The best part of reviewing games is when you have the opportunity to pick up a game that you know hardly anything or nothing about and you could just play it with an open mind, in doing so you uncover a real gem of a title. That was the case when I picked up the latest title in the Devil May Cry series. Now, you’re probably asking yourself how someone can be a serious gamer and never played any of the Devil May Cry games, for me in the past I was always put off by it, no reason why but it just never stood out for me and I wouldn’t have played the latest one if it wasn’t for the current drought in the games department.

The series is one of Capcom biggest IPs having first been introduced at the beginning of the century in 2001. The main protagonist, Dante, became easily recognisable with his distinctive long white hair. Capcom released four titles in the original series and when the hardcore fans heard about the new revamp and saw Dante’s new image, they were not amused to say the least. DMC has been given the thumps up by most of the critics but fans of the original series seem to be voicing their opinions with what I feel is very unjustified comments.

The campaign takes place in Limbo city, a city like any other on the outside, but on the inside its run by demons who brainwash its inhabitants through media amongst other things. Dante is a cocky teenager who is unfortunate enough to be hunted by the demons. Demons contently drag him into “Limbo” which is the demon parallel world of Limbo City, the only way to get out of Limbo is to fight your way out. The story starts with Dante waking up in his trailer after a night out doing what most teenagers do, he is rudely awakened with a bang on his trailer park door and a voice telling him his is in danger. He drags himself out of bed and answers the door stark butt naked to the surprise of the unfamiliar Kat. Dante is then dragged into limbo by a hunter demon and has to fight his way through Bellevue Pier carnival with the guidance of Kat. It turns out Kat is psychic, which is why she can see and communicate with Dante when he is in limbo. After defeating the hunter, Dante is baffled when it calls him the “Son of Sparda” with its dying breath. Kat then persuades Dante to come and meet the boss of her order, Vergil. Vergil then shows Dante their shared past, they are twin brothers, their mother, Eve, was an Angel and their father, Sparda, was a demon. The two fell and love which went against their people, so the two went into hiding. Vergil explains to Dante that they are both nephilim and are the only ones capable of killing Sparda’s former ally-turned-bad-guy lord Mundus.

The game play itself is just button bashing. But the enjoyment and entertainment levels are incredible because there are so many different combinations you can conjure up to take on the vast amount of demons that surround you. When killing demons you collect different orbs which can be spend on healing tools for Dante or levelling up your various weapons. There are 8 different weapons within the game that you gradually unlock as you progress through the story, Rebellion is a pretty standard sword that can be used to hack and slash your enemies to pieces. You then two demon weapons in Arbiter and Eryx, Arbiter as a slow but power axe that is good for taking chunks of health of enemies but Eryx is probably my favourite, these are basically massive fire fists that you can use to just beat up your enemies. Of course, if you have demons weapons then you have a few angel ones as well. Osiris and Aquila are useful for crowd control and taking smaller amounts of health of more enemies at any one time. Then you have the guns, the Ebony and Ivory combo has made a return from the original series, these are your standard dual wielding pistols. Revenant is a shotgun that does some massive damage to foes. Finally you have Kablooey which is a mine throwing dart gun type thing that sticks explosives to your enemies and blow them to smithereens on your signal. All of the weapons can be levelled up to improve the range, damage, and unlock different moves.

Whether you’re a fan of Devil May Cry or not, I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy of the latest title. The game has a good story, the graphics are good, the level up system is cool, and the soundtrack is pretty brutal. It just all fits quite nicely and you can sit there just smashing various button combinations creating some awesome cinematic demon kills.

DmC: Devil May Cry is available now on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Review in association with Subsonic Gaming Accessories, which are available from Amazon, Play.com and Zavvi.com. Review by Thomas Thompsett, White Room Games.