DMC: Devil May Cry sets an example that not all reboots are aimed towards disaster. While playing DMC, I didn’t care about Dante’s new look, the shift in atmosphere, or the switch of developers. The only thing that mattered while playing DMC was the core gameplay, which Ninja Theory did a remarkable job capturing.

     The game’s urban environment replaces castles with tall towers. The game’s missions will take place in Limbo using suburbs, carnivals, clubs, towers, and subways as structures. Limbo is an alterative dimension used to keep the missions from remaining dull and reparative. In Limbo the world comes to life as the level’s structure falls apart, allowing Ninja Theory to create interesting situations like walls closing in on Dante or the ground disappearing and placing players in a new location. The real world of DMC is grey, cloudy, dull, and completely lifeless, but in Limbo the environments true colors show. The color pallet used in Limbo are highly saturated and consist a mix of red, blue, green, orange, and yellow.

     Ninja Theory kept their options open with Limbo and exposed an interesting scenario in the first level of the game. The moment the Ferris wheel is rolling down the docks, the game shows you both sides of the spectrum in both Limbo and in the real world. On one side you see the demons attacking the caravel and the other you see just a fairs wheel rolling down the dock on the news channel. This concept is shown again in later level, reflecting the actions you do in Limbo to the real world.

 "The combo aspect of the game is button mashing friendly, but still has enough depth for any hardcore DMC fan to tear into."

     The game starts off with Dante waking up from a hang over; a loud knocking at his door from a stranger then startles him. Dante opens the door butt naked and asks the stranger to make her peace. The stranger tells Dante he has been followed; Dante is suddenly dragged into Limbo and fights his way out. Afterwards, Dante catches a ride with the stranger and from there he is introduced to the Order and his twin brother Vergil. Vergil sends Dante on a mission to recollect his childhood memories. There, he collects bits and pieces and remembers his mother’s death. Vergil then tells Dante who was responsible then learns that society is corrupted and kept under control by Mundus, the dark emperor of the Underworld.

     Although, the characters are a bit sour for anybody looking for a good story, Ninja Theory did a tremendous job capturing what made the original Devil May Cry so great; gameplay. The combo aspect of the game is button mashing friendly, but still has enough depth for any hardcore DMC fan to tear into. The button masher might not have a stronger impact of damage as a person who pulls off a thoughtful combo. The uses of demonic and angelic weapons open a wide variety of combo combinations, along with your standard sword and firearm. The angelic weapons are fast and used mostly for crowd control. Demonic weapons are your heavy hitters, dealing a great amount of damage. A mechanic introduced in the game to help the flow of combat is the Ophion whip. The Ophion whip lifts or pulls Dante towards the enemy. Over the course of the game players will encounter enemies that can only take damage from certain weapons. Red enemies take damage from demonic weapons and blue enemies take damage from angelic weapons. At first it feels like Ninja Theory is limiting your arsenal, but once you get the concept that certain enemies only take damage from certain weapons, the game will add variations of enemies, allowing for more complex chain attacks. Battling a group of enemies with different attack methods adds diversity.

     Unfortunately, the game constantly holds your hand. Instead of figuring out a solution through trial and error, the game shouts it out. Especially during boss battles, the game practically tells you how to defeat each boss. In the end, the boss battles lose their luster. It’s a shame, knowing that each boss design is unique, making use of their environments and theme to bring the stages alive.

     Platforming in DMC is not about how exact you jump, but well you use the Ophion whip and the angel boost ability. Boosting helps you cross large gaps and, in some cases, fly through levels in a breeze. The problem with platforming, like any three-dimensional platforming game, is the alignment of the analog stick, when trying to jump straight across you may accidently jump diagonal. You don’t suffer a large penalty from falling off a platform; Dante loses a little amount of health and starts back from the beginning of the platform he jumped off of. As the levels fall apart you will find yourself switching between the Ophion whips pull and lift mechanic, the grappling keeps players on their toes as they grab ledge by ledge and even pull platforms toward Dante.

     Noisia and Combichrist capture Devil May Cry’s fast pace action. Through the use of heavy music and dubstep you get the core concept of DMC, fast action and flashy combos. As the songs play subtly in the background I’m jolted with adrenalin, my fingers moving to the pulse of the music. The sound of swords clashing adds to the adrenalin. As far as DMC goes, it’s moving.

     DMC demands replayability, your arsenal opens up later in the game with more weapons and upgrades. So that being said, the game does feel a bit plain through the first playthrough, which results to feeling less of a badass.

     Upgrading weapons and abilities is user friendly and allows for experimentation. You are given the opportunity to try before you buy, even more so, you are given the ability to remove an upgrade you previously purchased and place in another slot.

     Collectables lay scattered throughout the missions. They aren’t hidden; it’s just the matter of having the right equipment to reach them. The collectables consist of lost souls, secret doors, and keys that open secret doors. Secret doors contain fun mini-challenges like killing the enemies without getting hit or getting from point A to point B within X amount of time. The challenges add variety while maintaining the hack and slash concept and it’s a nice mix up. Obtaining all collectables you are rewarded with a pretermit SSS rank for the collectables ranking section, which boost up your score.

     The ranking system gives the motivation to do better, whether it’s completing a mission faster or ranking up higher style points, each section helps improve your overall score. One concept overlooked in the ranking system is the leaderboards. I never compared my score with anybody. The score felt like a personal achievement, as long as I knew I scored an SSS I didn’t care if my friend did or not. Regardless, the leaderboards are there for some friendly competition.

     Ninja Theory took the original Devil May Cry and added a more edger and modern twist. Characters lack personality, but the story brings potential of a dystopian world corrupted by demons. Anyone new to the franchise can easily pick up DMC: Devil May Cry, with enough room for hardcore fans to stylize their combat. I’m eagerly waiting for Ninja Theory’s next installment as I play DMC: Devil May Cry.