2013 is shaping up to be a real slobber-knocker of a year for new releases, with games such as Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 arriving. Top of my list though, is DmC, a new spin on the infamous franchise, but one with enough traditional elements thrown into it as well. When it was first shown, the reaction from fans was less than positive, bordering on the downright hostile at times to the way that Dante and his new world appeared. But that attitude has softened in recent months, something that Capcom is aware of, and understands.
“Yeah, now it’s fine, but I could have done without having to fear for my life”, Capcom US producer Alex Jones said to VG247. “There was always going to be people who saw new Dante and who didn’t want it, and that’s fine. We understand – I understand – that people are passionate about it, so this isn’t a bad thing.”
Being angry about it – yeah I get that – but we always said, ‘when you see the game and you play it, trust me, you’re going to understand that we were doing the right thing’. Now that’s happening, so yeah it’s vindication, but it’s not like smugly sitting back and going ‘ha ha’.
It’s more like, ‘We understand why you guys had doubts, and we knew that we had to prove this to you, and we were happy to do it.’ That was our responsibility.
And Dante certainly is a different person, as the stream of gameplay videos and flicks can attest to. Less flippant, more attitude and an arsenal of f-bombs spread in his vocabulary is just for starters, as Jones explained how they wanted to make the characters a darker person;
One of the things about making a western game, we wanted to make the tone a little less campy, and a little more darker. It’s still got a sense of humour, but it’s just more appropriate in the world Dante is now in, where’s it’s less acceptable to make corny jokes and better to make darker ones.
He’s still irreverent, he’s still – at the end of the day – the guy who will kick your ass and drop a cool one liner afterwards.
I’m still not totally sold on the new Dante, but the character happens to have a wider range of emotions, seen so far. But combined with the traditional style of hack and slash, over the top gameplay, and we’ve got a game that can live up the the legacy that the previous titles created.
And after all, fans weren’t exactly thrilled when we played Devil May Cry 4 as the new character, Nero, either, but he managed to prove naysayers wrong with his unique style of attack and attitude.
Let’s hope that the same rings true in DmC next year.
Last Updated: August 27, 2012
