DmC - Devil May Cry

[Blizzard]

There's been some controversy regarding the new DMC game as it is a reboot from a Western perspective where the original was from an Eastern perspective. I don't have much to say about the game itself except that I'm amazed at the low hardware requirements. My laptop is somewhere in the medium range of hardware and the game runs mostly on 60 FPS while still looking very good. Kudos for that. Gameplay is as fun as always and the variety of weapons and combos gives you lots of choice on how you want to play the game and how you go about killing enemies. The learning curve is well adjusted and the controls are good.

As for the new Dante himself, I think that people are overreacting heavily. Sure, he's not the cocky and funny guy we all know, but instead he's this gloomy dude who doesn't care about anything. His lack of motivation kinda weighs everything down a bit and instead of the game feeling like a badass demon killing fest, it feels more of a drag that you have to go through killing all the demons. Of course, I'm talking about shades here. I'm not saying the new Dante is bad or he completely destroyed the game or something like that. I'm just saying that it's not as fun as with the original. The new Dante is a try-hard badass instead of being an actual badass and it simply weighs down the game feel. It feels like there is untapped potential in his character so far. But I'll guess I'll find out more once I progress further in the story (so far I finished 2 levels). Also, the voice acting as well as motion capture animations are very realistic. I doesn't feel like a game, it feels like a movie. It's really great.

One moment that has particularly stricken me was when Dante was holding his gun up at the projection of Kat. She was explaining how she can project herself into Limbo so he can see her. He said "And if I shoot you?" and after a short suspense, she replied "Then I'll die." in such a sad voice that it really broke through to me. I was like "OMG! Dante, don't shoot her! C'mon, man, don't shoot her! Put your gun down!"

[Blizzard]

I've been playing some more (I think I finished level 7 now).

Dante is completely unmotivated and takes out quite a chunk of joy in playing the game, because I have no good cutscenes to look forward to. The only moments where I saw hints that Dante might be actually enjoying busting demon asses was when I was basically killing the Succubus boss which was kinda overshadowed by the pointless "Fuck you!" back and forth between Dante and the Succubus before the battle started. While that may have sounded funny while writing, a later second or at least third read should have made the writer facepalm himself.
The dialogue (and especially the one-liners) feels disconnected from what is actually happening in the cutscenes. They have a feel as if two different people wrote the scenario and the dialogue and then they just smashed it together. There is also another huge inconsistency in the game. While in the moving-picture parts of the cutscenes Dante seems to really have a raging motivation, it falls flat with the actual character. Dante's psychological profile is quite unreal. He is supposed to be a womanizer, but a person as unmotivated and as unengaged as that can't possibly be good with the ladies. He's a wallflower.
Remember the hints of depth that I mentioned from level 2? Yeah, they never happened. Dante doesn't know how to express himself and the connection between player and character suffers greatly because of that. I don't care about the new Dante. I wouldn't want to spend time with him, I wouldn't want him to be my friend, I don't look up to him, because he doesn't seem to have any desirable qualities whatsoever.

Even if I take out the original Dante from the equation, the new one is still boring. He's two-dimensional at best. That is, if he would express himself for a change instead of mumbling wanna-be badass one-liners which he doesn't even believe himself that they are funny. Dante, if you don't think your one-liners are funny, how do you expect me to find them funny? I think that the greatest problem is the lack of motivation, it's sucking out the life of everything around him, even undermining the depth of the other characters since everything seems to be centered around Dante, as if somebody is trying to say "LOOK AT DANTE! HE IS DANTE! BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL! LOOOOOOOOOOOOK AT HIM! LOOOOOOOOOOOK!". Yeah, I get it. He is doesn't give a fuck about anything. He is too cool. He is a loner. Well, he can go fuck himself all by himself, because he's not going to get any pussy anytime soon, because he is too cool for sex. Not that he cares about sex, because he doesn't care about anything.

I would really like to say something good about the new Dante, I really want to, but I can't find ANYTHING. I really hope that things are going to change, because Dante's taking the fun out of his own game which, in gameplay, feels superior to its predecessors.

The battle against the Succubus was quite entertaining and fun (even though maybe too easy since I barely had to think or use actual play skill to defeat him, I didn't die even once). The levels are cleverly organized and even though they are actually linear, you get a feeling of vastness and the desire to explore every single corner. This obviously backfires since level score at the end is affected by how much time you need. Though, I still keep getting S ranks all the time for the time limit. Sure, I am playing on the "normal" difficulty, but I feel like I am getting quite a bit of undeserved praise.

EDIT: I was wrong, I finished level 6. And it seems that things start to look a lot better in the cutscenes at the beginning of level 7. Dante finally starts to feel like he has an actual personality. Let's see if he grows.

[Blizzard]

I've continued playing some more and I just finished level 12. After level 6 things get a lot better. Dante starts too feel more real and seems to finally actually care. The flaws of him being a try-hard at times are still there, but at least now he has to have some actual motivation. As for the rest of the game, there is not much to say. The later levels are as interesting and creative as the earlier ones, enemies slowly get tougher and more dangerous and the difficulty seems to be at a good level now. I still keep getting S ranks all over the place, even if I take a shitload of damage since the use of 1 item only reduces the score by 10k which is really nothing compared to the usual 5+ million that I get. But I suppose that S is the average since SSS isn't really easy to get and lower ranks (A-D) are probably only there for players who never played a DMC or hack'n'slash game.

EDIT: If this kind of character development continues, I can say that people are really overacting about the new Dante. Yeah, he is inferior to the original, that's true. But he isn't THAT bad. I'll see how it all plays out. I think that the new Dante might be alright on his own terms. But that still remains to be seen.

EDIT: Also, I keep getting SS rank on my time limit most of the time now. Oh well.

EDIT: AND WHY DOES NOBODY CARE ABOUT MY OLD-MAN RAMBLINGS ABOUT THE NEW DMC!

[Zexion]

I would care, but I don't :V
Nah, I just don't even know what DMC is about lol.

[Blizzard]

Alright, I finished playing. It didn't really get much better from the last time, but it's alright. There are a few scenes that will surprise you and some of the dialogue (especially towards the end) will make you start to think about the moral ambiguity of what is going on. Regardless of the fact that you're fighting the bad guys, it will suddenly seem that you may not be so good after all and how good and evil are only perspectives. Sadly this concept isn't explored much in the game's story, because it would have added a lot of depth. Instead it's only added at the end somewhere and makes you start to wonder whether you are doing the right thing.
Dante's character is a lot better at the end than it is at the beginning. You can see that he has grown a bit as a person and probably finally found some purpose in his life as he mentions how he used to kill time with "killing demons and getting laid". He's still not close to the original, but at least it's an alright start for a reboot and a new Dante that will hopefully grow further as a person in sequels.

I have nothing to say about the rest. As I already said, level design is creative, battles are fun and interesting. I loved the fact that they throw in short levels sometimes and even levels without any collectibles. It definitely breaks up the long pacing with a few fresh and quick levels.

If you are a DMC fan, you will enjoy this game, too. If you are a Dante fanboy, you won't enjoy it for the sole reason that the new Dante doesn't live up to the original and you will blindly rage around the Internet as if someone pulls off your ballsacks and sold them on eBay. But if you can look past the mediocrity of the story telling and character plot, you will enjoy this game for what it is: a fun and fast-paced action game.

Spoiler: ShowHide

But at the end his hair stayed white after I beat up the last boss with Devil Trigger. I guess Ninja Theory wasn't thinking of their Dante to be that superior after all.