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First, understand that I am a huge fan of the Devil May Cry franchise (featuring Dante). I even see value in DMC2. But also understand, that doesn't mean I think that game is GOOD, just that it has value from a design perspective. DMC2 is like the dumpster behind a steakhouse. It's a sickening mess, but some of the stuff in there would be delicious if it wasn't surrounded by such filth.
If the first public demo of DMC5 is representative of the full game, it's going to be the best seat in that steakhouse with a gigantic slab of meat plated in front of it.
I wasn't sold on the art style when I first saw the trailers, but after seeing the game in person I definitely am. The animations are what sells it, and they don't get that job done in a 30fps youtube trailer. Every movement looks so buttery smooth compared to the rest of the series, without compromising the responsiveness of the controls. There's no Rockstar sluggishness here, which is something I was concerned about when the game's director, Hideaki Itsuno, mentioned a focus on smoother, more natural looking animation in an early interview. Capcom has included a ton of very specific situational animations that will likely go largely unnoticed, but add a layer of polish that's truly impressive. For example, after Nero's second sword slash, he's got his body turned a different way than normal, and if you fire the gun at that time you'll get an entirely different animation where he shoots from the hip while turning back to his normal stance.
That polish extends to the gameplay, which starts with DMC4's solid base and expands on it, while also revising Nero to make him feel less like a Dante wannabe. Since Nero no longer has his demon arm he can't charge shots, so now he has a different mechanic that's both more fun and less overpowered: holding the shoot button will have Nero load Blue Rose with special bullets, which hit several times and can hold an enemy in place long enough to expand your combo options. Combine these bullets with Nero's new ability to fire during an evasion roll, and his slower, stronger gun feels like a much more balanced and enjoyable weapon than it did in 4, where it was almost useless outside of his level 3 charge shot but broke the game if you leaned on that hard enough. Revving Nero's mechanical sword returns, and is more forgiving this time around. You can rev Red Queen while running now, certain taunts will give you a free level of charge on it, and the timing for mid-swing revving has been sort of relaxed. Sort of. The rev timing for getting a level of charge from each swing seems pretty close to the same, but now if you miss it you still get a partial charge instead of nothing, allowing players who aren't used to the mechanic to still benefit from it. Taunts are more or less the same as in 4, with some new ones and some bonuses added to a few. A taunt where Nero does a flashy reload gives you special bullets, and one where he puts up the hood on his jacket gives you an opportunity for bragging rights - that hood stays up until you get hit. You also get an air taunt, where nero will do a double jump specifically for the purpose of doing a skateboard grab trick on his sword. There are ways to incorporate this into combos that are extremely stylish.
The big new things for Nero, though, are the Devil Breakers, which are a huge expansion on his old Devil Bringer. These provide a lot more depth and variation to Nero's gameplay, even with the demo only having two of the eight that are said to be in the full game. However, they're not without flaws. You don't have direct control over which arm is equipped like you would with Dante's weapon and style switching and this design choice absolutely baffles me, especially considering there's an unused button on the controller. If you want to switch arms you have to break the one you're using first by taking damage while using/charging it, performing a super move with it, or by manually detonating it for a space clearing burst and some brief invulnerability. Once your current arm is destroyed, Nero just crams his stump into the next one in your inventory; there's no choosing which one you want. Again, I find this irksome in concept, but in gameplay it seems to work on the grounds that it keeps things moving along fluidly. The arm abilities in the demo are well thought out and drastically different from one arm to the other - Overture is a straightforward damage dealer and combo tool, while Gerbera adds a whole extra dimension to Nero's mobility and has an air super that's devastating in tight spaces. I just wish I could switch them out at will.
The sound design is as good as the graphics and gameplay, with Nero's weapons sounding meatier and more impactful. Blue Rose in particular now sounds like the monster magnum it's supposed to be. Johnny Yong Bosch returns as Nero, and he kills it with an angrier, more confident personality compared to the whiny emo Nero turned into partway through 4. Nero's battle theme, Devil Trigger, is an absolute banger and despite what you may have heard, this game DOES include a dynamic music system tied to your style meter. The DmC reboot had a few good ideas like that, and it's nice that they didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The better you do, the louder and more raucous the music gets, and that enhances the feeling of being a badass that the style meter already confers. The game wants you to flex, and rewards you when you do.
Overall, this demo is fantastic. It's 15 minutes long and I sat and played it for hours without even beginning to get bored. If the full game is this good, it'll blow every other character action game out of the water. Even the legendary DMC3 could be topped with this one.
To address an issue with the full game that I'm sure will come up: I'm more than a little upset about there being red orb microtransactions in the full game (buying in game money with real money never makes a game better, and if they really just wanted to "give players the option to speed up progression" it would be a cheat code), but since Devil May Cry has always been a game where the most fun comes from mastery of extensive, complex mechanics rather than completion of the story, I'm not too worried about the potential for it to be grindy. There are no microtransactions for getting good.
This is the first review I've really written. The creation of this site got me interested in doing some writing about games, so I thought I'd write a demo review of a demo and post it here to see if people think I can hack it before I send in any sort of application. Critiques are encouraged.
If the first public demo of DMC5 is representative of the full game, it's going to be the best seat in that steakhouse with a gigantic slab of meat plated in front of it.
I wasn't sold on the art style when I first saw the trailers, but after seeing the game in person I definitely am. The animations are what sells it, and they don't get that job done in a 30fps youtube trailer. Every movement looks so buttery smooth compared to the rest of the series, without compromising the responsiveness of the controls. There's no Rockstar sluggishness here, which is something I was concerned about when the game's director, Hideaki Itsuno, mentioned a focus on smoother, more natural looking animation in an early interview. Capcom has included a ton of very specific situational animations that will likely go largely unnoticed, but add a layer of polish that's truly impressive. For example, after Nero's second sword slash, he's got his body turned a different way than normal, and if you fire the gun at that time you'll get an entirely different animation where he shoots from the hip while turning back to his normal stance.
That polish extends to the gameplay, which starts with DMC4's solid base and expands on it, while also revising Nero to make him feel less like a Dante wannabe. Since Nero no longer has his demon arm he can't charge shots, so now he has a different mechanic that's both more fun and less overpowered: holding the shoot button will have Nero load Blue Rose with special bullets, which hit several times and can hold an enemy in place long enough to expand your combo options. Combine these bullets with Nero's new ability to fire during an evasion roll, and his slower, stronger gun feels like a much more balanced and enjoyable weapon than it did in 4, where it was almost useless outside of his level 3 charge shot but broke the game if you leaned on that hard enough. Revving Nero's mechanical sword returns, and is more forgiving this time around. You can rev Red Queen while running now, certain taunts will give you a free level of charge on it, and the timing for mid-swing revving has been sort of relaxed. Sort of. The rev timing for getting a level of charge from each swing seems pretty close to the same, but now if you miss it you still get a partial charge instead of nothing, allowing players who aren't used to the mechanic to still benefit from it. Taunts are more or less the same as in 4, with some new ones and some bonuses added to a few. A taunt where Nero does a flashy reload gives you special bullets, and one where he puts up the hood on his jacket gives you an opportunity for bragging rights - that hood stays up until you get hit. You also get an air taunt, where nero will do a double jump specifically for the purpose of doing a skateboard grab trick on his sword. There are ways to incorporate this into combos that are extremely stylish.
The big new things for Nero, though, are the Devil Breakers, which are a huge expansion on his old Devil Bringer. These provide a lot more depth and variation to Nero's gameplay, even with the demo only having two of the eight that are said to be in the full game. However, they're not without flaws. You don't have direct control over which arm is equipped like you would with Dante's weapon and style switching and this design choice absolutely baffles me, especially considering there's an unused button on the controller. If you want to switch arms you have to break the one you're using first by taking damage while using/charging it, performing a super move with it, or by manually detonating it for a space clearing burst and some brief invulnerability. Once your current arm is destroyed, Nero just crams his stump into the next one in your inventory; there's no choosing which one you want. Again, I find this irksome in concept, but in gameplay it seems to work on the grounds that it keeps things moving along fluidly. The arm abilities in the demo are well thought out and drastically different from one arm to the other - Overture is a straightforward damage dealer and combo tool, while Gerbera adds a whole extra dimension to Nero's mobility and has an air super that's devastating in tight spaces. I just wish I could switch them out at will.
The sound design is as good as the graphics and gameplay, with Nero's weapons sounding meatier and more impactful. Blue Rose in particular now sounds like the monster magnum it's supposed to be. Johnny Yong Bosch returns as Nero, and he kills it with an angrier, more confident personality compared to the whiny emo Nero turned into partway through 4. Nero's battle theme, Devil Trigger, is an absolute banger and despite what you may have heard, this game DOES include a dynamic music system tied to your style meter. The DmC reboot had a few good ideas like that, and it's nice that they didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The better you do, the louder and more raucous the music gets, and that enhances the feeling of being a badass that the style meter already confers. The game wants you to flex, and rewards you when you do.
Overall, this demo is fantastic. It's 15 minutes long and I sat and played it for hours without even beginning to get bored. If the full game is this good, it'll blow every other character action game out of the water. Even the legendary DMC3 could be topped with this one.
To address an issue with the full game that I'm sure will come up: I'm more than a little upset about there being red orb microtransactions in the full game (buying in game money with real money never makes a game better, and if they really just wanted to "give players the option to speed up progression" it would be a cheat code), but since Devil May Cry has always been a game where the most fun comes from mastery of extensive, complex mechanics rather than completion of the story, I'm not too worried about the potential for it to be grindy. There are no microtransactions for getting good.
This is the first review I've really written. The creation of this site got me interested in doing some writing about games, so I thought I'd write a demo review of a demo and post it here to see if people think I can hack it before I send in any sort of application. Critiques are encouraged.