In this day and age in the video game world, our heroes all seem to be ripped, guarded, soldiers. Consider the Call of Duty franchise, the Gears of War franchise, or the Halo franchise; all feature testosterone-fueled soldiers decked out in military gear with huge guns always blazing. The video game industry would have us believe that our protagonists have to be these big manly men without much of a personality. Well it looks like Capcom has a rebuttal for that stereotype with a beloved video game icon re-imagined: DMC, a brand new reboot of the popular Devil May Cry franchise. And it’s back with more style and fun than ever.
Our demon-slaying anti-hero Dante is anything but the “muscled bald space marine” character we’ve all come to be sick of in video games in recent history. The re-imagined Dante is a skinny punk of a young man. A constant smirk paints his face, his signature knee-length leather jacket is emblazoned with a union jack patch in reference to Punk bands like the Sex Pistols, and his short asymmetrical hairdo are just scratch the surface of this new cocky punk of a hero. And yet this radical shift in character and tone may represent just the type of hero gamers are craving: one with a little attitude.
Not only is the new Dante have a brand new attitude, the world around him is darker, more imaginative, and more devious than ever. Bosses are bigger and meaner, combat is scrappier, and enemies are craftier than ever before. In the demo I got to play at E3, Dante is roaming the city streets, hunched and smirking all the way. Fans of the dark humor found in past Devil May Cry games will be happy to learn that it has carried through in spades in DMC. As he passes a massively overweight man drinking a sugary energy drink, Dante smacks it out of his hand proclaiming, “That stuff will kill ya.” Upon this statement, the world around Dante begins to disintegrate as the structure of the city itself looks to destroy Dante.
Sprinting through the crumbling, ever-shifting city streets, I was amazed at the world design and cleverness of the setting. This formerly quiet little town was now cursing Dante’s name and quite literally destroying itself to kill the young demon hunter. Just as Dante gracefully leaps into the air, the ground shifts away from the feet of the man to encourage his demise.
Upon reaching the end of a somewhat tricky but deliciously fun and tense escape from the monstrous clutches of the city, I finally arrived at the combat portion of the demo. Now, in recent years, games like Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden Sigma have made the over-the-top combat first created in the original Devil May Cry even crazier and fluid. Luckily, DMC’s combat feels just as flowing and natural as ever. In the demo, Dante was equipped with an oversized sword, duel pistols and a grappling hook like tool with which he could pull enemies toward him or pull himself toward enemies.
When used correctly, players can chain massive combos together, slaying massive numbers of tough enemies with ease and finesse. I must admit, as I chained together a particularly long combo, making use of every tool available, it was tremendously satisfying, and I was grinning ear to ear the entire time.
Going into E3, I was particularly interested to see just how different DMC was from its predecessors. The game I discovered greatly surpassed my expectations, blending a brand new attitude with the classic explosive gameplay that made Devil May Cry a legend. The game is set to launch in early January, so we can look forward to a new year filled with crazy demon slaying.
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