Is this a great comeback for the franchise or do its moves lack style?

Nov 20, 2012 15:33 GMT  ·  By

Devil May Cry games delivered some great hack and slash experiences over the years, earning Capcom’s franchise a loyal following among fans of the genre.

These fans, however, were shocked to see the upcoming reimagining of the series, DmC Devil May Cry, from developer Ninja Theory, which brings a grittier style and a major redesign for the main protagonist – Dante.

After fans got over the change in style, Ninja Theory and Capcom earned back their trust by releasing many gameplay videos, which showed that the game was still a Devil May Cry one.

Now, in order to really convince fans of the series about the quality of the new title, a free demo for DmC has been released onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Does it manage to earn full style points or do its array of weapons bog it down? Let’s have a quick look.

DmC Devil May Cry reimagines the whole series in terms of style, with new appearances for the main characters, like Dante or Vergil, but also in terms of premise, as the two heroes are now living in a contemporary world that, unbeknownst to its inhabitants, is actually ruled by demons led by the evil Mundus.

Dante is reunited with his twin brother, Vergil, and, with the help of a young girl named Kat, he must defeat Mundus’ demonic legions.

While the story and style represent a big and rather successful departure for the series, gameplay keeps things tight and retains its emphasis on style.

Dante can wield all sorts of weapons, including his trademark pistols – Ebony and Ivory – and performs lots of different attacks, some sending enemies in the air while others smash them into the ground. He can also perform different grapple attacks that serve to close the distance between him and his enemies and keep the combo moves going.

Sadly, at least in the demo, the controls are quickly presented to you one after another and you don’t really have much time to get used to them. Case in point is the grapple system, as pressing one trigger plus the grapple button results in one move while pressing the other trigger with the button results in another.

Still, combat is very fast paced so Devil May Cry fans will certainly enjoy the DmC demo. You can check out its first level in the video above.

DmC Devil May Cry is out on January 15, 2013 for PS3 and Xbox 360.