Number four could be described as a last minute entry: As I played it for the first time at the end of December. A game that earned a lot of scrutiny before its release made it hard to win over fans, but an impressive first attempt by the new studio in charge helped it earn the #4 spot.
#4: DMC Devil May Cry
DMC developed by Ninja Theory was the studio’s first run at the DMC franchise, completely rebooting the series and starting fresh with a brand new story and Dante. Needless to say a lot of fans weren’t too happy with the changes and proceeded to ignore the game.
However the new story of Dante fighting in a world already ruled by demons was an interesting one. Combat, while not as technical as DMC 3, was still one of the best systems I’ve seen in recent action games.
The ability to switch between normal, angel and demon related weapons instantly, opening up the combo potential for a player to go nuts. Using unlocked chains to pull enemies towards Dante or catch up to them was a great power and when combined with everything else made the combat very engaging. I also have to call out the art design for DMC as the game looked really well and the design of the demon world or limbo was great.
As an action game in 2013, DMC was easily one of the top contenders but there were several reasons why it didn’t score any higher. When compared to Devil May Cry 3 which is not only arguably the series’ standard but one of my top 3 action games, it doesn’t hit the mark.
The enemy design was basic and relied more on annoying gimmicks than proper challenges. The boss fights were incredibly basic and never reached the variety and creativity of Devil May Cry 3, especially the Vergil fight.
And while the combat system was great, it did start to become repetitive due to every weapon making use of the same combo tree.
Regardless, Ninja Theory managed to score a winner with DMC and I can only hope that they will continue to work on the series and develop things further.
Pingback: The 2013 Game-Wisdom Awards | Game Wisdom()