Monday Impressions: DmC Devil May Cry

Now we've all heard about how this isn't a true Devil May Cry game or how Capcom made a mistake of outsourcing the development to Ninja Theory and how the new Dante looks like an emo mess. But answer me this, can you truly say that you agree with those statements? Is a game more about cosmetics than substance?

Developer: Ninja Theory Publisher: Capcom Release Date: January 15, 2013

This new iteration of Devil May Cry is a full on reboot of the series. Be that as it may, not a whole lot has changed. Dante may not be 80's pizza eating Ninja Turtles cool but is still the type of demon slaying badass as he was only a bit younger. He may have an emo look but Ninja Theory's portrayal of the new Dante is far from it. He's more of a bad mouthed angsty teen with a heart of gold.

The game runs on the Unreal Engine which still runs the curse of texture popping and frame drops. Still, the game looks great. The real world looks dull and grey as it should be since man-kind has been dumbed down by the bad guys while Limbo looks like a twisted version of it. Parts of buildings and roads burst out, floating in mid-air. Unknown black smudges that sometimes try to claw at you creep on the sides and corners of everything. I'd say Ninja Theory pulled off the exact kind of hell-on-Earth look that they were going for. Color tones are clear and prominent in every level. The real world is usually a dark grey and sometimes blue while Limbo is the exact opposite with bright vibrant colors.

What really hooked me on to this game was the combat. I love me some action games and I'm usually a fan of making your own combos. The older DMC games tickled my fancy and Bayonetta's combat system is one of the reasons why I love that game. The combat system in this new game is actually easier than previous DMCs. You can literally combo anything into anything. A one button launch is always ok in my book and switching between weapons are done by simple holding either the L2/LT or R2/RT buttons. Once you get newer weapons, you can switch to them on the fly via the D-pad. What I don't like about the combat is a lack of a controllable lock-on mechanic. You could me hitting one enemy but end up yanking or latching onto the wrong one mid battle which could mess up your style rank if you're going for that kind of stuff.

While all this talk about stylish combat is done against the regular goons, boss fights are another story. Boss fights are more about the visual aspect rather than combat finesse. Find the pattern, do damage, rinse and repeat. They do look hella fancy though and I'm sure some of them offer a better challenge on the higher difficulties.

Is it worth a try?

I have to admit, I wasn't negative about the visual changes that they made but I was still a bit skeptical about the gameplay itself as I was worried that it might fall to the modern game curse that it's all flash and no fun. After getting a taste of the combat when I tried the public demo, it convinced me that DmC Devil May Cry was going to be my first game purchase of 2013. I even ended up pre-ordering the game even though I wasn't really sold on the DLC bonuses that came with it. Though I have to say that I am diggin' the look of the Osiris bone skin and I do appreciate the orb magnet and the three free upgrade points.

I'll do a full playthrough of DmC Devil May Cry on a harder difficulty once I beat the game for the first time so that I have all the weapons and powers-ups. Had issues when I tried to upload videos of it the first time around, hopefully my second attempt will push through.

Out this week: DmC, Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt

This week marks the start of the New Year for gaming. First big title to be released is Ninja Theory's DmC. Also, if you need one more reason to revisit Pandora, the next DLC for Borderlands 2 is set to be released this week.

DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC is set in a parallel universe in the Devil May Cry series, but in short, this is a reboot. A reboot with a new look for Dante but with the good old gameplay seen in previous titles. The hack and slash beat 'em up is out on January 15 for NA, and january 17 for Japan, but for us? We get it on Wednesday. Datablitz announced via their Facebook page that DmC will be available on January 16.

Pre-ordering the game through Datablitz is still available, but the offer only lasts until the 15th. If you pre-order, you get a Dante shirt, a cellphone case for your iPhone, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note II (What?), and three DLC packs.

These DLC packs are the Bone Pack, Gold Pack, and Samurai Pack:

The Samurai Pack gives a new samurai weapon skin for Dante's axe, scythe , and shotgun. You even get additional orbs to use at the start of the game to upgrade or purchase items or skills.

The Bone pack is another skin set that transforms Dante's weapons in crafted bone weapons. You also get an Orb Harvester character ability that allows the player to gather orbs faster.

Last but not least, the gold pack. It gives yet another skin that turns Dante's axe, scythe, and shotgun into gold. You will also earn the item finder character perk that assists players in finding hidden items.

Datablitz has not given the price for DmC, but they did give a price range from P1,900 - P2100. The game will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (region-free), with the PC version to be released on a later date.

Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt

The third DLC for Borderlands 2 is Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt. This is a campaign add-on which Gearbox highly suggest players to tackle once they finished the game or hit level 30. Included in the DLC will be new missions, new zone, new skins, new enemies, and of course more loot. It will cost you $9.99/ 800 MS points, or free if you purchased the season pass. It will be available for download on January 15.

Oh, and just in case you missed it...

Anarchy Reigns

The online multiplayer beat 'em up is now available in the Philippines. The game is priced at P1,395 for both PS3 and Xbox360 at Datablitz. Thanks to this game coming out in Japan months ago, we have quite a cheap game that's considered "new" to most gamers.

If you want to see what else is coming in the coming weeks, check out our Q1 2013 post that lists all the big titles coming in the first three months of the year.

DmC Devil May Cry Demo Impressions

The demo of the new Devil May Cry game (spelled as "DmC") with the new emo Dante just came out this week and I tried it out.

The demo includes a short campaign segment called "Under Watch" where in the game teaches you how to pull off attacks and demonstrate Dante's new platforming tools to go about the environment. I like the combat in this game. It still stays true to the whole "make your own combo" asthetic that made the older Devil May Cry games so fun. Comboes are easier to pull off than in the older games but is complex enough for you to put in a bit of effort if you want to keep the combo going. Aside from the standard sword and dual pistols, Dante has access to two weapons. The Osiris (scythe) and the Arbiter (axe/hammer) which are mapped to the L2 and R2 buttons respectively. Dante doesn't switch with the two weapons but instead, the buttons act as a sort of move modifier. The Osiris acts as the "crowd control" weapon, dealing multiple hits while covering a wide horizontal space. The Arbiter acts as the hammer type weapon, with earth shaking strike powerfull enough to break shields or launch enemies in the air. You can switch between all 4 weapons (sword, guns, scythe and axe) at any point during move strings which lets you mix and match and create your own combos. And yes, the guns do keep opponents airbourne ala the first Devil May Cry.

Aside from that, the demo also includes one boss fight in a mode called "Secret Ingredient" which pits you against a large larvae like creature that knows how to drop the F-bomb. There's actually a challenge room to the left of the area before the boss that asks you to defeat a wave of enemies before the timer runs out. The twist being that the enemies only take damage when they are above the ground. It's a good little way of telling the player that thinking of creative ways to combo enemies can benefit you instead of just hammering away at the attack button.

I have to say that I liked the demo. Combat is fun, the environments look nice, and even though the punk "I can swear in a video game" theme doesn't rub me the right way at the moment, I have to say that DmC will surely be one of my game purchases in 2013.

I played on the "Devil Hunter" difficulty which I'm guessing is the normal difficult level. The game offers your 4 difficulty levels, with the 4th (Son of Sparda) being initially locked. At the end of each game mode (after the game trailer plays out) you are given a rating on how you performed in combat. I don't know what the required rating is to unlock the Son of Sparda difficulty but I believe I got rank B in both Under Watch and Secret Ingredient and got access to Son of Sparda in both modes.

If any of you are on the fence about the new DmC, then by all means try the demo out and remember, Dante's new look does not define the game, gameplay does.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8V_6dFprU4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYiXFWaEWc[/youtube]

DmC DLC lets you play as Vergil

Capcom is at it again with their DLC's. Since Vergil was revealed to appear in the upcoming reboot of Devil May Cry, everybody has been asking Ninja Theory if he will be a playable character. Now this shows up. You actually do get a chance to play as Vergil, but its pre-order DLC. Oh Capcom.

Hours of gameplay?? Man I sure hope so. If it only provides an hour or two of Vergil gameplay, that's going to be disappointing. But I got to say, the Vergil gameplay seems to be in check.

I never liked how Capcom applies their DLC. Gamers anticipating this game that are big fans of Vergil are in a position to either pre-order the game, or cash out more money in order to play the character. Just another attempt from Capcom to take advantage of a beloved franchise. Hopefully I'm wrong on this one, but I have a big feeling that the DLC will actually be included in the disc on launch and downloading the code to unlock the DLC content will be required. Capcom has done this before with Street Fighter X Tekken. DLC characters were found on the disc at game launch and was already fixed and playable. All you need to do was purchase the DLC in order to download the code to unlock the characters (Which was released weeks after).

As shown at the end of the video, the pre-order is for Gamespot (US) and EB Games (Canada). Still no word if DmC will get any pre-order treatment here in the Philippines that will include this DLC, but it's too soon to tell since this game is still a few months away. If it won't be available on release, then the only way to get Vergil's Downfall is to purchase it when it comes out on PSN or Xbox Live.

Ninja Theory's DmC is planned for a January 15 2013 release on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

DmC gameplay trailer

Capcom just released a new gameplay video if Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry. The footage shows Dante going through Limbo and eventually facing off against  a very large and very ugly succubus.

DmC was delayed to 2013 to further develop and polish the game. So if you're digging the changes done with Dante, it's going to be a long wait.

DmC: Devil May Cry will be out on January 17, 2013 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.