and juggling them in the air with your guns is well intact. The combat is certainly no cakewalk, especially at the higher difficulties (which actually get quite creative in how they alter the challenge of the game, for example, all enemies die in one hit but so do you) and involves a lot of switching between different weapons and doing your best to look as stylish as possible.

A gorgeous art style and some great art direction elevate every inch of this game's appeal

Fortunately, the game’s reasonably deep scoring system incentivizes you to do just that, and plays its way into almost every aspect of the game. At the end of each level you’ll be given an overall score based on how fast you beat the level, your combat rating and how many collectibles you found. The score is an arbitrary completionist figure aside from the upgrade points you obtain from higher ratings, but the drive to get those S ranks is a great way to encourage you to experiment with the game’s angel and demon weaponry, which act as light and heavy attacks respectively. Although the combat is relatively easy on the default difficulty, the way that the game’s scoring system is constantly rewarding and punishing you during combat can actually make it rather brutal. An excellently executed combo can get your score right up there but your letter grade score drops a couple of levels whenever you’re hit.

The fact that all of the gameplay takes place in the demonic limbo/fake reality allows the designers to truly go crazy here. Mundane environments like warehouses or just typical streets are mutilated, twisted and transformed into the most ridiculous and just unrecognisable landscapes of such incredible creativity. As well as bringing some extraordinary environments, the game also throws some truly memorable boss sequences your way, too, which, whilst not exceptionally difficult, won’t be forgotten for a good long time. It’s difficult to explain some of the crazy environments and do them the justice they deserve; they’re certainly something to be experienced first-hand. The way that the things form and explode all around, the way that titles and information appears and overlays on screen, and wonderful usage of a varied colour palette makes for some visually stunning and truly unforgettable set pieces.

Screenshots alone don't do the crazy level design justice

Overall, DmC is a super stylish and hugely enjoyable experience with a couple of truly outstanding moments, but having the Devil May Cry name stamped all over it may in fact be its downfall. Fans of the older games will probably hate that this game even exists, whilst anyone who hasn’t played a Devil May Cry game will probably just be put off by the notorious difficulty of the earlier games. Nonetheless, DmC is an incredibly stylish reboot with some decent promise for another great sequel, and although the action is solid it’s the game’s amazing level design and awesome art direction that elevates this well-made and accessible character-action reboot into crazy levels of stylishness.