More than just another HD Remaster?
HD Remakes are all the rage for the PS4 and Xbox One these days, well it has been that way since they launched and the trend doesn’t seem to be stopping, next up is DMC: Devil May Cry…an interesting choice for Capcom, it didn’t exactly sell that well due to the community’s negative reaction to Ninja Theory’s involvement and the modern day Dante as a teen with an attitude, delivering cheap one-liners. Despite the positive reviews of the actual gameplay, I was surprised that it wasn’t really given much of a chance back then. Hopefully, the Definitive Edition will change all that…
First of all, yes it is in 1080p at 60fps and looks phenomenal and yes, it does come with all previous DLC included. Normally that would be enough to warrant a buy, especially at a reduced price of only £25…but Capcom hasn’t stopped there, they’ve gone back to the drawing board and changed things that didn’t work, they’ve revamped the gameplay including a Turbo mode where combat is 20% faster than before, as well as a Gods Must Die difficulty mode for those insane enough to try. Manual target lock was a requested feature and as such is included, actually why don’t I just give you the lowdown of all the new features:
• 60 fps and 1080p resolution — It looks and feels super smooth to play.
• Uprezzed Graphics — Including textures, characters, and cinematics.
• Big Bundle of Content — The game includes DmC: Devil May Cry, plus all released DLC: Vergil’s Downfall campaign, 3 Dante skins, 3 Dante weapon skins, and the item finder.
• New Skins — 2 new character skins. Devil May Cry 1 Dante and Classic Vergil.
• Turbo Mode — Turbo Mode returns to the Devil May Cry series, with the game running 20% faster in this mode.
• Hardcore Mode — Hardcore mode retains the experience of DmC, but with a throwback to the classic Devil May Cry games in terms of balance. In this mode, which can be toggled on all difficulty levels, the style system has been rebalanced to make ranking up much harder and ranks deteriorate much quicker. In addition, Devil Trigger doesn’t launch enemies into the air, parrying takes more skill, and all enemies hand out more damage.
• Manual Target Lock — We’ve seen more requests for this than any other feature! The manual target lock works as closely to the classic Devil May Cry lock on as possible and has fully configurable controls.
• Vergil Bloody Palace — Only second to Manual Target Lock in terms of the number of fan requests! This is a new Bloody Palace mode featuring 60 levels and Vergil as the playable character.
• Must Style Mode — This is a hardcore modifier on an epic scale that can be played over any difficulty level. Players must be at an S rank or higher to deal any damage to enemies.
• Gods Must Die Difficulty Mode — This is DmC Definitive Edition’s hardest difficulty mode. It takes DmC’s ridiculously hard Dante Must Die mode and adds a touch more punishment: All enemies spawn with Devil Trigger active and no items or health drops can be used.
• Rebalanced and Retuned — We’ve studied fan feedback and made a whole host of tweaks and balance changes. The style system has been rebalanced, as have bosses. Exploits have been fixed in combat and some of Dante’s moves rebalanced, such as the Demon Evade. Gameplay tweaks have been made following hardcore player testing; frames have been removed from Kablooey shots, Parry/Evade windows adjusted, and collectibles, keys and doors redistributed.
• Integration of Popular Community Mods — DmC Definitive Edition includes community mods such as an optional timer disable for Bloody Palace Mode, a triple dash for Angel Evade, and the ability to hit red and blue enemies with any weapon.
• New Cutscene — an added cinematic scene that never made it into the original.
That list was taken directly from Ninja Theory on the official Playstation Blog and after spending considerable time with both versions of the game, it’s really hard not to recommend picking up the Definitive Edition…even if you already own or have played the original. It may not be enough for some to warrant picking up a second time, but I personally think it’s more than enough for you to do so.
Ninja Theory has gone beyond the line of duty to retweak the game to suit everyone based on feedback. They could have just upped the resolution and framerate, added in the DLC and be done with it…but they didn’t, they did so much more that I hope will make other developers take note on how to make a proper Definitive Edition.
The Verdict
If you didn’t like the original DmC, then chances are the Definitive Edition won’t sway you…but I urge you to give it a second chance. The changes that Ninja Theory has made are well worth trying out and if it’s your first trip into Limbo, then I can’t recommend this enough.
