Welcome back to Spawn Point, where we take something wonderful from the world of gaming and explain what it is, why it’s worth your time and how to get involved. This time, we look at “Spectacle Fighters”, or “Character Action Games” if you like your genre names vague and uselessly ambiguous.
What’s so spectacular about these fighters, then? It’s Spectacle Fighters, a genre of mostly third-person action games that focuses on the visual spectacle of combat above all else. These are games designed to make you both feel and look like a badass through a huge range of freedom in combat options. They also tend to rate your performance with a score, rank or grade of some kind, usually from D through to S.
]]>Three of Capcom's Devil May Cries are getting a treatment from Nurse Definition, in fact - 2001's first game, 2003's somewhat disliked Devil May Cry 2, and 2006's special edition of Devil May Cry 3. I.e., the first of four hacky-slashy games to star the original, silver-haired, which way to to the Final Fantasy VII cosplay contest Dante, as opposed to the shorter- and darker-haired finger-flipping version from Hellblade studio Team Ninja's 2013 DmC. They're getting high-def and sixty frames treatment in a $30 triple-pack next May.
]]>While the possibility of a second dose of delicious devil tears seems unlikely, we can at least console ourselves with the knowledge that Ninja Theory's next release, Hellblade, will be coming to PC. The studio once teased a follow-up to their first game, Heavenly Sword, but the sequel never appeared. Could a Hellblade be from the same fiction as a Heavenly Sword? Leading theologians say YES. There's a video below but nobody runs up the side of a building that is also a demon while attacking the physical manifestation of jazz with a gun-whip so I'm not sure you should bother watching it.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
It's a mark of how much I enjoyed ridiculously named reboot DmC: Devil May Cry that I'm absolutely gutted because there's no sign of a sequel. It was the daftest game I played in 2013 and one of the deftest as well. Having alienated many fans of the series before release, by featuring a different brand of posturing pretty man than they were used to, Ninja Theory's gloriously over the top romp seemed doomed to fail, but it's a beautifully barmy concoction.
]]>In spite of an amazing White House petition to have its non-Capcom-developed impurities cleansed from this Earth, DmC Devil May Cry was actually pretty excellent. As Adam pointed out, it proved exceedingly adept at blending gloriously bizarre environments with weapon-switching combat that put even the most demonically possessed of Swiss army knives to shame. And it was a solid PC port to boot. So the new Dante's a-okay in my book, and he's quite welcome to hurl more insanity (and masterfully long-form pun jokes) our way if he so pleases. For now, though, it's actually his brother Vergil who'll be snagging the spotlight. In an all-new 3-5 hour-long story expansion, no less.
]]>There was an unexpected element to DmC: Devil May Cry. It was always going to be about smashing up demons. It was always going to feature weapon-switching, combo-building, score-chasing, and combat tech-fests. What was possibly more of a surprise was it being an outlandish political satire which takes aim at consumer culture, finance and banking, surveillance society, and right-wing media. Ninja Theory's Dominic Matthews explains the role satire plays in DmC's cultural commentary on evil.
]]>Devil May Cry: Devil May Cry is a reboot, designed by a new studio and starring a new character with an old (old) name. Dante’s back with a new attitude, a new haircut and a new voice. He loves the ladies but he really hates The Man, and when he settles into the rhythm of demon-killing and corporate takedowns, he’s surprisingly good company. Here’s wot I think.
]]>Oh we of little faith. When Capcom confirmed that a PC version of Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry reboot was in the works, Jim was understandably skeptical about it taking the elevator up from hell around the same time as its console cousins. But Dante's not like everyone else. He's a rebel. He wears leather and makes snarky comments and gets branded a "sexual deviant" by news casters on a network named after a dinosaur. So naturally, his new game will come screaming onto PC whenever it damn well pleases. In this case, that's next month. Hooray!
]]>As previously noted, Capcom have said that Ninja Theory's Devil May Cry game, DmC, will appear on Windows. There's no release date for that, of course, so it's bound to be well after the January release of the console versions, but it gives me plenty of time (and reason) to link the backlog of videos that we have neglected. With Ninja Theory at the controls there's good reason to expect this game to be a little different to previous outings - and Capcom purists are already making objectionable honking noises. And it's looking not looking as ludicrous as the previous games, but it's still pretty mad. (And I am not a fan of nu-Dante.)
Anyway, lots of gameplay footage below.
]]>Yes, its full name is "DmC Devil May Cry" - so, in essence, the game's actual name is Devil May Cry Devil May Cry. I can't claim to navigate the labyrinthine cognitive corridors that led to this not-so-dynamic duo of a name, but oh well. I'm playing a game called The Exiled Realm of Arborea right now and am eagerly anticipating a dark, gritty noir drama unabashedly titled Max Payne 3. Names have never exactly been this industry's strong suit. Stupid, silly amazo-action, however, is right up our alley full of conspicuously placed explosive barrels, and few deliver it better than the Devil May Cry franchise. Basically, I'm in love with Dante's dumb demon-slayer-who's-basically-a-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle antics, so this has me pretty excited. That said, DmC is the first series entry that hasn't been developed internally at Capcom, so I'm still exercising caution.
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