DmC: Devil May Cry Review (DisableBore)
Now that we live in the good timeline where things got course corrected, we can look at DmC more open-minded and forget all the negative biases that fairly and unfairly were casted against it. This being the first time I played it, I found it had several good game play ideas, with the problem some get in the way of it's own intentions.
From the top, the story is a bigger focus than before, for the negative. Not only you have to suffer many in-game slow walky parts that we all got sick off even before the eight gen, there's a couple of missions that are almost lacking in combat or have it focused right after several of these guided points. A real flow-killer.
And the story itself is questionable at best, and I'm being generous. I absolutely dislike the inclusion of angels, as it robs the series own title of weight, on top of putting Donte on a level that makes him ironically less empathetic.
Donte himself is as much of an ass as the memes would make you think, but the moments that start showing his character development are surprisingly well done, and come across as genuine, especially from the voice performance. Vorgil is the one who really gets trashed around, having too little of his own reinvented personality, with his euphoric presence and women's rights advocacy being the highlights of a disappointing character.
Gameplay wise it's an even more mixed bag. Several moves and weapon uses are streamlined, and it is possible to have both fun encounters with decent combo variety, the controls aren't as bad as originally thought and the animations do enough of a job to sell every impact. Weapon switching is easy to get used to as well, and several mechanics are experimented and added, to the point we would see some elements inspiring 5 down the line, such as the grapple.
However, there's many nagging issues, from color coded enemies, no lock on (a can of worms), the lack of styles means some actions like rainstorm require pressing two buttons instead of just Circle/B, an overly generous style meter, an almost annoying focus on platforming in some admittedly pretty and creative environments and very simple boss fights with too many repetitive elements. At times you'll be frustrated with some encounters, or flat out almost tired of these floating paths.
As negative as that last part might seem, the gameplay is still decent enough that it carries the game and maybe a replay or two, and if you enjoy some cringe the plot is so obscenely over the top it can have it's genuine appeal. Given the fact that it goes cheap and there isn't much of a reason to be upset anymore, I can encourage giving it a sincere try. Maybe you'll like it enough, appreciate what's good, and laugh at the bad.
Also I highly recommend playing it in Spanish for the best experience.