The devil’s in the details

CAPCOM AREN’T CALLING DEVIL MAY CRY A REBOOT BUT IT IS A DISTINCT CHANGE OF STYLE

Dante’s gone punk in what Capcom are avoiding calling a reboot of the Devil May

Cry franchise. The symphonic soundtrack is replaced by modern metal, Dante’s shop is replaced with a trailer on the pier, and Dante’s long white hair is replaced with a dark, shaggy fin.

Capcom say DmC is set in an alternate universe to the main

Devil May Cry storyline. That, I guess, gives them the opportunity of revisiting the main storyline again in future.

But to all intents and purposes, this is a completely fresh take. Not that the gameplay is radically different — it’s still an atmospheric, stylish hack’n’slash combat game with the same unfeasibly large weapons. And it’s still a great deal of fun.

Different spin

There was something of a fan backlash when Capcom announced the new look and style for Dante. I’m not as emotionally invested in the game as some, so that means little to me. I guess you can choose not to like the re- make ( sorry, parallel universe) version if you want, but be clear that this is your choice: every- thing you loved about the earlier games is there, but with a different spin.

So forget what you know about the old story. In this version, Dante’s a bum living in a trailer. His shop isn’t even men- tioned. One day he wakes up with a hangover, the two girls he brought back from the club are gone, and there’s a demon outside after his blood.

After battling through limbo with his sword Rebellion, during which he recovers his pistols, Ebony and Ivory, Dante’s taken by the psychic Kat to meet Vergil, the head of The Order, a rebel group fighting the powerful businessman Kyle Ryder, the mortal mani- festation of the demon Mundus. This being Devil May Cry, however, the plot unfolds between many and varied fight sequences — and yes, you are still graded for style and the number and variety of combos you use. And it still manages, if only barely, to avoid being a button- masher.

Much of the setting is a mirror- image of the original. In this game, Mundus defeated Sparda in the distant past. Dante is the devil- twin, Vergil the angelic one.

But the style is distinctive and fresh. It works. It’s a little like Capcom blended the original premise of Devil May Cry with the bad- ass attitude and grime of Bethesda’s Wet ( and I enjoyed Wet).

Is it worth playing? Absolutely. It’s fun and it’s edgy. If you feel precious about the original game, you can decide you don’t like this one — but you’re doing both DmC and yourself a dis- service if you do.