I figured I'd start off October with a short blurb on the upcoming release of the third installment (english site here)of the Devil May Cry series. It's been making some serious news in various corners of the gaming world, and for us DMC fans, it's a ray of hope that Dante will recover from the tragity of the last game, which all I can say was awful.
I'm excited for this game. I loved DMC 1. It was fast. It was cool. It was HARD. DMC 1 was the first action game I played and enjoyed. Others I found boring and irritating. The stories were uninteresting, and nothing pisses me off more than having to run around and find ammo. I like having unlimited ammo. It means I can go along though the game without my mass slaughter being interrupted. Dante gets the job done. I don't want silly things such as Ebony and Ivory (his guns) running out of bullets in the middle of some complicated attack execution that took me several tries to figure out.
Many action gamers might shake their head and wonder where the challenge is in unlimited ammo. All I can say is...play the game. You'll understand. DMC is difficult. Even on easy mode. The first boss kicked my ass at least 12 times before I threw the controler on the floor, snarled a few explicitives, then stormed out of the room. I didn't play again for a week. The amount of bullets you pump into the bosses and the multitude of minions that pour out of portals at incredible speeds would make it nearly impossible to keep up with tracking down random ammo boxes and managing them accordingly. So, instead of the standard snatch and store, like other action games, DMC has implimented a points system based on style of attack, mission completion, and weapons upgrade based on the amount of red orbs you find and the your score at the end of each mission. It's incredibly challenging. Not for the weak at heart. (heh)
Unfortunatly, though DMC 1 was a hit, DMC 2 shattered our hopes when it hit the shelves. The game was horrible. There were a few good elements. Dante learned some cool new tricks and the over all speed of the game increased, making it very fast. For us speed junkies, who like to slashing up enemies at a break neck pace, this was awesome...however, besides that, everything else was just a flop.
First the story just flat out sucked. I give a little lee-way to action games. They don't have to have incredible stories like RPG's, but a little direction and initative is nice. I don't like being confused. I want to know the objective. I expect to learn a bit more about a character as mysterious and complicated as Dante. Instead, in DMC 2, the story never really took off, everything ended, and we were left going..."Huh? What was I doing again and why?" Honestly, actions games don't need a lot of story, but like I said before, DMC 1 had enough of one that warranted a sequel that would AT LEAST explain some things to us. DMC 2 failed miserably.
As I said before, DMC 2 gave Dante some cool new moves. He could jump higher, run up walls and back flip off while firing his guns, hang in the air using his guns to propel him upward even futher, somorsault with ease, and aim in two directions. Sadly, very few of these allowed you to earn extra style points. I mean, come on, nothing is cooler that sprinting up the side of a wall, leaping off and gaining some serious air time while firing upside down! I should get some serious points for a stunt like that! The leveling up and point system was made totally irrelevent by it's erradic distribution. It was confusing, irritating, and disappointing.
The weapons were dull as well. Dante starts off with a bland sword and his dual pistols (which I love the most). Eventually you find more weapons and better swords, but it all seems pretty trivial compared to the first game. At least the shotgun was back, since it was my second favorite weapon in the game.
Bosses...well, lets just say they hadn't earned that title. They were so incredibly easy it was pathetic. There was no stratigizing needed to beat them. In DMC 1, to beat a boss, you had to learn their patterns, when to attack when to back off. It was like a dance while fighting them. You got hurt, they got hurt (if you were lucky). Monsters of DMC 2 were disappointing, to say the least.
Though the game was bad player wise, Capcom did manage to carry over and improve on the stunning visuals and movement of characters. Looking at it, DMC 2 was a beautiful piece of work, just like DMC 1. The camara angles still sucked, which was also an extention of the first game and I wish they would have improved that aspect before some of the others, but it's a tiny complaint. I can get use to a camara angle.
DMC 2 is a renter. Don't buy it like I did. It doesn't have replay value like the first one, which I like to play again and again just for the sheer fact killing the baddies is a ton of fun. DMC 2 as a stand alone action game is okay, but as a sequal, is horrible. Incredibly horrible.
Which brings me to DMC 3. It rumor mill is running, now that we have seen the trailer and some screen caps. Sure, it's not enough to base a review on, but it's enough to give Dante fans everywhere some glimmer of hope.
Apparently, this sequal is actually a prequel. Dante is back, but he's younger and he's got a story to tell. Apparently, we are taken back to a time before Dante was aware of who or what he is. We will also learn that Dante has a brother, a twin, who also carries Sparda's (their father) demonic powers. Of course, neither of the twins like each other much and they are desitined to fight with one another. There is also another playable character, a demon hunter by the name of Lady, who has vowed to rid the world of all demons, including Dante. So, our young Dante, unaware of who or what he is, or that he even has fierce foes after him, sets out to confront his destiny.
From what I hear, Capcom has gone back to the roots of DMC1 for this game. Thank God. They've improved things, like the graphic's engine and now the cut scenes flow more easily. The other games were already pretty, but I can't wait to see it now! From the screen caps, everything looks a bit more solid and far less jaggy.
Game play has improved too. It's faster. Yup. Those lucky enough to demo this game already (in Japanese) have said Capcom has done the impossible and made an already incredibly fast game even faster. For us gamers who like fast games, this is incredibly exciting. The camara angles rotate around as you flip through the air, slicing and dicing a plethora of enemies that rush at you with the force of a frieght train. I've only seen one other game that moved like this, and that was Samurai 7. Nothing was better than making Natoe cut through enemy after enemy at a pace so fast you could barely keep up. It was a challenge to keep that speed, and with Dante's arsenal, I imagine it will be 100 times better than Natoe and his duel swords.
Which brings me to my next point. From what I've heard, DMC 3 is hard. Very hard. The speed and enemies make the game incredibly difficult, which is fine by me. I like hard games...but I hope they don't go over board and make it so difficult it's hard to enjoy the game. It would be a shame to see Capcom go from one extream (too easy) to another (too hard). DMC 1 was difficult. It was hard enough that it pissed you off, but you still could keep playing without being discouraged. I hope DMC 3 walks that line. I haven't heard any complaints about it yet...so perhaps that's a good sign. In fact, I hear that swapping weapons, evading, using sword and special abilities is almost effortless. Perhaps this is a trade off for the number of enemies you're forced to fight, and the cramped quarters you fight them in, but the game is still hard. It sounds like a blast!
A new exciting feature is the combat system. At the beginning of each mission, you'll be able to choose between several styles. Now, in mid-battle, you can use a single button for guns, sword, hand to hand, special abilities, etc! Yay! The carnage increases!
I'm excited for this game. It's due for a winter realease in Japan, and I've heard as early as Feb. here in the US. Though I could be mistaken. We all know how games tend to be pushed back (ehem...Star Ocean). From everything I've read and seen, it looks like Capcom has finally done justice to Dante by giving him a game that lives up to his badass name!
Posted by Zoso at October 1, 2004 11:40 AM