Video games seem to understand reboots better than films ever have. Apparently nobody told Hollywood that if you actually try at something, instead of just green-lighting any old garbage to come by on the conveyor-belt, you may actually make something worth watching. The video game industry at least still cares, for the most part, and has actually produced some worthwhile remakes (such as “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” and “X-COM: Enemy Unknown”) with the newest “Devil May Cry” game joining those illustrious ranks.
Despite having a title that probably took a bathroom break to come up with, “DmC: Devil May Cry” is a good game. DmC follows the adventures of Dante, a half-demon/half-angel fellow, on a quest to take revenge for the death of his angelic mother and the imprisonment of his demonic father. Along the way he teams up with an underage witch who possesses the power of having spray cans filled with magical squirrel semen and his brother Virgil, the swarthy leader of a rebellion against a demon conspiracy plot being instigated by a banker. They make a big deal out of how this banker is supposed to be some unholy demon king taking human form, but this is pretty much the standard for all bankers anyway.
As with all “Devil May Cry” games, the hack & slash bloodbath in DmC is fast-paced and over-the-top — just the way I like it. There are a variety of weapons at your disposal and each has tons of combos that allow Dante to cut a path through the demonic hordes like a hot knife through some particularly insecure butter. At least that’s how it goes on the easier difficulties. As is the norm for the series, DmC has a plethora of difficulty modes ranging from “boy this sure is tough” to “please make the pain stop.” The toughest of these modes has all your enemies blazed out on steroids and Gatorade, while you go down in one hit. It is a pretty good time, but only if you hate yourself.
The real stars of this game are the bosses. They allow you put your mastery of combo-fu up against the Slurm Queen, the Master Control Program as played by Bill O’Reilley, and a creature that looks like something Sigmund Freud would come up with after getting black-out drunk.
The demons you fight are no better either. All of them look like they came straight from the Sun Well of Nightmare Fuel, but it’s incredibly cathartic to carve them all up like a turkey dinner. DmC may stumble a bit when it comes to characterization, but if you can tolerate playing as a guy who’s hair lost a fight with a weed-whacker, then you’re in for one devil of a good time.
