Devil May Cry: an epic, polarizing series that began in 2001, had a terrible sequel in 2003, fought back with 2005’s worthy third entry, and then went missing in action-gaming after 2007’s well-received DMC 4. Some 12 years later the series is back to deliver the authentic stylized madness fans have been waiting for. So is DMC 5 worthy? Is it brilliant? Is it a must play? Well, you must read on to find out!
Spectacle Fighters Anatomy & DMC 5
Before I give you my overall opinion, let me explain my perspective on DMC-style games. Games of this genre (often called spectacle fighters) have a basic three-part structure: cutscenes, combat, and levels. That’s basically it, and the quality of the game comes down to how expertly each part is crafted. Let’s break down how well DMC 5 fares in each regard.
DMC 5’s cutscenes are immaculate, with off-the-charts production value. The characters are awe-inspiring, both technologically and personality-wise. Just look at the picture below! The hair, the skin, the clothing. It’s all so perfect, both in still pictures and in motion. The story’s a big mess, but we’ll talk about that later.
The heart of any Devil May Cry is the combat, and DMC 5 does not disappoint. Combat is detailed, precise, nuanced, and oh so flashy. There’s countless diverse ways to kill with style and grace, and it’ll take a good 30 or 40 hours to truly master the vast arsenal of weapons, skills, and combos.
So what do you do when not watching mind-blowing cutscenes and engaging in adrenaline-filled death-matches? You stroll through the world, of course! Sadly, this is where DMC 5 nose-dives into surprisingly weak territory, get stuck in the mire of boring and uninspired level design. There’s also far too few unique environments, with a large recycling of level elements. Not good.
TLDR: My DMC 5 Conclusion
Rather than wait until the end, let me give you my personal conclusion. As the review subtitle says, DMC 5 is so stylish…in cutscenes, very thrilling…in combat, and too dull…in level design (and story). All in all, DMC 5 is a wild ride, but I got off the ride disappointed because it could have and should have been so much more.
To put it another way, if all you care about is beloved characters and intense combat, DMC 5 delivers hardcore. If you want those beloved characters to actually take part in an epic and powerful story set in an imaginative and memorable world, then DMC 5 will likely ring a bit hollow for you.
Now that you know my ultimate opinion, let me back up all my claims with many more words and fun pictures!
Three-Fold Character Combat: Tri-Awesome
Let’s start with DMC 5’s best element: the delicious combat! There’s three unique characters you play as during your adventure, and each is enjoyable and well-crafted. You might come to favor one character, but I found that each character grew on me as I continued to play, which is is a testament to DMC 5’s superb combat design!
You begin with Nero, whose trick is his special right arm that can transform into many different attacks. Nero also excels at quickly grappling enemies, pulling either the enemy or himself closer. Many of his best attacks don’t come until late in the game (and the next playthrough), but Nero is worthy.
A few hours in you switch to the newcomer, V. V is highly unique, using his computer-controlled minions to attack. I really enjoy the semi-real-time-strategy aspect to V. You give you orders and watch as your minions play out their attacks, all while you personally avoid getting hit. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the “one-man-army” style of the other two characters. Speaking of which…
Toward the second half of the game you finally get to play the true hero of the series: Dante. It’s been a long time coming for DMC fans, but Dante is back and better than ever. He’s powerful, capable, versatile, and very enjoyable to play as.
Dante has a veritable arsenal of long-range and short-range weapons, all easily swappable at any time. He also features four unique modes you can switch between during combat. While all of this may sound like a lot, the controls are simple and quick to learn.
Despite the diversity of characters and attacks, the main takeaway is how extremely balanced and awesome DMC 5’s character combat system is. So slick. So polished. So good.
Enemies & Bosses: Worthy
There’s not much to say here because DMC 5 delivers exactly what you’d expect from a game of this caliber. There’s an excellent roster of enemies, from simple fodder, to smarter underlings, to flying creatures, to hybrids, and other very deadly assortments. Some might wish for more variety, but what’s here is very good.
On the boss front, there’s a decent, although not extensive, range of small, mid, and large bosses. Some are bipedal. Some are mostly stationary. A few are the huge smashy-smashy types, while the most lethal are the later-game bosses you must carefully duel, either deftly dodging or dying horribly.
Style Rankings, Playthroughs, & Difficulty
In case you’re new to this type of game, the goal of combat isn’t so much to simply win but to win in style (hence the ‘spectacle fighter’ term)! All your moves gain you style points and the goal is to use a variety of moves to reach the coveted ‘S’ rank and beyond.
The higher your rank, the more Red Orbs you acquire, which are used to unlock skills (and revive upon death). It’s a great system that works just as well today as it did so many years ago when first introduced.
Devil May Cry is also known for its multiple playthroughs. The first playthrough is a warm-up. The second is a test of competence. The third is a grueling gauntlet…and those beyond are for you to discover for yourself!
It should be noted that DMC 5 is very flexible with game difficulty. You can choose to start on ‘Human’ mode, which is quite easy. You can even turn on ‘Auto’ mode, which will perform cool combos without figuring it out yourself. So whether you’re very bad at these types of game or an old pro, there’s an option for you.
Level Design & World Building: Not Good
Oh boy, this is going to be contentious, but I’ve got to be honest. DMC 5’s level design isn’t good: it’s fairly basic and boring. Far too many levels consist of bland hallways, straight tunnels, and no sense of wild exuberance and style that the characters and combat so cleverly display.
What’s worse, the world-building is pretty dismal in DMC 5. World-building is about immersing the player in a believable world that flows naturally from the game’s setting and story. It’s what makes you feel like you’ve “been there” in a game rather than having just “watched it” in a movie.
Sadly, it was hard for me to get a strong sense of place when playing DMC 5 because the levels seem thrown together haphazardly, rather than connecting to form a plausible world. It feels like the developers picked from a grab-bag of video game levels to be backdrops for their insanely good cutscenes.
You’ve got a sewer level. There’s a crypt and trainyard. A hotel and a metro. Add in some urban settings for good measure. Why these locations? We’ll never know because none of them play into the actual story. It feels like meaningless filler that we’ve seen in other games ten times over.
Recycling Levels: Not Stylish!
Did I mention the game recycles levels quite often? Sometimes you’ll play the same location as a different character, which feels cheap. The most egregious sin, though, is how many missions (seven of them!) take place in the same sort of organic/plant tileset, with only slight modifications.
For a type of environment used in literally a third of the game, these organic/plant locations aren’t attractive. They’re visually and thematically sparse and barren. A couple of these levels even reuse the same exact arena multiple times in a row, and it’s darn boring to have such flashy and fun combat set in the same lame physical spaces.
I can’t help but feel many corners were cut in the level design department of DMC 5. The best thing I can say about the level design is the levels are short, so you don’t have to endure too much monotony.
The Cutscenes: A More Critical Analysis
I’ve already said the quality of the cutscenes is insanely good. The acting and voice-work is all exceptionally well-crafted. DMC 5 delivers hyper-believable choreography and performances, with near-perfect facial and body nuance, and there’s extreme charm and likability to each character, in my opinion.
So what’s the problem? While the presentation is gorgeous and mesmerizing, the actual story being woven is less like a vivid tapestry and more like a stale, half-eaten perplexing pretzel. Why is it so bad? For starters, the plot relies far too heavily on happenstance.
There’s a plant-thing that emerges to threaten the city. Why a plant and why now? Nobody knows, but the characters just happen to be where they’re needed. Even more problematic is the terrible narrative framing that harshly cuts back and forth in time, jumbling the story to build artificial suspense. Let’s discuss.
The Story: Jarring Narrative Framing
Instead of telling the story chronologically, the game purposefully cuts up story segments to ensure you’re entirely confused for at least the first half of the game. This method can work if done judiciously and wisely, but DMC 5 is heavy-handed and annoying in its shattering of the story.
Why annoying? The framing style results in several game sections being replayed over and over, as the game slowly reveals new tidbits of story truth. It was about the third or fourth time facing off against the same exact boss in the same exact location in the same exact way that I wanted to scream, “Just get on with it!”
Speaking of story tidbits, DMC 5 does have some quality narrative bits, but they’re just that: bits. There’s a heart-warming scene here or there. Some excellent dialogue brings a tiny dose of backstory and motivation to some characters, and there’s one or two powerful reveals. The problem is all these good tiny bits exist in isolation, never coalescing into a coherent and memorable tale.
Some will not care one iota that DMC 5’s story is such a gorgeous mess. However, as a reviewer, I cannot overlook this. Illogical, broken storytelling was more acceptable back in the early days of Devil May Cry, but in 2019 players should expect more.
Moreover, when the prior game in the series delivered such a strong and coherent narrative, it’s not acceptable for the series to take such a huge step backwards. Yes, I’m speaking about the 2013 reboot, DmC: Devil may Cry.
Get your popcorn out because I’m about to do what no sane reviewer should ever do: compare the current beloved game to the prior much-maligned game.
2019’s DMC 5 versus 2013’s Dmc: Devil may Cry
Six years ago the prior Devil May Cry game was released, but it wasn’t a proper sequel. It was a reimagining of the series, a reboot both in character and spirit. There was a large and understandable uproar from hardcore DMC fans who’d been waiting 5 years for a continuation of the original Dante & Crew story.
Despite the fury over the reboot and reimagining of Dante, DmC went on to be one of the best spectacle fighters ever made, and it still holds up today. The combat is intense and cerebral. The story is relevant, engaging, and well-told. The level design is lavishly creative.
But don’t just take my word for it! DMC 5’s director, Hideaki Itsuno, has personally stated that DmC is his favorite entry in the series. That’s quite high praise! And so, I feel it’s extremely appropriate for me to compare this current entry to the prior game because a series should and must continually improve upon each release.
Technology…DMC 5; Combat…Tie!
In some ways DMC 5 is superior to DmC. We’ve already discussed at length how DMC 5’s graphical technology and rendering of characters and animations is phenomenal. Naturally the more recent game wins this category.
The combat system in both games is brilliant, neither being objectively better. DmC features one playable character (ignoring DLC) and favors weapon-switching based on enemy weapon immunity (blue/red). DMC 5 gives us three distinct playable characters and focuses more on positioning and dodging. Ultimately, which you prefer really comes down to personal tastes, and I personally love both!
DmC: Double the Environments
Now we come to the highly problematic areas of DMC 5, and it’s really too bad DMC 5 doesn’t take more inspiration from DmC when it comes to story and level design.
Let’s start with level design. DmC has some of the most imaginative and exuberant levels of any video game. There’s the wild night club with the ground pulsating to the beat. There’s the crazy vertical scale of climbing through a distorted soda warehouse. DMC 5 has nothing like this.
Putting it in math terms, DmC has 16 truly unique level environments out of 20 missions while DMC 5 only has 8 unique level environments out of 21 missions. Let that sink in. DMC 5 has half as many unique level environments. That’s downright pathetic.
To put it another way, DmC gives us 16 complete levels with no reusing of assets. DMC 5 only gives us about 8 complete levels, with the remaining 13 being recycled parts of prior locations. It looks like DMC 5 fell victim to poor planning just like DMC 4’s rushed and recycled level design.
Disconnected versus Logical Environments
To add insult to injury, the limited number of environments in DMC 5 don’t even make story sense, as we noted previously. Instead of using the locations to build the story, the levels all feel very disconnected.
At one point I was tasked with finding a mythical item of power, and I was placed in a graveyard. I thought, “Great, finally a location that makes sense; I’ll find the mythical item in a long-forgotten tomb or something.” Sure enough, there was a fancy tomb, but guess what? The tomb was just for looks, and none of it was connected to the story in any way. Who came up with all this?
On the contrary, DmC’s environments make sense. You explore a nightclub because you need to pursue the villain’s lover, who runs the club. You attack a soda factory because you need to stop the poisoning of the people. None of this is groundbreaking storytelling, but it flows nicely and lets the player follow the plot. The same can’t be said for DMC 5.
To sum up, DMC 5 lacks content, and the content that is there makes little story sense. It feels like the level design team and character/cutscene team worked 100% independently, merging their work together at the end without concern for a unified gameplay experience.
Enough of our comparison. Let’s get back to DMC 5 and wrap up some loose review ends.
Multiplayer & Sweet Gold Orbs
DMC 5 features no true multiplayer, however occasionally other player’s gameplay will be shown when going through certain missions. You can see them playing and at the end of the mission you can choose to “thumbs up” their performance. That’s about it.
The best thing about this multiplayer is the Gold Orb (extra life) reward if another player “thumbs up” your performance. Gold Orbs are very important items on later difficulties, and unless you’re some action-gaming God, you’ll need dozens of these to make it through the final difficulty levels.
To put the multiplayer rewards into perspective, you’re going to find maybe 20 Gold Orbs through the game, but I was given over 20 Gold Orbs as multiplayer rewards during my time reviewing the game. So if you choose to (of have to) play offline, you’ll be missing out on this.
Sound & Music: Juicy & Delicious
Special mention goes to Capcom’s brilliant audio team. DMC 5 has fabulous sound effects, both in combat and in cutscenes. It also has a wonderful variety of music, with many tracks being so groovy I found myself wishing to hear them again and again while playing. Music is a matter of taste, but DMC 5 is delivers nice noise!
Horrible DLC Practices: Pay to Win
Unfortunately, Capcom has decided to sell in-game currency for real money. I condemn this practice. It’s unacceptable, especially since you use this currency to revive. I won’t stop condemning this practice no matter how ‘mainstream’ it becomes. Enough said.
Various Minor Issues
The out-of-combat movement system feels a bit weird. Jumping and platforming feels slightly off, and the ‘dash’ ability is strange. Once you unlock it, instead of always running faster, it only kicks in once you’ve run slowly for a few seconds. It’s unwieldy and weird.
Some of the secret (bonus) missions are quite uninspired, and some are downright annoying. Maybe some will enjoy them, but they could have been much more inventive.
You can quickly load your last checkpoint, but the menu doesn’t tell you the time marker since your last checkpoint. 2013’s DmC had this excellent feature (very handy for higher difficulties), but DMC 5 omits it sadly.
Nero can equip up to eight arm attachments, but there’s no way to select between them in-game. It would make perfect sense for the D-pad to function this way but no such luck. It’s very bizarre.
The camera does feel a bit too close at times, with some level geometry getting in your way. You can adjust the distance in the Options, but it still can feel a tad off at times.
On PC the game loads so fast that it’s nearly impossible to read the story synopsis text on the loading screens. A button prompt to load into the game would have been handy because these write-ups are often quite helpful in understanding the jumbled story.
Another annoyance is how pressing Start/Escape skips cutscenes immediately, without warning. A menu option to enable “1-button Cutscene Skipping” would be ideal, since speedrunners want quick skipping while those of us who get interrupted a lot would benefit from pausing.
In regard to cutscenes, at least there’s a convenient ‘Gallery’ menu option to easily replay all cutscenes, in case you skipped one or just want to revel again in the ultra-detailed and lavish presentation. Did I mention the cutscenes are gorgeous? Remind me to mention that…because the cutscenes are really gorgeous!
Conclusion: It’s A Mixed Bag
DMC 5 saddens me. It could have and should have been so much more. The technology is amazing. The game engine runs superbly. There’s a wonderful cast of hyper-real and brilliantly choreographed characters. The combat is diverse, enthralling, and a pleasure to play.
But then there’s the big mess of a story with muddled framing and incoherent plot points set in often-recycled levels with bland design and limited visual creativity. Why can’t the narrative and world be as passionately enthusiastic and charming as the rest of the game?
If combat and cutscenes are all that matters to you, DMC 5 is one of the best games out there, but I for one can’t shake the feeling that the narrative and world-design squanders the incredible technology and charismatic characters. This is why DMC 5 saddens me…at least the cutscenes are gorgeous.
- Character technology
- Charming, unique cast
- Gorgeous cutscenes
- Flashy, robust combat
- Three excellent playstyles
- Nicely-paced missions
- Stellar sound and music
- High replayability
- The classic DMC humor
- Runs great on PC
- Weak, incoherent story
- Muddled narrative framing
- Story/setting disconnect
- Far too few unique levels
- Recycled level elements
- Boring, dull level design
- Various design annoyances
Playtime: 22 hours total. Nick spent 12 hours leisurely completing the standard difficulty level, Devil Hunter. Then he pushed through the next higher difficulty, Son of Sparda, in 8 hours. A few more hours was spent goofing off and unlocking Achievements.
Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using an Intel i7-3930k CPU, 32GB of memory, and a nVidia GTX 980 Ti graphics card.
Also read the Devil May Cry 5 PC Performance Analysis.
Nick’s been a PC gamer for over 20 years, having grown up on first-person shooter games (he’s very proud of his Quake 2 tournament trophy). Nick also loves deep, engrossing role-playing games, and he’s also more famously known as Brumbek, the creator of Static Mesh Improvement Mod for Skyrim. Nick believes the essence of enjoyment is to play and ponder video games.
Contact: Email
meh…boring series.
…he says with a NuPrey avatar
Hey, Prey 2017 is awesome. Devil May Cry is awesome.
Nah, Prey 2017 was average at best
It’s discount System Shock at best
Probably this is a good game and i don’t have a doubt about that, but for me the 2013 reboot is way better in everything: The story, gameplay, level design… Everything, and i’m ok if we will never see a sequel, the base game with dlc is enough.
I wasn’t to into DMCs story and rebooted characters, but yeah – I found everything gameplay-related miles ahead of DMC5. I’m really surprised it’s getting such high praise and the amount of people glossing over the abysmal level design is baffling.
DMC5 Dante rips his motorbike in half and uses it as a Chainsaw Sword to kill insects.
I don’t get it. Everything in DMC5 feels so much slower gameplay-wise. The combat is just inferior. It feels incredibly outdated, sluggish and slow. V’s gameplay makes this even worse, because it doesn’t even feel responsive anymore.
I think people are just a**holes when it comes to DmC. They can’t help themselves.
I’ll give you this much, V’s combat is kind of lackluster. But Dante and Nero. They’re the best they’ve ever been. You have no idea how much creativity and options you have when fighting with them. Just look up DMC5 combos on Twitter, they’re amazing. Not to mention a solid enemy roster, all of which feel fun to fight.
I really REALLY don’t get how can you say “the combat is inferior in DMC5” with a straight face.
I don’t hate DmC per say, but seeing the lengths some people try to defend it even after we got a proper Devil May Cry sequel makes me retroactively dislike it more and more.
Just say you don’t like the original Devil May Cry games because they’re too “Japanese” or “outdated” or whatever and move on. You yourself admitted you don’t like the original DMC games to begin with.
> Just say you don’t like the original Devil May Cry games because they’re too “Japanese” or “outdated”
Stop being defensive weebo.
> You yourself admitted you don’t like the original DMC games to begin with.
Where did I say that?
Hey, it was a hunch. Plus that’s the number 1 reason from DmC defenders that I’ve seen.
Plus, I thought I saw you comment not liking the original DMC games, so my bad here. But judging how you react to reply to other comments, one would come to that conclusion anyway
I still don’t understand this narrative.
DmC is a really average game and is puddle deep compared to mainline games.
Lol the only thing better about DmC was the Limbo levels. The actual story and writing was trash. The character designs/personalities were also bad.
Combat was stripped and dumbed down sooo much from DMC3/4. I don’t see how people can actually say the gameplay in DmC was better like…. color coding enemies, generic weapons, no combat styles and DT making enemies float (lmao) is better to people???
I really hope you understand that DmC 2013 is not related to Devil May Cry, DmC by itself is a reboot, i know it’s based on the old one but it was a separate vision from Ninja Theory. Why people try hard to compare it to the old ones is beyond me.
I know that (I’ve played every DMC game). A reboot is no excuse for “worse gameplay” and “combat mechanics” than its predecessors (especially considering the leap in power/resources/engine from ps2 to ps3 hardware).
A reboot is given the chance to “improve” upon the mishaps of the original. From story, characters, combat, level design and etc. DmC only improved one aspect of the franchise and dumbed down the rest.
” A reboot is no excuse for “worse gameplay” and “combat mechanics” than its predecessors”
uummm… but DmC had much better combat and mechanics?
Really? Better? So you like color coded enemies, lack of styles, busted demon dodge, mostly stationary bosses and baffling control layout (seriously, 2 dodge buttons and you go DT like in GoW).
DmC had a more accessible combat system, I’ll give it that, but better? Not in a million years.
From my above comment:
If “color coding enemies, generic weapons, no combat styles and DT making enemies float (lmao) is better to people” then you simply preferred the “dumbed down/casual” combat mechanics.
If DmC had “much better combat and mechanics” then the Definitive Edition (which came from a mod on PC) wouldn’t have changed multiple mechanics to match previous DMC games.
they changed it because entitled babies like you kept crying and review bombing the game
Lol I’d never waste my time review bombing a game. It’s never that serious.
They changed it because the simplistic combat was too easy/boring and overall lackluster compared to previous games.
The best review yet of this game, in my opinion.
We need a video Reviews from this guy on DSOGaming
Does DSOGaming have the technology?
Difference between DMC5 and DmC is that DMC5 actually has good gameplay… and story, and characters and music and replayability and *gasp* better level design.
Original DmC came out on consoles at 30fps without a lock-on feature.
Sniper rifle abortion, anyone?
Typical DMC Fan. Can’t go a comment without lying.
Seriously, that level design is better? Don’t make me laugh. Everyone agrees the level design is sh*t. As is the music. There’s a reason why those bands won’t be heard from again while Noisia and Combichrist are still selling their music and filling concerts.
Speaking of abortion, I wish Vergil would’ve shot that abortion of a story. Autistically told and poorly done with little love for the characters, especially Vergil who couldn’t be more shallow and boring now. A cartoonish version of his former self.
All the best elements DMC5 has are cheap copies from DmC. The level design, the camera work, the layered music, the more grounded characters and realistic world. All of it inferior. The level design is bland, lacks imagination and variety. The camera is always too close and always shows too little of the environment. The music is awful. Bad bands, making bland metal or pathetic pop music. The world building is shallow and lacks depth.
Nero couldn’t be closer to DmC Dante if he tried. Apart from the haircut (we all know you care about that a great deal) He even swears now (oh the humanity).
So all in all I’d say: Try harder Capcom. Might involve NT next time, so we could get a better combat system that doesn’t feel like an outdated PS2 game.
You should lay off the drugs.
You should stop lying. It makes you look pathetic.
I’ll take the “outdated PS2 game” as a compliment then, since AAA games today feel more shallow than a lot of PS2 games.
what was wrong with that? virgil was a bad guy, he shot a pregnant demon…. how is this still a issue years later? DmC is a much better game then dmc 2,4 and 5
First off, what is this console stuff you speak of? This is a PC gaming website. DmC on PC was always 60+ FPS. I never needed a lock-on feature…I aimed for myself.
“Despite the fury over the reboot and reimagining of Dante, DmC went on to be one of the best spectacle fighters ever made, and it still holds up today. The combat is intense and cerebral. The story is relevant, engaging, and well-told. The level design is lavishly creative.”
Yea… .No. I understand this site is filled with story f*gs and pressentation f*gs. *sigh!
I said storyfag but in hindsight, how did you people manage to be impressed with “Fock you” and “Bigger dck”?
I’m always impressed by a “Bigger dck,” your comments are just so impressive.
“I said storyfag but in hindsight, how did you people manage to be impressed “with “Fock you” and “Bigger dck”?
because if you played the game you would have realized there was more than just the few lines of dialogue that reddit and 4chan memed on.
Yea. There was much more bad lines.
I mean this dipwad thinks 800 people losing their jobs is funny, but tries to act high brow when the word d*ck is used. Anyone that tries to argue with him is just wasting their time. Either he doesn’t have a brain or he refuses to use it. I’d bet it’s former.
does anyone know if remastered AC3 is going to be on steam or not?
It will
“Too Dull”
Lol.
So how we should name those open world single player boring grinders created by indie to aaa studios?
Nagging points of the game, mostly agree.
Story being bad? For a DMC game, not really. Being told really complicated for no reason? Definitely.
Having the best visuals/combat in the series? Definitely.
Having filler feeling levels? Yes.
Having half of the game being a rehash, level design wise? Unfortunately yes.
DmC having the absolutely best level design in the franchise and all levels being thematically appropriate? HELL YES.
Seems like I should try DMC. I hated DMC 4 and the 5 demo because their levels are so entirely forgettable, literally just meant to be corridors connecting arenas together. To me DMC 5 would be no worse if it played more like a traditional fighting game where you face a group of enemies and advance to the next one in another area without having to run there collecting crap.
I feel like going towards photorealism really hurt the game visually.
At least they nailed the gameplay
Yes, I agree. I feel they spent all their budget on photorealism for the characters and spent hardly any time making quality environments and levels.
That’s the only thing DmC has over this one Nick, level art design, everything else DMC 5 does much better.
I agree, but the photorealism thing is a cost-saving measure more than anything, so we were never gonna avoid it.
I’m a fan of the series but i have to agree in parts, the story and levels were a complete let down to the point were i think they rushed the game, once you get inside the “Tree” every level looks and feel the same and the last boss was better done in 3, but DMC is all about the gameplay and 5 did not disappoint there. so TO ME 3>5>4>1.
Just something to add now that i fully read the review, it’s ok to praise DmC level variety and design, it’s the one thing i wish DMC5 would copy, but “DmC went on to be one of the best spectacle fighters ever made”? seriously? did you ever played DMC3/4, Bayo, MGR or Ninja Gaiden Black? DmC at release was a bad DMC game( there tons of videos about it explaining in detail) but a okish action game with some dubious combat design( two color enemies for instance) that were later improved in the definitive edition( guess by who?), but it still is by no means “one of the best spectacle fighters ever made” not even close and the constant comparison to DmC instead of the older ones makes it quite clear that was your first DMC game, still that is just your opinion as this is mine and this was still a fair review.
How many times do we want to use the excuse that the game was rushed? DMC3 felt rushed, DMC4 obviously was. Now DMC5 is also rushed. Maybe Hideaki is just not good with time management. Maybe he’s just bad with endgame material.
And let me tell you who improved DmC: NT. Ignorant fools might not know this but NT and Capcom worked closely on DmC. Hideaki was supervising director for christs sake. You can go and continue to blame the game all you want, but you’d also blame Hideaki.
There’s a reason why he wanted to make DmC 2 instead of … this outdated game.
Did i ever say it excuse anything? who said i also don’t blame Itsuno for DmC? it’s amazing how all you do is put your own assumptions as my opinions or thoughts like you know me, you don’t and never will.
Finally an honest review. So many review seem to excuse the shortcomings of DMC5 way too much. The level design especially needed more influence from Ninja Theory. They were boring design-wise and dull gameplay-wise. But the influence is obviously there.
I was also not impressed by the story at all. The structure was insanely bad but the game went also out of its way to tell a very bad story. I thought to myself “What could be the dumbest idea for V’s existence?” thought of Kingdom Hearts for some reason and was proven right.
I think they fundamentally misunderstood Vergil’s motivation for power. Making him the bad guy was a stupid decision. I also found it disturbing how fast Dante and everyone else seem to forget that Vergil was responsible for the deaths of millions. At the end they seem to like each others company.
The camera was abysmal. Always way too close.
The music was very bad indeed and I was still waiting for more music tracks, but they never came. Apparently those cheap garage bands never released more than one track. The music was poorly chosen. Either uninspired, or too much pop.
I did appreaciate Nero becoming more like DmC Dante. Finding more and more his own voice (which involves swearing apparently) Especially around the end. I hope they continue to use him as the protagonist, because Dante has become a boring parody of himself.
Also I gotta say this: The combat feels slow and really outdated. It doesn’t hold a candle to DmC, nor Bayonetta. It even lost some of its responsive nature with V’s combat system. So all in all a big downgrade. Give me a proper dodge button please.
I could excuse the combat, but the level design is simply atrocious.
Nero swears in DMC4 too, you know. Though in the context of his cutscenes it doesn’t feel forced or out of place. But beyond that, him like DmC Dante? Are you mad?
We’re talking about the same guy who, after he saw Lady naked, felt guilty and called Kyrie apologizing to her. He’s the purest of boys. :))
Also, let’s just forget he offered food and shelter to a complete stranger, let’s Nico smoke despite him hating cigarettes and shows genuine concern for others.
There’s a difference between “A*s” and “F*k”. American’s know this better than anyone.
> We’re talking about the same guy who, after he saw Lady naked, felt guilty and called Kyrie apologizing to her. He’s the purest of boys. :))
Beta orbiter. But still better than Dante because at least he seems to get laid.
> Also, let’s just forget he offered food and shelter to a complete stranger, let’s Nico smoke despite him hating cigarettes and shows genuine concern for others.
Your point? So does Dante. He even ready to sacrifice himself to free humanity. And he’s not even human.
DMC5 pros:
-Dante is back!
-I can’t think of anything else (hype, maybe?)
DMC5 cons:
-game feels just like DMC4 (only with better graphics and cutscenes),which was the low point in the series
-boring level design (from 10 years ago)
-tedious and slow combat (why do I need to slice and shoot an enemy 347 times for it to die?)
-stylish ranks (do we even care about these? D or SSS, I don’t really care)
-some abilities hinder your enjoyment, e.g. “speed”
-no option to choose devil breakers with d-pad (feels like a bug)
Dare I say, DmC was a far better game. Made you feel kinda cool.
Oh yeah, I don’t how they did it, but the combat feels grindy most of the time.
Okay, that DmC Devil May Cry comparison destroyed whatever credibility this review had and wasn’t even needed if you wanted to review DMC5.
I can list a number of reasons why I don’t like DmC: Color coded enemies that restrict combos and player expression, dull boss fights, oversaturated colors (especially the night club mission, that one made me sick playing), no lock-on (before the Definitive Edition) and a story I would call pretentious at best and at worst just plain bad. And I could go on.
Also, Itsuno praised DmC, so much so he wanted to leave Capcom after the game was released
https://twitter.com/HBJohnXuandou/status/1106883175949570049?s=19
Call me a DMC fanboy, but DmC deserved all the backlash it got. If you enjoy the game, more power to you. I don’t. I expected DmC to be brought up in an IGN review of DMC5 not here.
This story isn’t accurate. Itsuno says for himself that DmC is one of his favorite DMC games. It’s in this video documentary.
It’s a total lie that Itsuno hated DmC. It’s a total lie that he was going to quit in protest or something.
This is the same guy that reviewed God Eater 3 and had this to say:
Defending DmC was another ideological cause among the soy journos and part of their “toxic fans” narrative, like defending the Mass Effect 3 ending, defending Andromeda or pretty much anything BioWare does, pushing for censoring Steam reviews, pushing for censorship of titillating content (only if it’s aimed at straight males), defending Anita Sarkeesian, pushing the “games contribute to real world violence” narrative, defending and promoting walking simulators with no gameplay as long as they strongly push SJW politics, etc.
With this review Nick’s profile is starting to become clear.
DMC 5 is trash level design and a mess of a story. That’s the problem with it. DmC had a logical story and brilliant level design. That’s my opinion.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I remember finding TheGamingBritShow’s videos on DmC quite enlightening when it comes to exposing the weaknesses of the story. In any case, the specific word you chose to praise the DmC story is rather telling: “relevant”. DmC is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face and as deep as a puddle in its anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism messaging, and its main villains are insulting caricatures of American conservatives, that, I suspect, is the real reason why you like it.
EDIT: I was misremembering about the videos, it was actually HyperBitHero’s videos on DmC Dante and Vergil.
I don’t know about you but DmC level design wise wasn’t all that great. It’s “platforming” sections were pretty mindless and automated. I also “love” the beginning of the mission at the Virility factory where I have to walk and talk with Kat for almost 3 minutes while I can’t do anything. Or the beginning of Mission 13 I think where I have to save Kat. Thrilling level design, I’ll tell you. Like, what’s so good about the level design because I fail too see it.
Some environments are cool though, like the ones where you go in Limbo after Bob Barbas, but the oversaturated colors just don’t help in some environments, especially Lilith’s club, I genuinely felt physically ill while playing that goddamn level.
As for the story, you just call it trash because you think it’s too disjointed because its narrative framing, while also praising DmC’s, yet, you don’t explain why makes the latter so great (which I think is bad), other than you just like it.
I thought the story in DMC5 was rather easy to follow and entertaining while laying rest to some previous unanswered questions.At this point, I’m just led to believe you don’t like DMC5’s story simply because it’s too Japanese or cheesy, or whatever. If that’s the case, I’ll take Japanese cheese anyday of the week over pretentious anti-consumerism messaging.
Special mention to Dante doing the Michael Jackson dance. That alone makes the story more entertaining than DmC will ever be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuoUfyMUQTc&t=3s
I’m guessing you didn’t actually read the article you quote.
https://twitter.com/gypsyOtoko/status/1107243997695606784
I could also look up the article in which Hideaki says that DmC is his favorite in the franchise, but would that really impact your ignorance?
You know I’m a simple guy. I get all the criticism but when an action game is that much fun in the moment, who cares? I have never understood all the hate around DMC which is, in my humble opinion, the best (to this day) game in the series. DMC5 is also great for what it is. I choose to enjoy both.
How real Dante handle his impostor..
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74b4d435e7c6d25fba77e4581f66189740218ffd859f8b1058a88d6e89a4d8c7.gif
Say whatever you guys want to about DmC…you have to agree that it had a strong OST
Bigger WUB WUB WUB d*ck WUB WUB WUBWUBUBUBUBBUBUBUB
It’s a full product; we can go from that baseline. As I’ve said in the past, non GaaS, full, flat priced games are heavily scrutinized for the slightest discrepancies to make their faults seem far bigger than they are while the slightest positives in some $500mil+ marketing campaigned GaaS Live Service vomit from other giant AAA crumb droppers are vastly over-inflated (regardless of scores). My guess is to avoid looking like “a fanboy” or “a hater” as the kiddos say if you dont say anything nice about their addiction.
At the very least, I am happy that arguments about this particular real video game are about Capcom’s artistic choices vs being some buggy trash or GaaS Live Service scam missing 99% of a game, where the back-and-forth is more about convincing us with bullsh*t that we need to be open minded with price gouged GaaS (or unfinished products) as being an acceptable path for the art form.
I played all DMCs on release and DMC 5 is my favorite right along side 1 and 3. Artistically, Itsuno created a wonderful foundation to reunite all the characters like a soft reboot and built it up from there.
As far as a quality product, I thought it was a great, FULL game with lots of high quality content well worth the $60 FLAT price (or deluxe) – although those MTXs (aka paid cheats) still pissed me off and I have ranted enough on Steam about them. There is NO ACCEPTABLE way to do MTXs in a full priced game.
But for a flat $60? Well worth it imo if you liked 1 and 3. It’s a full, high quality game. The rest is subjective.
I agree with this review, I just started the game and story feels underwhelming, and being interrupted every 30 seconds by a cinematic doesn’t feel right; I miss the sense of exploration the first dmc had (still the greatest dmc of all time imho).
Not even going to read this review, you’re wrong.
Jesus Christ, the amount of DmC babies here.
DMC5 has plenty of issues, but comparing it to the weakest entry bar DMC2?
Why?
Turns out this game is overhyped garbage with cringy story and amateur hour level design.
Extremely sh**ty review
A lot of terrible uninformed opinions in this review and in the comments. DmC was what a 12 year old would think was cool in terms of story telling, super edgy they live with a f*k and a you and plot holes up the a*s (why don’t they save sparda? Why didn’t donte shoot the swat team before they shot kat even though kat told him he could shot and kill people not in limbo at the very beginning of the game?), while completely ruining the characters of Dante and Vergil, making one a huge f*king douche that likes girl so now he wants to do the right thing and the other being anonymooose hacker man with his devil arm the deletus fetus that doesn’t bother to tell his brother his plans on ruling the world until the end and acts surprised when everyone else is surprised. Add in sh**ty doll enemy designs that you would find in any western game trying to do spooky looking enemies like the western silent hill games and ugly over saturated levels full of walking sections and sh**ty platforming along with combat was deep as a puddle, with all weapons following the same basic combo progression as rebellion and the complete lack of styles and big a*s boring bosses. It was just a sh*t show all around. Compare that to 5’s story which is told backwards in some areas for whatever reason, but is otherwise a simple competent story that nails the characterization expected of the characters and is the culmination of 3 other games and an anime series I’d say it’s obviously the superior game in that department. It also has competent gameplay with actual depth, great graphics where the characters don’t all look like grimlins with sh*t eating grins and decent enemy designs. The biggest problem with 5 is the levels lack diversity in visual design. It makes up for it in that you just run from point a to point b killing things with minimal interruptions ,zero puzzles, no walking segments, and no sh**ty platforming.
Thank god I wasn’t the only who thought this.
Just so were clear on something, I do prefer the original universe of DMC and it’s characters (Not just Dante, mind you) over the reboot. But DMC 5 didn’t really feel like a true return to form, at least combat wise it did feel like that, but when it came to everything else, not really.
That being said, DMC 5 is not a bad game and neither is DmC, both games their pros and cons.
Graphics & Performance
DMC 5 definitely the best in the series.
Music and Sound Design
Also the best in the series, no greater satisfaction, than hearing “YOU CANNOT KILL ME” after timing a perfect Royal Release on an enemy. And Ebony and Ivory finally get different sounds now.
Gameplay & Level Design
DMC 5 has the best combat in the series, but feels like it could’ve been done better, like using the D-Pad to switch between Nero’s Devil Breakers instead of just breaking them and setting various commands like surround, retreat, charge, and guard for V’s familiars.
DmC had LOTS of problems with it’s combat upon it’s vanilla release, but most of them were fixed in the definitive edition with some additions like hardcore mode and must style mode and the ability turn off the timer in bloody palace which that didn’t make into DMC 5. One thing I did like about DmC was that the enemies were very aggressive.
When it comes to level design, DmC takes the cake here, the levels were really varied in both their design and tilesets, platforming actually worked and was really involved with the combat like being able to slam an enemy into an oncoming rage train, jump above an empty space and send an enemy down with a downward strike killing them instantly, etc.
DMC 5 took little to no risks with it’s level design, the platforming does work and you had one level that had some traps (just one though, DmC had like tons of them). But when it came to design variety and implementing the platforming and level design with it’s combat, it really did feel lackluster compared to DmC. One thing that was annoying was the idea of the nidhogg hatchlings and the Qlipoth roots, which made the game feel slightly artificially longer than it actually was.
Story and Writing
Both DmC and DMC 5 fall short in the story department but in different ways. For one, DmC’s biggest problem when it came to the story and the characters was not just the changes to the lore, like making Dante and Vergil demon/angel hybrids kind of defeats the purpose of the title Devil May Cry and robs the theme of DMC which is demons discovering what it means to be human, but also the dialogue, just compare DmC’s Succubus scene to DMC 3’s Nevan scene, you can tell which had more imagination put into it.
I did like DmC’s interpretation of Vergil up until he committed fetus deletus in mission 17, as cold and calculating as classic Vergil was, not even he would do that. Now with Dante, despite his edginess, he did have a legitimate reason for being edgy, being abused by demons since a young age, compare to classic Dante who is more cheesy and lighthearted who didn’t go through that, but if the dialogue was worked on a bit more he would definitely have been better and less cringeworthy.
However, DMC 5’s story was not structured properly while both DMC1, 2, 3, 4 and DmC were.
DMC1-4 and DmC had a beginning=>middle=>end
DMC 5 was middle=>beginning=>end.
DMC 5 was trying to be mysterious and complex for the sake of it when it really didn’t need to, plus the plot twists with V and Urizen was very predictable.
(Compared to the twist of Jester being Arkham in DMC 3, no one saw that coming.)
Also, Lady and Trish were utterly pointless in the story, Trish did like one thing and Lady didn’t do jackshit, and they also felt kind of off, not in their design mind you, but in their personalities. Lady and Trish were more serious in the previous games but with Dante and Vergil trapped in the underworld they’re all like Can I have his office now?, they don’t even do anything in Mission 10 where Dante, Trish, and Lady are heading off to fight Urizen for the first time.
Like why did V called Vergil “Urizen” then say that there is no demon named Urizen later on? Why do Dante and the Crew still call him Urizen if they know that he’s really Vergil? Why is Trish surprised by Vergil’s return when V clearly explained to her how Vergil separated himself into Urizen and V using the Yamato? How did Vergil resurrect the Qliphoth Tree or even know about it in the first place? Why was Vergil still so determined to beat Dante despite the fact that he was tortured and enslaved by Mundus for ten years? Did he learn absolutely nothing? Also, Malphas, what was the point of her existence? Sure she had a cool boss battle, but she was pointless, there was one point in the game where she puts V in a temporary coma then tries to kill him when V steps into her domain, what was the point of that?
Content & Density
While DMC 5 doesn’t reuse levels, even though you have some levels with V and Nero that take place in the same area but follows different paths and the tilesets vary little, it does reuse bosses, the last two missions in the game being the same boss fight, same area, but with a different playable character, Urizen’s original form is fought at least three times, his final form fight begins right after Dante get’s King Cerberus, therefore giving the player no time to learn how to use it properly until the next mission. V’s dream sequence in mission 14 has him fighting dream versions of Goliath, Cavalier, and Artemis, bosses he never fought aside from Cavalier riding Geryon and V killing Goliath after Nero weakens him.
DmC still takes the cake as the most complete game in the series as it doesn’t reuse levels or bosses at all, even going as far as to give Vergil his own campaign, which is something DMC 3 and DMC 4 SE did not do, at all.
Conclusion
DMC 3 holds the best story in the series.
DmC holds the best level design and content density
DMC 5 holds the best combat.