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Weekly Gaming: DMC: Devil May Cry (PC) Review

As a huge fan of the Original Devil May Cry series, I’ve been waiting to get my teeth into DMC for a while. I’ll admit, when it was first announced, I joined in with the mass of fans that cried foul because of Dante’s hair colour change (how petty and small a thing to get worked up over). But, upon the game being released for years now, I’ve gotten over that original contempt I felt for the change, and have decided to finally take the plunge and play the game on PC, where I can experience it in full 1080p, 60FPS glory. Below I’ll break down each part of the game, starting with the Story, moving onto the Graphics/Sound, and finally the gameplay. Enjoy!

The Dream Sequences are fantastic, easily showcasing some of the best scenes in the game.

First up, the Story: Seriously, as much as I enjoyed the original Devil May Cry games, the story wasn’t exactly thorough or deep. I find that with age, I genuinely can’t remember much other than Dante was the son of Sparta, a demon that loved a human and had a kid, allowing that kid to be super-human in strength, and to even summon demon powers to take on the super-natural. Whilst this may have been enough back in the days of the PS2 (a simple enough premise to keep players engaged), these days that simplicity just wouldn’t stand.

So Ninja Theory (developers of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West) took the game back to the drawing board, with the story taking place in a world not unlike our own. Dante and Virgil are still demon kids, but their mother was also an angel, meaning they are nephilim; half angel, half devil, able to kill gods themselves. Unlike the original series, which took place in a real world, DMC takes place in Limbo, giving Ninja Theory the perfect setting to let their creative juices flow freely, with worlds crumbling and contorting in weird and wonderful ways. It also allows them to show Dante fighting demons without humans seeing them, closing a loophole the previous games faced. This setting, and the seriousness of it, really shone through, keeping me hooked until the end of the game. Fantastic retelling/alteration of a mediocre original series I would say.

As can be seen in the first level, you’d be really hard pressed to find that DMC was buiilt for the PS3/Xbox 360. The level of detail is stunning.

Next up, the graphics/sound: Well, what can I say. We haven’t really had a true next gen (read: previous gen) devil may cry game, with Devil may cry 4 being more of a slight upgrade over Devil May Cry 3’s engine, it felt awesome to actually play a game made for Xbox 360/PS3, and even on the PC, where I was able to crank graphics settings so high it looked like a PS4/Xbox One title (albeit with silky smooth 60fps framerate at all times). The HD textures were a pleasure to behold, with in game graphics looking better than the pre-rendered cutscenes, I was gobsmacked. Ninja Theory deserve a pat on the back for what they managed to do with the Unreal 3 engine, with the game truly being a beauty on new and old consoles + PC.

The sound was also a joy to behold: with punk rock appearing every time an enemy encounter started, it truly got me into the fight, pumping me up and pushing me to do better. Whilst the music and sound may be a bit “pretentious” due to some of the songs feeling too… contrived (as in, the developers forced the punk aesthetic too hard), it still all flowed well together, with the main menu music also pulling me in to the point I’d stare at the screen for a while, waiting to start.

Levels seem to constantly twist and turn, adding a certain fluidity to the game as nothing is ever what it seems.

So, finally: The Gameplay. The absolute core of a Devil May Cry game, and the main reason the series has been so renowned for so long. It’s the gameplay that kept players coming back despite all of it’s terrible story and plotholes. How’d it hold up in DMC? Fucking beautifully.

It was the gameplay most of all that kept me hooked to the game from beginning to end, with each and every action or story-point actually tying perfectly into the gameplay. Whilst playing, I couldn’t help but this Ninja Theory concentrated 100% on the gameplay first, with everything like story and music being made purely to add substance to the game, or to give an excuse to actually play it. You start off with just Dante’s sword, and his trusty guns. This soon changes to a devil weapon (a hammer), and an angel weapon (a scythe). These soon get superseded by stone hands and katanas, which in turn immensely changes up the gameplay and combos you can perform, so much so I was constantly changing my tactic to try and get a SSS rating in fights. Like I say, it truly feels like the whole game was built around the fighting first and foremost, with everything else being an excuse to fight more. It’s fantastic.

The boss fights were incredible, with the News Anchor fight easily being one of the most intoxicating environments in a game in a long time. Having news graphics with a presenter you need to kill is fantastic.

So overall, I’m annoyed. Annoyed because I didn’t invest the time (nor money) to play DMC sooner. The only reason I finally got around to buying the game now was because it was only £5 for the PC version, and I really need to finish more games that I buy. I’m glad I finally did play it, and am annoyed there may never be another considering how damn great DMC was. The sales figures weren’t great for this one, with Capcam being in a scary position of almost going bankrupt also, it seems we’ll never see a sequel for DMC anytime soon. If you haven’t played DMC, and are a massive fan of action games, you owe it to yourself to play DMC.

5/5

09/10/2015
Weekly Gaming: Castle of Illusion (PS3)

Some of you may remember the original Castle of Illusion from your childhood like myself. It was a fantastic platformer that I used to play with my brothers, so I had to buy this remake in an instant to see it my nostalgia was warranted.

This week, I take a look at Castle of Illusion, a remake of the original Disney game that came out for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for those American readers out there!).

I loved Castle of Illusion as a child, huddled around a small CRT TV with my brothers taking in all the games gloriously smooth animations and lovingly crafted graphics was one of my favourite things to do when I was 8. The game was difficult for how young I was, but my determination and countless hours of gaming allowed me to preserver and finish this hard game. The platforming involved a lot of memorisation and pin point accuracy, making it one of my favourite accomplishments of my youth. Has Sega Studios Australia succeeded in reimagining what I hold so dear from my childhood? Or is this a shameless money grab from an ailing company looking to cash in on our naivety?

The hub world is a nice level which allows you to see all your collectibles in gorgeous 3D, building the world up as you progress. The game is still linear, but the freedom to go back to specific levels that you may want to retry is welcomed.

The game starts off 2.5D, showing a 3D Mickey, moving across a 2D forest on his way to the castle where Mizrabel has imprisoned Minnie in the hopes of stealing her youth and beauty. After a little bit of platforming, you finally reach the castle, where you are then taught that the game isn’t 2D at all, and you in fact have to walk into the background to progress the game. Some reviewers have likened this to when the Wizard of Oz was revealed to be in colour rather than black and white, and whilst I like that sentiment, I don’t feel this is as grand a gesture as they’re making out. It’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but when the market has been saturated with 2.5D platformers for years, this doesn’t come as surprising.

Once the game is completed, the castle acts as a hub world, allowing you to replay any level you want in order to find all the collectibles the game has to offer, or to play each level as a time attack trial. Each level has plenty to explore, with secrets and hidden collectibles scattered aplenty. Its enjoyable enough to go back to a level to try and find everything, because you certainly won’t collect everything the first time round.

Unlike most water levels in platformer games, the water levels in Castle of Illusion are fairly enjoyable as you don’t have to worry about Mickeys air intake. It allows you to get on with the level and dodge enemies like normal rather than having a constant worry on your mind.

The landscapes and design quality of each world is staggering, with a sense of polish you don’t often see in platformers. It reminds me of Deadlight that I played last year (without the same realism and dread that came with a zombie apocalypse), and has a lot of things going on in the background, keeping you entertained and entranced throughout your entire play through. Toy Rockets will take off and land in the background on the toy level, whilst the library will show off deep vista’s, awe inspiring for a fantasy platformer.

Gameplay and levels haven’t changed much from the original, with enemies dying as you jump on their head or you can throw an object at them (objects differ per level, from marbles on the toy level to candles in the castle, it sticks to the theme). Most of the game takes place on a 2D plane, allowing you to accurately land on platforms as your progress throughout the campaign. There are a few new features where you’ll jump on platforms in a 3D section, but this is easily where the solid gameplay falls apart, with the shadow showing where Mickey is in relation to platforms frequently disappearing under the different hues of the world around him. These sections are thankfully few and far between, so these frustrations are kept to a minimum, but it’s still a nuisance that Sega Australia managed to make a fairly consistent game so frustrating at times.

The level designs are spectacular, despite being simple to navigate. Things are always happening in the background, from books jumping around, to toys flying, the levels conjure up a backstory of a living world rather than being static levels for Mickey to progress through.

Boses are a hit and miss, being nice set pieces that show off the engines ability to natively render both 2D and 3D gameplay at the same time, but mostly consist of doing the same dodging until you’re able to jump on the enemies opening. The engine changes from 2D to 3D platforming can be a little jarring when you’re trying to avoid an enemy around an entire platform and then all of a sudden the game restricts you to just moving left and right, but as with the annoying 3D platforming sections, these moments are rare, so they shouldn’t spoil your enjoyment too much.

Playing Castle of Illusion took me back to my childhood like I never imagined a game could. It succeeded in keeping my nostalgia in check, whilst also keeping the game entertaining enough to continue on gameplay alone, and not riding my nostalgia. I kept coming back to the game even after completing the main campaign, and although I didn’t get every gem in the game (there’s 800 to collect), I managed to find every collectible before growing bored. I hope Sega Australia get the chance to remake some other beloved games of my childhood, as I feel a co-operative castle of illusion 2 featuring Donald Duck would be amazing and well received, maybe even fixing some of Castle of Illusion’s set backs.

3/5

21/02/2014

Tag: remake

Weekly Gaming: DMC: Devil May Cry (PC) Review

Weekly Gaming: Castle of Illusion (PS3)