Okay, so here is the deal. I'm a Devil May Cry fan and a pretty big one. I came into the series fairly late though I played the first two DMC games but never actually finished them until actually this year when I played the HD Collection. So, I wasn't there from the "start" I guess so possibly some long long time fans will see this differently but the Dante I identify most with is the DMC 3 version.

That being said this feels heavily influenced by DMC 3 stylistically. Dante is young , brash and arrogant to a fault. Syylistically the game is going to divide people I think. I personally think the Demons in disguise bit they are using is actually a pretty fresh and modern take on the DMC fiction. Although I have no understanding why they are so inherently obsessed with making Dante and Virgil's mother an angel instead of a human this time around. The important part though is that the combat is solid and there is a fair bit going under the hood. Wrapping your brain around all the options at any one time is going to take some practice. The most interesting mechanic is basically giving Dante Nero's devil bringer in a sense allowing him to pull enemies to him or pull himself to enemies. This is a great returning feature and the potential for combos seems pretty great.

Lets not look at this through only rose tinted glasses though. Two things I don't like are the camera and more importantly the combo scoring system. The scoring system in combos seems more about consecutive hits rather than needing to vary up your style of play and constantly be fighting, taunting , dodging to keep the meter running. Unless I'm wrong I think as long as you don't get hit your combo status stays the same as long as you don't get hit. I hope I'm wrong on that one. The important part is that the meat and potatoes of the game is solid. I hope that even the people who are annoyed by all the periphery stuff in the game like Dante, the story etc... can at least enjoy the game play. Its seems like Ninja Theory finally shut people up about not being able to make good combat. I await January eagerly. So, what do you other long time fans of Devil May Cry think? Good? Bad? Don't care?

Don't care is where I am, but I hope this time NT will have some success. I have feeling that if this game doesn't sell well then it'll be the end of that studio.

@mordukai: Yeah, I hope they do well too. I would really like them to do Heavenly Sword 2 even though at this point that seems really doubtful. The concepts for the sequel to that were pretty neat.

Good to hear the combat is up to snuff. I'm a fan of what they've done stylistically with the series the only part that I was worried about was combat that was the make or break part. Gonna have to give this a shot.

I knew it'd be fine. I'll try out this demo. :)

Start a blog with this name. Now.

@Demoskinos: You know...I didn't like Heavenly Sword that much. Kinda bummed me out too because I was looking forward to play that game but after a few hours I just couldn't bare to play it anymore.

I had to read the title like 3 times to figure out WTF was going on.

But if you're liking it, I'm fairly certain I'll be liking it too. Actually I might just forgo the demo altogether and wait to experience it totally fresh in January based on your impressions.

BUT DANTE LOOKS DIFFERENT SO FUCK THIS

@Sackmanjones said:

BUT DANTE LOOKS DIFFERENT SO FUCK THIS

YEAH FOR THE BETTER

Got to wait till tomorrow for the Euro PS store to update, but I'm so looking forward to digging into this. Also Ninja Theory don't deserve all of the credit when it comes to the combat as Capcom done most of the work, if not all.

Just came back from playing the demo at a friend's place. It's pretty good,guise!

I fucking love DMC3 Dante. He's such an obnoxious cocky punk. And obviously dmc3 is my favorite dmc. The game is so good.

I'm waiting for PSN to update so I can try the new DmC. I've been looking forward to it for awhile now.

Can't wait, huge fan of the series. Though it should be noted that Capcom played a huge role in the combat for this one, too.

@Dragon4234 said:

@Sackmanjones said:

BUT DANTE LOOKS DIFFERENT SO FUCK THIS

YEAH FOR THE BETTER

Never. No matter what anyone says ever, I will never be comfortable with this Dante. He needs to age about 10 years. And that voice, goodness, it's ear-grating.

Hopefully the game is enough to redeem this.

I had to read the title like 3 times to figure out WTF was going on.

But if you're liking it, I'm fairly certain I'll be liking it too. Actually I might just forgo the demo altogether and wait to experience it totally fresh in January based on your impressions.

I liked the demo at first and then I loved it once I got SoS difficulty. You definitely have to keep on your toes and maneuver around a lot. The mixed enemies they throw at you is definitely a bit of a bitch but as far as the demo goes, I don't feel like me dying or getting hit was anything outside of my own fault. The break up of enemy variety in the higher difficulty is such a pleasure. I am just sick of games where only thing the higher difficulty does is raise their health, make them do more damage and you do less damage.

I didn't fight the boss on SoS yet but on normal I thought she wasn't that bad at all, pretty easy patterns but we'll see what they have in store with the other bosses. There are 2 challenge rooms in the demo and these demons sticking out of the wall that are seemingly just there as collectibles/experience. The 2 challenges weren't that bad, but again I only played them on normal so I have no idea how they fair when it comes to SoS or higher.

The game looks really good too. And I don't really have a problem with this Dante as much as some people do, I agree that he comes off smug and cocky as shit a bit like he did in DMC3.

Whether people want to regard this as a "real" DMC game or not, it is most definitely shaping up to be a very solid action game.

Edit: Also read some people claiming that you can just spam the same attack button and win, which I have no idea where they get that from considering there are different enemy types that require specific weapons to use. There are enemies out of reach where you have to use a grapple for and the Chainsaw guys on SoS have an invulnerability state where they are super aggressive and rip you a new one if you don't be careful.

The demo is solid. It seems a much more inspired game than DMC4. I love the new direction they are taking the story and the visual design is incredible. The combat seems good I just hope there are more moves and weapons then what is in the demo. Having three weapons available at all times without having to switch them is a neat idea if not one that takes adjusting to.

@ImmortalSaiyan: I do believe I saw a shotgun in the trailer so there is hope for at least some new fire-arms if nothing else.

The fighting is to slow, what i liked about Devil May cry was its fast combat. like bayonetta was to. and if you wanted SSS rank in the old games you had to use all the skills in the game. and there is youtube videos folks put up to prove this point.

It will probably sell well just because it slower and easier so that newcomers can finish it but for me it will be the black sheep of the series.

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=RWwCpccvPDs&start1=0&video2=ORgSuIIesIE&start2=0&authorName=meahwahwah

just look at this and see for yourself.

Sorry but you sound like someone who was never going to give it a chance at all. Considering the only thing you said about it was that it is "too slow" when in actuality even if it is slower than previous titles it is not slower by a large margin. And this is coming from someone who has liked series since the first one. I am not interested in it because it is slower and "easier" (please play SoS difficulty before claiming this too). I am interested because it is a very solid action hack and slash from my impressions of the demo.

It is a Ninja Theory game, i played them all and they always put graphics and animation in front of game play. the exact opposite of what Devil may cry has been. this game hopefully is the last nail in the coffin for Ninja Theory, shame they had to ruin a good franchise.

give it a chance? i played the demo, what more can i do? If this game wasn´t named DmC no one would have given a shit about it.

God damn is this a pretty game. There's some camera issues and some kinda awkward platforming (which the older games were full of also) and the scripting broke on the boss, but man the combat is great, which was probably the thing I was most worried about. There's a ton of options at your disposal and it is fast and fluid.

Still not sure why a ton of people hate new Dante, I think he's fun and there were a couple of genuinely funny moments in the demo... "Church" I was already sold on the game as I adore character action games, The demo just cemented that.

Oh man, this game looks great.

Played the demo once before going to work and really enjoyed what was there. Played through it a few more times once getting home and I still enjoyed it. Sure the redesigned Dante isn't great but I've kinda gotten over it. Hell it's better than DMC2.

I found the combat to have a stiff feeling and there are better action games out there. The biggest turn off is the story, style, nad characters. I know the original characters werent amazing to begin with but this "anonymous" style Vergil and "corporations" being bad guys with not Bill O'Reilly

I really liked playing as Nero in DMC4 and I'm glad they brought back some of the mechanics from that game. I really liked the demo. Between this in January and MGS:Rising in February, 2013 is shaping up to be an interesting year for beat-em up action games.

@Onkel_Apan said:

The fighting is to slow, what i liked about Devil May cry was its fast combat. like bayonetta was to. and if you wanted SSS rank in the old games you had to use all the skills in the game. and there is youtube videos folks put up to prove this point.

It will probably sell well just because it slower and easier so that newcomers can finish it but for me it will be the black sheep of the series.

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=RWwCpccvPDs&start1=0&video2=ORgSuIIesIE&start2=0&authorName=meahwahwah

just look at this and see for yourself.

Huh? THIS is the black sheep? Uh, not in a world where DMC 2 exists thats for sure. DMC 2 managed to fuck up every interesting concept they had. They found a way to make the concept of Dante fighting a Demon Skyscraper boring. That is an achievement.

Meh, the demo did nothing for me. the only interesting thing was the triggers acting as modifiers for the combat, but other than that it's a pretty generic character action game. Also, the Boss fight they included in the demo is awful, repetitive and boring.

But i'm interested in seeing how the story plays out, Ninja Theory usually does a good job with their character stuff.

@Onkel_Apan said:

It is a Ninja Theory game, i played them all and they always put graphics and animation in front of game play. the exact opposite of what Devil may cry has been. this game hopefully is the last nail in the coffin for Ninja Theory, shame they had to ruin a good franchise.

give it a chance? i played the demo, what more can i do? If this game wasn´t named DmC no one would have given a shit about it.

It's pretty harsh to wish that on a development team. It's not like they're murdering anyone.

And ruin a good franchise? You know DMC3 came out after 2 right?

@Demoskinos: i guess we just have to wait and see. DmC is written by Tameem and he thinks it cool to smoke and say Fuck. And if NT wanted to make an original story why did they bring in Vergil? won´t spoil it here but every fan of the series knows Vergil. In Heavenly Sword and Enslaved they wanted to make the story emotional(they failed, also written by Tameem and later rewritten by competent writers) and i get the feeling they want do do the same here, however they have Dante as the main char who act even more childish then ever.

I had always thought that the gameplay would be fine, which it is. I still don't like the direction the took Dante as a character.

Just played it and I thought the demo was amazing.

The combat was incredibly exciting, the world was bizarre and vibrant, and the tone was just right up my alley.

Picking this up day one for sure.

@Onkel_Apan said:

DmC is written by Tameem and he thinks it cool to smoke and say Fuck.

It is cool to smoke and say fuck.

Just finished playing the demo and I loved it. The combat feels fast, responsive and fun. The visual style is nice and I really like the environmental shifting in the level design. The game seems to stay true to all the classic systems while updating some to make the overall experience more fluid. Dante as a character seems pretty much the same in attitude, but the dialogue properly reflects his younger age. This demo put to rest basically every concern I had about this game and now I'm looking forward to it more than I ever otherwise would have been. Ninja Theory done good!

It definitely seems like Ninja Theory didn't learn anything combat wise from Enslaved. It feels really shallow and there is little incentive to switch up combat when the game doesn't punish you score wise for doing the same move over and over (not sure about enemy retaliation since other enemies might do it). This definitely is not the DMC game I wanted, but it's not a bad action game.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. The boss battle was really fun. The grappling hook stuff is the best part. As for not switching up the combat... why would you not? You need incentive like what? I switched it up because it made the game more fun. Plus the big axe seems to do more damage so I'd tend to finish off guys with it. Also used the grappling hook quite a bit to pull myself to enemies.

I think it is smart that they made all the weapons accessible like that. I haven't played a DMC game in forever but I remember you only holding one weapon at a time (sword, axe, scythe). Maybe I'm wrong.

@Shady said:

It definitely seems like Ninja Theory didn't learn anything combat wise from Enslaved. It feels really shallow and there is little incentive to switch up combat when the game doesn't punish you score wise for doing the same move over and over (not sure about enemy retaliation since other enemies might do it). This definitely is not the DMC game I wanted, but it's not a bad action game.

Are you sure about this? It seemed like the style meter stalled when I panic-spammed and jumped when I switched things up. I only went through it once so I can't be sure.

I'm pretty impressed overall. I need to give it another pass to get really comfortable with the controls; there's a lot to it off the hop. Love the vibe, the art direction; love new Dante so much more than old Dante. Loved the back and forth between him in the boss, hilariously juvenile but far from immature. Ninja Theory is top of the heap for presentation and storytelling, and it's great to see that backed up with rich gameplay. Wish it were coming out now.

Really liked what I saw. I like the combat and there's some interesting enemy. I also like the different set of enemy they had when you play Son of Sparda, dunno if it will be unlocked on the get go though. But overall it seems challenging and interesting to try to master. For the character I liked the old Dante but I don't mind this one either and I'm interested to see where the story goes.

I was still in the game so I tried the secret challenge room where you need to get a S combo under 2 minutes to see if the comment about the combo always going up even if you're not changing your attack and I can safely say it's not true, you need to change your attack for the meter to keep going. I was stuck at A for a while until I changed style a couple of time in my combo.

The demo made a great impression. The combat may not seem as snappy as Bayonetta or as technical as running Royal Guard in DMC3, but it's far from "spammy" or as generic as Enslaved's. Just from the little demo I saw tons of oppurtunities for fun combos not available in most character action games.

And I really liked the morphing levels that antagonize you. Hopefully the levels have as much character throughout the game.

And honestly, I don't mind snot nosed, bratty, cocky kid Dante. He might not be as fabulously stylish as classic Dante, but I can see alotta fun potential in him and the premise of the story with it's faux Fox News and faux Anonymous. Hopefully it has some fun twists to what we expect outta the story.

Sure Ninja Theory have a history of putting story above gameplay. I played through Heavenly Sword over a weekend a few weeks ago and found the battle system pretty shallow and the Sixaxis integration woeful, but in spite of that I enjoyed it. King Bohan was a wonderful villain and the world itself was enjoyable to inhabit.

Enslaved showed that Ninja Theory improved vastly on the gameplay front and had gotten even better at crafting a world and story. I never had the AI problems with Trip that people complain about and found the platforming to be fun in a Prince Of Persia 2008 way. This game had a battle system I might describe as a bit spammy and simplistic and they've improved light years ahead of this in DmC. Enslaved also gets a nod for having one of my favorite DLC campaigns in Pigsy's Perfect Ten.

DmC was a game I was already looking foward to and this demo managed to quell my fears of this being as horrid as every classic Dante fanboy has painted it as with every morsel that's come out.

@Tidel: Yeah, I really don't get that complaint about being able to spam either because it doesn't seem like it raises the meter for me when I do it either. And like I said, when the game is switching up enemies and enemy types (where you have to use a different weapon) in SoS how is some exactly spamming the same move?

Lol, ok I see where people are getting their info from, from videos on youtube and proves that some people didn't actually play the game on higher difficulties.

This video shows a guy spamming the grappling hook moves on one of those "cherub" things over and over, staying in the air. You can most definitely not do this in SoS and there are actually different enemies at that section at that difficulty. They have a tendency to block the grapple hook moves and even if you're able to stay with them in the air for a little bit they have a move you can not knock them out of that knocks you out of a combo/air.

So pretty much there are people trying to exploit it/misrepresent the game on lower difficulties to justify their hate they had before they even played the game. Funny how these "purists" go on about how easy the game is, but when they're exploiting it they use the lower difficulties.

@Onkel_Apan said:

The fighting is to slow, what i liked about Devil May cry was its fast combat. like bayonetta was to. and if you wanted SSS rank in the old games you had to use all the skills in the game. and there is youtube videos folks put up to prove this point.

It will probably sell well just because it slower and easier so that newcomers can finish it but for me it will be the black sheep of the series.

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=RWwCpccvPDs&start1=0&video2=ORgSuIIesIE&start2=0&authorName=meahwahwah

just look at this and see for yourself.

One video is a guy mashing in the demo and the other obviously an expert. What a fair comparison.

Here's some better demo gameplay:

My 2 cents on the demo:

• Art direction of the levels is amazing, DmC never had anything like this
• Not sure about the main character, liked the boss, though
• Combat seems deep and worthy of the name, but I hope they don't go too far into red enemy - blue enemy direction that forces you to use certain weapons
• The difficulty is close to too easy, I shouldn't have to play the highest one to have a chellenge

@mnzy: The boss was by far the worst thing in the demo. first the conversation that was horribly bad, the bad clipping on the 2 eyes on its head. The bad vomiting effect, and the simple attack pattern. in any other DMC game if i want in just sword flailing i would die very quickly. In this i had no problem killing it on my first try. Calling this a boss is just an insult, I hope that most bosses in the game are regular size because those was the most fun game play wise in the old games. but trusting Tameem is just stupid of me, Big bosses are cool! kids, don´t you agree!

and on the Clip, i´m not impressed by it. its just looks slow. just like i don´t get impressed when someones good at Batman AA. the game is made so even haw you play it you look like a good player. while someone who is good at the old games i sometimes don´t even know what they are doing because of the speed. and yeah i know it just from the demo and there will be more attack and combos in the real game and it is not fair to compare a demo to a full game.

But i must give NT credit that it was no QTE in the demo. even they knew that QTE is a to easy way of making things cool.

willl the play the demo after work. I forgot that it came out yesterday. Been busy with work and playing the hitman game.

@Onkel_Apan: I don't want to convince you, just thought that comparison was unfair. And I was more talking about the character of the boss, the gameplay was fairy standard. You're right about the QTE's.

@mnzy said:

@Onkel_Apan said:

The fighting is to slow, what i liked about Devil May cry was its fast combat. like bayonetta was to. and if you wanted SSS rank in the old games you had to use all the skills in the game. and there is youtube videos folks put up to prove this point.

It will probably sell well just because it slower and easier so that newcomers can finish it but for me it will be the black sheep of the series.

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=RWwCpccvPDs&start1=0&video2=ORgSuIIesIE&start2=0&authorName=meahwahwah

just look at this and see for yourself.

One video is a guy mashing in the demo and the other obviously an expert. What a fair comparison.

Here's some better demo gameplay:

My 2 cents on the demo:

• Art direction of the levels is amazing, DmC never had anything like this
• Not sure about the main character, liked the boss, though
• Combat seems deep and worthy of the name, but I hope they don't go too far into red enemy - blue enemy direction that forces you to use certain weapons
• The difficulty is close to too easy, I shouldn't have to play the highest one to have a chellenge

Cool game play.

And for the last part, I don't think so either, there definitely should be a challenge no matter the difficulty (going to assume this is early on in the game). But to clarify my point about some "real" DMC fans of this game claiming it is too easy is the fact that the mileage these people are going to get out of the game are the more difficult modes anyway. And in this if you played on Devil Hunter and hop to SoS there is most definitely a jump in difficulty that doesn't have to do with just more health/more damaging enemies.

And I don't think it being "too slow" compared to the other games is a fair judgement, just because the game is a bit slower does not = easier.

I am hoping for better bosses too, I mean the Boss isn't horrible but it definitely isn't difficult. People complaining about it is another thing I don't get. You can look at a game like Dark Souls and it is very hard, but guess what? There are some easy bosses in that game, even for someone who just started playing that game. ie The Gaping Dragon.

I'm a DMC fan , not a huge one but still a fan . This demo was awesome , and got me really excited . I love Ninja Theory , and it doesn't surprise me that this will probably be my favorite DMC game . Oh , and the platforming seems to be a huge step forward in the series , it actually feels great .

I CANT WAIT TO PLAY THIS GAME !

Longtime DMC fan here, I thought the demo was okay - not bad and not good, just okay. The framerate is all over the place, and the difficulty is far too easy, even on the hardest setting. The controls feel weird too, I don't like having the evade buttons on top and I hated not being able to lock on. Combat is fine, if a little slow. My first impressions have held up - it's a good combat engine, but pretty different from the previous games.

The dialogue is terrible - that part with the boss had me cringing on the floor of the living room and I usually enjoy stupid dialogue.

I liked the art style in the city, but the boss arena was just a lava pit. I'd like to have boss fights where the city environment interferes like in the first stage of the demo.

Overall, the game seems decent, but I wish it didn't keep the Devil May Cry name because it unnecessarily draws comparisons to previous titles . It can stand on it's own merit, but I don't think it can match the excellence of DMC3 and DMC4 yet.

I'll definitely give the full game a shot to prove me wrong.

I suppose at the head off I should I say that whilst I like Devil May Cry, I have only played about 15 minutes each of DMC1-3, and about half of DMC 4. So whilst I like the games, I'm not a 'good' Devil May Cry fan. So make of that what you will. 
 
I actually really liked the Demo. I thought the combat was really nicely done and felt like it had a good pace - although I kept getting confused with X being Gun-juggle, and Y being basic melee attacks, which my brain kept assuming would be the other way around, so it threw me a bit throughout - and I really enjoyed the Demon/Angel trigger switch using the different weapons to shake up combos. The platforming felt a bit finicky, but still alright thanks to the whip-pulling mechanic (the little time trial/copper key challenge arena you can get through was a good use of that), but gameplay wise I liked it over all. 
 
I loved the presentation though. The contrast of the subdued, greyed-out and pale colouring of the 'real' world with the over-saturated, bright gaudiness of Limbo worked really nicely, and I thought it looked great, especially Limbo with all the demonic touches and the roads/building splintering to try and trap Dante. Speaking of him, I really like the snippets you get of his character. He's a fucking asshole, but a likeable asshole. I never minded his new look, but in the context of the game and the portrayal it sort of makes more sense to me now, and I think he looks great in the game. I loved the stylishness of the loading screen too, the black on white combo loops showing off the cool combat animations. From the trailers and cutscenes, the writing isn't amazing - although I kind of liked the bizarre silliness of the cutscene before the boss fight, basically them both just going 'No, fuck YOU!' at each other - but I like the angle they're taking with it.  
 
Definitely interested in seeing more and picking it up in January!

@Xel: Yeah, not being able to lock on is....weird. It just feels off for DMC combat. I still like it personally but how the hell am I supposed to do a stinger if I can't lock on? =(