Platinum Report: DmC: Devil May Cry

I got the platinum for DmC: Devil May Cry. I had been looking forward to playing this game for a long time and let me tell you I was not disappointed! Here are some of my thoughts on the game.

First of all, let me address the issue of the reboot/Dante redesign. Like many hardcore Devil May Cry fans I was skeptical about Capcom’s decision to redesign the DmC characters and reboot the series, but I figured as long as the combat and gameplay were top notch I would enjoy the game just fine.

Once I had the game in hand and started playing, I actually started to appreciate the reboot. The newly redesigned DmC world is a world parallel to our own, but the twist is that demons are controlling the populace with subliminal messages and media propaganda. So you spend the game fighting demons and eventually face Mundus, whose appearance and role in the series has been completely revamped. Plot-wise the game draws elements from Devil May Cry 1 and 3 and I think it really sets the foundation for future successful DmC sequels.

In terms of the combat, this game offers the same addictive gameplay that is expected of a Devil May Cry game. Most of Dante’s signature moves and weapons are back, which makes the combat instantly recognizable. The problem for me and most fans of the series is that the difficulty this time around has been severely reduced. I think that maybe the developers were trying to keep this game from being overly difficult so as not to scare away new players to the series. To give you an idea of the difficulty reduction (and this is entirely my opinion), I would say that playing DmC on ‘Dante Must Die’ mode is easier than playing Devil May Cry 4 on ‘Son of Sparda’ mode. While the game is easier this time around there is still challenge to be had on the upper difficulties should you wish to attempt them. DmC isn’t as brutal as past Devil May Cry games, which may be a plus or negative for you depending how much of a gamer you are.

Surprisingly, the shining star in this game is the level design. The game offers some of the most creative levels and backdrops I’ve seen in a while, there are even some fun platforming sections that do a good job of breaking up the combat. DmC also has great bosses, some of which I found genuinely disturbing my first time through the game.

All in all, I liked this game a lot. Sure there are things that I would like to see changed for DmC2, but I am just happy that Devil May Cry is back and getting the attention it deserves. To me, this game will always be the king of the hack ‘n slash genre.

Assassin’s Creed II Platinum

Last week I got the platinum trophy for Assassin’s Creed II! I really enjoyed this game, even though I found it to be a tad on the easy side (more on that later). I particularly enjoyed getting the platinum for this game because they don’t require you to waste a bunch of time replaying the game on multiple difficulty settings (looking at you, Bayonetta). I was worried that it would be a pain to get 100 feathers, but it really wasn’t. I had a little more than half by the time I had finished the game and rounding up the remaining ones was easy using this guide from gamesradar.com.

Actually, the most annoying trophy was Fly Swatter: Kick a guard while using the flying machine. This trophy is insanely easy to get if you know about it, but if you don’t it’s a missable trophy. If you miss it your choices are to play through the game again (the ability to replay chapters is not possible and the flying machine segment occurs a little more than halfway through the game) or buy the Battle of Forli DLC for $3.99 which has a flying machine available for you to use whenever you wish. I chose to buy the DLC pack as I didn’t have the patience to replay the game. The DLC pack (which, to add insult to injury, does not have any trophies of its own) is entirely a waste of $3.99 unless you need to use the flying machine to get your platinum like I did. Boy, did it piss me off when I realized how crappy the DLC pack was, but I was happy to finally have my platinum even though I basically had to buy it.

Trophies aside, I really liked this game a lot. The ending was very interesting and well done, the gameplay and graphics are top notch and you really feel like an assassin sneaking around the cities. My one major gripe with the game is that it is just entirely too easy. The game offers little to no challenge, if you can power on your PS3 then most likely you can beat this game. This would not be so detrimental except for the fact the game puts so much emphasis on stealth but in reality your character is so awesome at fighting that you can just annihilate anyone in the game that happens to see you, thereby completely nullifying the need for stealth. The developers attempted to balance this by having certain missions automatically fail if you are seen by anyone, which was just annoying. That being said, this game is a really fun experience. I had the most fun just exploring the cities, running around on the rooftops and looking for treasure.

So now that I’ve completed this game I’m going to give Brotherhood a go, most likely when it comes down in price a little bit more. I hear the online aspect of that game is really awesome and I’m interested to see where the creators go with the story.