(Originally posted for The Voice Of Heard on April 19, 2012)
Seven days ago (or perhaps eight days by the time this was posted), a
new trailer and gameplay footage of the video game DmC: Devil May Cry,
set to be released sometime this year, have been revealed at Capcom’s
annual Captivate event. After viewing them a couple of times, all I can say is
this: my impressions are mixed at best and sour at worst. While the graphics
(at least those in the demonic-dimension Limbo) and character modeling have
been updated and polished since last year, the gameplay looks recycled, slow,
and dumbed-down. Ever since the gameplay footage from last year, the enemies
seem easier to fight that the ones in the past Devil May Cry games;
the “small-fry” in this game seemed like even lesser enemies when compared to
the marionettes from the original Devil May Cry and the sin scythes
from Devil May Cry 3. The enemy design doesn’t appear too
threatening either. Before I get into the latest details regarding the story, I
would like to briefly touch upon a movie I’ve seen just a few days ago. That
movie is called They Live, a science fiction action film
made in 1988, staring professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and
directed by John Carpenter. The film itself is a parody of consumer culture in
which all-powerful aliens from a distant planet are running Earth and
manipulating the human population from behind the scenes via consumer products,
the media, and the government. This is done with constant bombardment of
one-to-three-word messages hidden in signs, labels, and magazine pages, saying
things like “Obey,” “Submit to Authority,” “Stay Asleep,” “Marry and
Reproduce,” and “No Independent Thought.” Now what does all this have to do
with DmC: Devil May Cry, you ask? The story in this game, when
taken as a whole, is going to be a consumer culture parody in which
all-powerful forces (in this case, its demons from Limbo instead of aliens from
outer space) manipulate and control humans via consumer goods, the media, and
the government from behind the scenes. When Dante gets dragged into
Limbo, messages appear on billboards and signs saying things like “Spend,”
“Submit to Debt,” “Gluttony is Good,” and “Homeless for You.” The Captivate
trailer also revealed another antagonist that Dante goes up against: a news
anchor for the Raptor News Network, a sort of parody of real-life news anchor
Bill O’Reily and the real-life news network Fox News, who refers to the main character
as a terrorist of the worst kind and “a sexual deviant.” In the latest
game demo featured at Captivate, a plot device that strongly suggests a major
role in the story is Virility, an energy drink presumably engineered by the
demons as another means of subduing the humans. The newly revealed story
details I just discussed is sure to raise questions as to originality and, for
that matter, actually telling a dark mature story as the game is said to tell.
 |
| A recently released screenshot of DmC: Devil May Cry. When you look closely at the background, you can see the white words "Spend" and "Submit to Debt" emitted on the signs of the arcade building. It is apparent that the game's story is a consumer culture parody. |
Another thing I find baffling is that the moment the new trailer starts
playing, the message “Footage represents a game still in development” gets
displayed, just like every other trailer released so far. Meaning the game, set
to be released this year, is still in the development stages, or rather
going through beta tests. This had further lowered my confidence in Ninja
Theory, the Western developer hired by Capcom to make DmC: Devil May
Cry, in actually delivering a good game. The latest YouTube video on this
issue, uploaded
by the user EventStatus just a few days ago, had reinforced my doubts
today. EventStatus declared that the game will ultimately fail due not only to
the poor reception among fans of the Devil May Cry franchise,
but also due to Ninja Theory’s immature and ethically questionable business
tactics in dealing with people who don’t like their product. Such tactics
include name calling (names like ‘whiners,’ ‘raging consumers,’ ‘haters,’ and
‘crybabies’ to name a few examples), banning commenters who outright say they
don’t like the developer’s take on the franchise, and manipulating the feelings
of Internet users via forums and comment sections in order to detract the
negativity while still placing themselves in a positive light. Bias in gaming
journalism is also another problem surrounding this issue, EventStatus said, as
evident in DmC: Devil May Cry-related articles referring to Tameem
Antoniades as a “savior of the DMC series,” stating that the
new Devil May Cry looks like the original, calls for gamers to
accept the game for what it is, and “[taking] indirect shot[s] at gamers on the
hair issue,” something that I am certain was already gotten over at this point.
Now there’s going to be bias from me at this point. Before concluding
this entry, I would like to say one more thing: it appears that DmC:
Devil May Cry is attempting to clone Bayonetta in
regards to how the actions of the player character and his/her supernatural
adversaries affect the real world. After writing so many entries on DmC:
Devil May Cry and what I have seen and read about it, I have come to a
definite and final conclusion on this issue. I conclude that I will not waste
my hard earned $60 on a video game that displays enough signs of mediocrity as
to render it subpar. If I am certain that a video game is going to be good, I
would buy it, whether it is a newly released product or a used copy. And you,
the reader and consumer, also have a right not to buy a product you don’t like
for whatever reason and to buy one that you like and that you feel, with
absolute certainty, is going to be good. That fact is something Ninja Theory or
Capcom will never change, no matter how hard they try to convince customers
to buy a game that is not going to be good. To top off this conclusion,
here are the following links to the videos for you to view:
EventStatus’s latest take on DmC: Devil May Cry in
case you missed the link the first time (Warning: The video contains
strong profanity. Viewer discretion is strongly advised): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQWOe1gtYng
The Captivate 2012 trailer for DmC: Devil May Cry (Warning:
The trailer contains a scene of brief nudity and one in which Dante flips the
bird in the end. Viewer discretion is strongly advised): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WK1HJxsTxY
Part One of the DmC: Devil May Cry demo featured at
Capivate 2012 (Warning: The video contains some profanity. Viewer
discretion is advised): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6uXMUeO4CM
And Part Two (Warning: The video contains some profanity. Viewer
discretion is advised): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWdvF5WKNc
Original Comment
RosanaJune 16th, 2012 at 7:25 am
In DMC4, his character dsgein was top notch I think.But now? Ninja Theory and Capcom have taken a character dsgein and fervently beat it into submission where the blood and entrails left of said character dsgein are now what’s being animated via polygons.It’s despicable for someone that’s been a fan of the series for 10 years.And with each new game the series gets worse, right?Actually, Devil May Cry 1 and 3 are regarded as the best. 4 was good too, it’s 2 however that’s the bad apple. So that logic is not right. And no, it’s not flagging, DMC4 was the best selling one of the 4 and the most recent. This reboot was completely unneeded.Did I mention this game defies Devil May Cry canon? It’s supposed to be an origin story. Yet this borderline emo (If not already so) has black hair and is a darker version of the Dante we know. In the anime (Which is canon mind you), his hair has always been white, and he has never had this off shot personality now.And the hair is the very least of everything wrong with this character dsgein.VN:F [1.9.17_1161](from 0 votes)
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