Wed, Jan 16, 2013 | 05:06 GMT
DmC: Devil May Cry “fans” are a crying shame
Dante’s had a dye job and legions of devoted fans have sworn off his triumphant return to the forefront of action gaming. Brenna Hillier slow claps.
There’s a stereotype that gamers are all pathetic shut-in misanthropes with the social grace of pubic lice (pre-endangered species status) and adjustment disorders so pronounced they are visible from the moon.
This isn’t true. “Gamers” as a body don’t exist. The people who play games are just people who play games, and that arbitrary grouping is becoming even more diverse as gamification creeps into every aspect of our lives. (It will soon be impossible to microwave a TV dinner without scoring points, updating your Facebook, killing off a boss and unlocking an UBER EPIC 5000 armour set.)
But we all occasionally subscribe to the myth that gamers are a thing. It’s easy to do when you hang around sites like VG247. You start believing that this relatively tiny group of people who know and care about video games with an unusual level of passion are a solid, cohesive unit. You read the comments and you draw conclusions about what kind of people “gamers” are.
It’s not a very nice kind. Like all comment threads and forums everywhere, gaming websites tend to be dominated by vocal minorities keen to espouse their insanity and ignorance. According to this measure, the “gamer” kind is sexist; racist; homophobic; reactionary; unable to spell; almost exclusively male; hasn’t read a book since See Spot Run; probably dramatically under-equipped in the genital department; incapable of basic self-care like hygiene, cooking and housework; and covered in Cheeto dust.
Alright, I’m extrapolating a little here. But that’s the mental picture I come up with in-between rolling my eyes so hard my skull shakes whenever I read some embarrassing comment about how Dante’s hair colour means DmC: Devil May Cry isn’t a solid, excellent game well-worth your time.
Here’s a bridge: now get over it
Look, kids, the verdict is in: DmC is a lot of fun. As it should be; it was built in close consultation with the team of action experts at Capcom who oversaw the rest of the much-praised series. Sure, Kamiya was not on board – but Kamiya is just one man and, newsflash: games are made by dozens if not hundreds of people. When celebrity individuals depart, companies like Capcom don’t lose ground. The teams that stay behind still have all the knowledge and expertise they used to build the games they are almost never given any credit for. A single auteur makes a better headline, see.
Capcom went to Ninja Theory not because it couldn’t make a Devil May Cry game itself, but because it looked at the developer’s body of work, probably paying particular attention to the excellent Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and decided it wanted that kind of creative force to reinvent Dante’s universe.
See, Dante’s universe was starting to wear thin. It didn’t start in a strong place. The gameplay was strong and Capcom turned the hodge-podge into a solid action game in the same way developers and publishers have salvaged projects since the industry’s earliest days: it started making shit up on the fly and tidying up afterwards.
Devil May Cry was a great game and so were its sequels, but the franchise’s fiction and canon is not among the great works our industry has produced; it’s all style and no substance. Dante wasn’t written to have substance, he was designed with style, to take advantage of the then-new PlayStation 2′s graphical capabilities. This was a video game franchise designed to sell a lot of units as quickly as possible on the expensive new platform, not to push the boundaries of the artform.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing; the question of what criteria, mechanics or intellectual property, are important when assessing a game is yet to be settled. But it is a thing, and it means there’s nothing sacred about Devil May Cry’s fiction that prevents Capcom from begging Ninja Theory to try and put together a fictional universe it can continue to make games in until people grow tired of its rock-solid action stylings – without writing itself into problems it can’t solve by having a woman smash through a window on a motorcycle and flash her tits.
Rage face
I understand how uncomfortable it is to have a character and world you love rewritten, even when you can admit to yourself that the original product was not proof against criticism, which many of you apparently can not. What I do not understand is the blithering insanity of Devil May Cry fans in the face of a reboot which does the franchise no harm and by all accounts, quite a lot of good.
The existence of DmC: Devil May Cry doesn’t stop the earlier games existing. It doesn’t betray or compromise that existing (incoherent) vision you love so much. If Microsoft threw up in a puddle and sold it under the name “Halo 5″ it wouldn’t stop Halo and its sequels being what they are. If the brand is diluted that’s not your problem – that’s the publisher’s problem when the money starts to trickle away. There was no “true” Devil May Cry game which was shelved for DmC. DmC’s existence, should you choose to ignore it, has no effect on you whatsoever.
Despite the complete absence of logic behind this ill-will, it runs so strongly that some of you have gone so far as to send death threats to Ninja Theory staff.
And yet despite the complete absence of logic behind this ill-will, it runs so strongly that some of you have gone so far as to send death threats to Ninja Theory staff, to accuse VG247 and its peers of corruption, a charge which stinks of conspiracy-theory paranoia, and to write thousands of words of rabid vitriol against Dante’s hair colour rather than react like a normal human being to a game that has absolutely no impact on your life and happiness in any meaningful way.
Devil May Cry is a video game. You are throwing a hissy fit because a character in a spin-off video game has a different backstory and hair colour to the one you’re used to. I shudder to think what will happen if you are ever required to move house, break up a relationship, change jobs or shave off your neckbeard.
You’ve lost it, “gamers”. I’m ashamed to be sharing an arbitrary demographic grouping with such raving imbeciles. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Grow the fuck up. And try DmC: Devil May Cry, because it’s a good video game. Remember how you used to like those?
668 
Posted in: Action, Capcom, PS3, Xbox 360
Tags: DmC: Devil May Cry, ninja theory
668 comments
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#601
GilliamYaeger
25/01/13, 12:29 am
@597 ‘Well, maybe one type of movement, but not the one they want.’
A bowel movement
#602
stretch215
25/01/13, 12:38 am
600- Motherfuckers!
#603
absolutezero
25/01/13, 1:11 am
PAUVRE CON
#604
monkeygourmet
25/01/13, 1:13 am
I like the bit where they changed his hair
#605
Hellhound30x
28/01/13, 6:10 pm
I like how this entire article you’re trying to sell me on the new DMC.
Really, I feel like I’ve just been “pitched” too.
Brenna Hillier, You make it seem like DMC was just some garbage game that was thrown together to capitalize on the ps2′s hardware. It was just thrown out there to sell in massive numbers.
You make me laugh. Anyone who knows the history of Resident Evil 4 would tell you that DMC first originated as RE4, but Shinji Mikami felt that it had strayed to far from its “survival horror” roots and told Kamiya it would be better to make it its own games. This is why the first DMC feels much like a resident evil game. You’d be surprised how much of the game wasn’t changed. Kamiya was tired of the fragile protagonist, and wanted someone who was just as powerful. – Dante. Kamiya even wrote a novel in the DMC universe… did you know that?
Nope… didn’t think so.
Also Kamiya had nothing to do with the sequel to DMC, and was even disappointed with Capcom for picking another Creative lead.
DMC 3 also had a new director, and so did DMC 4. Kamiya has long left the picture when it comes to the DMC universe.
If you ask me he set the standard for a hack-n-slash game with Bayonetta.
See this is the problem I have with gaming journalism. Its no longer about being a “gamer” and giving an honest review, its about selling the product. Ninja Theory’s DMC is a spit in the face to DMC fans… period.
#606
Ireland Michael
28/01/13, 6:15 pm
@603 Congrats, you quoted Wikipedia. Have a cookie.
Not really sure what the origin of the game has to do with anything. It was still created with the purpose of profit, hyped as a game with a “cool” character (a rather contrived, Japanese interpretation of cool) and dramatic combat. It *was* thrown together to capitalise on the PS2 hardware…
#607
Hellhound30x
28/01/13, 8:32 pm
@#604 Congrats at quoting Wikipedia? LMAO! How long you been a gamer son? how long have you been collecting? See unlike you, I’ve been collecting for quite a while now, and most my information comes from gaming magazines.
Have you ever heard of a Magazine called, “Next Gen?” Its not in publication anymore, but most of the information I quoted was from the feature story where they talk to Shinji Mikami, and Hideki Kamiya.
Also what game isn’t made to make profit? Huh? I can’t believe I have to sit there and ask you this… “oh people just make games for free…” as if…
It was Resident Evil 4. Deal with it!
#608
Hellhound30x
28/01/13, 8:34 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdHiGC41HWo
#609
DSB
28/01/13, 8:49 pm
I don’t see why we couldn’t make it 700.
#610
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 9:21 pm
Well, what’s to expect? Those people just don’t understand what a good game looks likes. Hell, they probably watch the cutscenes of DMC3 with a glass of cheap tetrapak wine, laughing like rich folks (Snar-snar-snar) over the “funny” one-liners and thoughtfully rub their chins over the heart-breaking and thought-provoking storyline.
Having recently replayed some of the games on the HD collection, i can honestly say that DMC 1 was mediocre, DMC 2 was terrible and DMC 3 was okay at best. It doesn’t reach the awesomeness of the new DmC at all. And then we have the lackluster DMC4 which clearly showed that Capcom had no idea where to go with. Such a great franchise. LAWL.
At least i think that’s what you need to write to keep this thing going.
#611
absolutezero
28/01/13, 9:30 pm
Take a bad story and goofy characters. Replace them with a bad story and shitty characters. Leave voice acting crappy in both attempts. Remove Japanese gameplay anachronisms and replace them with ideas stolen from another game in the same genre.
GAME OF THE FUCKING YEAR ALL YEARS.
#612
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 9:37 pm
So easy.
#613
absolutezero
28/01/13, 9:38 pm
D’IU LAY
#614
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 9:44 pm
小弟弟
#615
absolutezero
28/01/13, 9:49 pm
http://youtu.be/b0a_QlurNZU
Watch this self important wanker poo poo DmC. Its good!
POSHYOL TY’
#616
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 10:02 pm
I think by now it’s pretty clear why the former DMC Fans are pissed.
Bishonen Dante is not coming back.
阴道
#617
absolutezero
28/01/13, 10:03 pm
I miss his sparkle so much.
It hurts so much that hes been replaced by one of the junkies that I throw out of work most days.
#618
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 10:14 pm
Yep, he always seemed so similar to Edward.
#619
absolutezero
28/01/13, 10:24 pm
Its funny because Stephenie Meyer could have ghost written DmC and it wouldn’t change at all! Self insert joke lel.
#620
YoungZer0
28/01/13, 10:35 pm
I wouldn’t know, I’ve never read any of her books.
#621
DSB
28/01/13, 11:04 pm
YOLO
#622
absolutezero
29/01/13, 12:19 am
Where do you think we are?
http://youtu.be/_oL29x7Reh8
http://youtu.be/k9wth1Wk3EM
#623
DSB
29/01/13, 12:28 am
http://vimeo.com/36820781
Poignant.
#624
Ireland Michael
29/01/13, 12:32 am
@605 Yes. I’ve been collecting “Next Gen” since the day it was first published. Over here we call it EDGE Magazine (Next Gen was mainly reprints of EDGE content mixed with some new articles), and it’s been in publication for almost 20 years now, “son”.
I’m well aware it was originally a prototype Resident Evil 4. I just fail to see what relevance that has in the slightest to any of this.
#625
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 12:32 am
Just proving my point that DMC Fans are pathetic.
@621: That cat is amazing.
#626
absolutezero
29/01/13, 12:34 am
http://youtu.be/f8so00HxCPY
FICK DICH
#627
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 12:43 am
Fick dich selbst, du Hoden.
#628
Telepathic.Geometry
29/01/13, 12:50 am
Halt’s maul, du pupskoffer!
#629
absolutezero
29/01/13, 12:52 am
Oh its on now.
Rach thu agus a’ sgaoil am leathar de bhur paithar
#630
Telepathic.Geometry
29/01/13, 12:56 am
Faigh bas!
#631
absolutezero
29/01/13, 12:57 am
#632
Telepathic.Geometry
29/01/13, 12:58 am
;D
#633
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 1:24 am
Fm’latgh hlirgh.
#634
DSB
29/01/13, 1:29 am
http://youtu.be/sY_Yf4zz-yo
Cthulhu fhtagn
#635
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 1:36 am
Aye, ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.
http://youtu.be/tVxVfrfrzJo
#636
Telepathic.Geometry
29/01/13, 1:46 am
iQue te den por culo! /:D
#637
Hellhound30x
29/01/13, 5:10 pm
@622 you obviously didn’t read the article then to see why I brought it up. I don’t have the time or the want to explain everything to you.
Next Gen was a beastly mag…
#638
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 5:17 pm
Oh lord high and mighty has no time to talk, which is why he took the time to reply.
#639
Ireland Michael
29/01/13, 5:21 pm
@635 Yes, I agree, EDGE is a pretty great publication.
But again, what does the games origin have to do with anything? The game was obviously designed with the capability of the hardware at the time in mind. In retrospect, all the Resident Evil influences are there clear as day – the architecture of the locations, the horrible camera angles, the obnoxiously pointless puzzles…
The only game in the entire Devil May Cry franchise that ever really lived up to its full potential was the third one.
#640
Erthazus
29/01/13, 6:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BuoUfyMUQTc – watch this guys.
True Story about new DMC.
One thing for sure is that new DMC failed in sales. I hope next gen we will see a return of the old Devil ay Cry games. NT stuff are just meh.
Also, PC version is a CRAPPY port. At least thanks for Macros, idiots.
#641
Maximum Payne
29/01/13, 6:11 pm
Why is bad port ?
#642
daytripper
29/01/13, 6:15 pm
you make me laugh hellhound trying to come across all knowledgable. wasnt so long ago you was trolling kids and slug brained sad act adults on youtube with console warzzz garbage
#643
Erthazus
29/01/13, 6:20 pm
@Payne, No direct X10 or 11, crappy V-sync and general graphical options (just textures, shadows, filters, Anti-aliasing, resolution).
Cheap stuff. Crapcom and NT style.
#644
Hellhound30x
29/01/13, 10:02 pm
@#637 ” Resident Evil influences?” It was Resident evil 4, not influenced by it. The article implies that DMC was thrown together as if there was no “real” development behind it, other than to “capitalize on the ps2′s hardware” yet it had the Legendary Hideki Kamiya, (Resident Evil 2, DMC, Viewitfuljoe, and Bayonetta to name a few.)Not just that it also had Shinji Mikami watching over it, the father of Resident Evil, and the creator of what became known as “survival horror”…
DMC 1 by todays standards is old, cliched, and didn’t age very well, but at the time, it was praised highly across the board. It was considered new, and innovative, and at the time it pushed the envelope for action games.
It boasted 60 fps, which even Ninja Theory’s version of DMC is incapable of doing.
DMC 3 was incredible, I just finished playing that one this week… still brutal to this day!
#645
Hellhound30x
29/01/13, 10:06 pm
@640 “trying to act knowledgeable?” lol.. care to enlighten me as to where I might have made a false statement? Or is it that I really do know what I am talking about?
Also my previous career/phase on youtube in the whole “console wars” was just for fun. If you left feeling anything at all… well then you make me laugh. After all this time, you still remember me?
So much for “brain dead adults.”
#646
DSB
29/01/13, 10:11 pm
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/03/04
Devil May Make You Really Mad.
So spot on.
#647
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 10:32 pm
@639: Ignore him. He still expects that every developer sits down and frantically tries to put in DX11 into a game that simply wasn’t developed with it in mind. I say any game that runs with 60 FPS on the highest setting, with good and fluid controls is a good port. Which is exactly what this port is. Fantastically optimized and simply well done. Runs well even on mid-range PC’s, which isn’t something most ports can say about themselves.
If you have not bought it for the consoles already, i recommend the PC Version.
#648
KrazyKraut
29/01/13, 10:35 pm
wtf,,,?? so many posts…? for this shitty game? *hehe…lets see the next 600 posts”
#649
YoungZer0
29/01/13, 10:44 pm
What with all the commas and periods? Who writes like this?
#650
daytripper
29/01/13, 10:59 pm
@643 Hardly after all this time considering you posted your own video channel in this comment section only hours ago and right beside in the suggest vids was of you trying to be as good as a WWE character “owning minds”. Yeah great “career” making a few kids annoyed, we were laughing in the office as In case you didn’t notice I was being sarcastic previously, it’s a shame you think that stuff is fun really, when you actually stop trying to be Big Boss Man and talk about games you are a great watch/ interesting from the couple of vids I saw.
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