DmC: Devil May Cry Review

I know many people look at the number on the review and say: 6?! Really? Without getting into the review. Listen, I loved playing Devil May Cry; but there were too many things I didn’t love about it. After playing through the game once I can safely say: “I’m glad I played it, but I’ll never play this again.”

Also to note is my relative inexperience with prior games. I have played  DMC games in the past, but never religiously.

The Good

There plenty to love about DmC. The first of which is Dante. Walking through a fun house during the first level, a deranged doll springs into Dante’s face. The moment is meant to scare the gamer, but Dante simply exclaims “whatever” and keeps walking. I laughed out loud. The writing for the game is great and it comes out in little moments like this.

The music and level design in the game are like PB&J. Nothing is better than taking a group of enemies head-on while some headbanger metal plays in a disco night-club from Hell. Levels were never confusing or unfair. When blended with the kinetic music it’s tough not to get into the demon killing spirit. Or the ‘killing a giant demon baby’ spirit.

The graphics are amazing. The game looks very pretty with no noticable texture issues or anything.

The Bad

I understand the original games were episodic. The break up of the 20 episodes was so jarring it actually pulled me out of the game. A good example is when you meet a demon and must retrieve his eye. You know immediately that an entire level will be devoted to this task after you meet him. After that level the story continues. It makes you go “Yep. Side quests that are main quests.” It took me out of the story when all I wanted to do was simply continue on with more missions.

Higher scores require speed and variety. Although the majority of the weapons are fun, you will pick favorites and use them more than the others. I found the Arbitor, Aquila and Ebony and Ivory to be my trinity of weapons. I also found it difficult to force myself to use something like Kablooey when I didn’t want to.

There are hidden keys and such scattered across all the levels that force you to play through the game once to unlock all the abilities and weapons, then return to prior levels in order to retrieve them. It’s tough to explore a level or try platforming to reach a key I see, when it’s not possible to retrieve until I unlock a specific weapon 5 levels later. This game relies on repeat playthroughs to find all the keys and I just didn’t love it enough to replay just for collectibles.

Also Witches. Those awful stupid witches.

Borrow or Rent it

DmC is basically an in-between. The creators wanted a game the revitalized the Devil May Cry franchise by creating a new audience while trying not to alienate its original fanbase. If it could have picked one direction or the other I think the overall flow of the game would’ve been better. This game was stuck in the middle.

Despite its flaws, it’s a must-play. I wouldn’t buy it or anything but find a friend’s and borrow it for the weekend.