Ninja Theory and The Future of Devil May Cry

I have a confession to make.

I’ve never really been a fan of Devil May Cry.

The first one was cool, but I never really got into the second one, and became less and less interested with each subsequent release.

I am, however, a huge fan of Ninja Theory, having played and loved Enslaved: Odyssey to the West when it released and after finally catching up with Heavenly Sword a few weeks ago. For many players, however, Ninja Theory is an unknown. Neither Enslaved nor Heavenly Sword sold all that well, even though they each had their fans within the gaming community. Today, then, we are going to explore these two games, give a sort of retro review of each of them, and discuss my feelings on DmC (the title of the Ninja Theory-developed Devil May Cry) and whether or not this is a good fit.

Heavenly Sword was released in 2007 as a much-hyped part of the second wave of Playstation 3 games. Originally supposed to be a part of the system’s launch release, Heavenly Sword suffered from numerous delays, and the hype bubble was burst once the game was reviewed. It’s not that it reviewed poorly (it has around an 80 on Metacritic), it’s that it was supposed to be a system-seller and it simply did not meet expectations.

Andy Serkis as King Bohan in "Heavenly Sword." The facial animation is fantastic.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was released in 2010 to much lower expectations that it still failed to meet, selling less than a half-million copies, despite again getting positive press.

In playing (and loving) these two games, it’s clear to me that Ninja Theory does one thing well above all else: storytelling. Both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved featured wonderful, textured, and thematically rich stories, filled with themes of loss, redemption, self-determination, and family. The voice and motion acting in both games is incredible, featuring the talents of Andy Serkis (Gollum in Lord of the Rings, and Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) as the main protagonist in Enslaved, and the main antagonist in Heavenly Sword. The character work in both games is exceptional, with characters that are deep but whose characterization is subtle. For example, there’s an interesting villain in Heavenly Sword named Flying Fox that is hilariously creepy. The looks that all of the other characters give him as he spouts strange nonsense is fantastic in showing the relationships between the villains, and gives them a context that just doesn’t really exist in gaming.

Weirdo. (Credit to playfrance.com for the image)

In Enslaved, the relationship between Monkey (Serkis) and his companion Trip is one of the most fascinating and realistic relationships portrayed in gaming history. They are brought together by odd circumstance, but their understanding of each other grows with each passing cutscene until they ultimately become genuinely close in a platonic way, which is completely unlike any other relationship in gaming. It’s a wonderful central relationship in a wholly satisfying and delightful game story.

The relationship between Monkey and Trip is wonderfully realized in "Enslaved."

The problem with both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved, though, is that neither of them plays all that well. The story and the presentation carries these games. The combat and exploration in Enslaved is rote and simple, and there are sections of Heavenly Sword that are somewhat broken and poorly designed. Neither one features responsive control and a good fighting system, and the between-cutscene gameplay is mostly a downer compared to the beauty of the presentation.

So with all of this being said, why the heck is Ninja Theory doing Devil May Cry? Devil May Cry has been a pure action game with a nonsensical story and forgettable characters (save Dante) seemingly as a rule. To bring in a developer known for having great story and bad combat mechanics seems a bad fit. My prediction is this: traditional Devil May Cry fans are going to HATE DmC (and by and large, they already do). There’s no way the combat is going to hold up to the lofty standard of past games in the series, and if Ninja Theory stays true to their roots, there are going to be some deep themes explored in the game’s story, instead of a thin skeleton of plot made just to push the player from combat scenario to combat scenario.

The character design of Ninja Theory's re-imagined Dante. Note the conspicuous absence of his trademark white hair. That's sure to please "Devil May Cry" fans.

DmC might wind up being a failure, but I am excited to have Ninja Theory back in my life. One day they will be put in a situation that fits their talents as developers. Until then, I implore anybody reading this to check out Heavenly Sword and Enslaved if you are interested in good game narratives. They are interesting, well-presented, deep stories inter-spliced with (unfortunately), so-so mechanics.

Sounds great for a Devil May Cry game, right?

Aiddon

No, because Enslaved and Heavenly Sword were NOT good narratives. At best they had some decent dialogue, but I would argue that DMC’s cast was more interesting and likable and its narratives more interesting. NT is that idiot author who in his haste to make something “serious” has also made it terribly dull and shallow. Dante shedding a tear for his brother at the end of DMC3 despite their complicated and troubled history (as despite their battles to the death he was the only family Dante had left) carried WAY more emotional weight and gravitas then any of NT’s pretentious, pseudo-intellectual porridge.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/MDGFVSKEOFBDFNT62R66JX45UI Daniela
  
  Really? DMC’s story was silly, comical, and incredibly camp. I like it for that. But you can’t be saying that you actually think the original story was deep and emotional, right? The story was convoluted as hell and continuing it would just make it more so.
  Though, I still wish they didn’t change the themes it so radically.
  - Aiddon
    
    Odd, I never said anything about DMC’s plots being “deep.” DMC’s narratives were like good action films; sure, their plots were straightforward and weren’t afraid of having fun, but they remembered to put in actual character development and emotion without being pretentious (which is kind of a necessity regardless of the narratives) NT’s plots by comparison are complete jokes like they were written by some idiot kid who decided to be “serious” and looks even sillier than a camp action film. NT’s storytelling is an absolute joke and their pretenses to being good writers rings hollow. They’re nothing more than hacks and I’d gladly take the plots of DMC3 and DMC4 over NT’s garbage.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/MDGFVSKEOFBDFNT62R66JX45UI Daniela
      
      I really disagree with that notion. DMC1-4′s plot was nonsensical and didn’t have any emotional stance whatsoever. Dante never made me feel sorry for him, worried for him, he was just really fun to look at. (a la Bayonetta)
      
      If you think NT stories where written by some idiot kid, then the one being pretentious here is you. Writing stories is not an easy task.
      
      There was no character development for Dante or any of the other characters (maybe a bit for Lady). Dante just kept changing attitudes in each game for no reason whatsoever. The exception being 3 and 4 which just had him acting like a frat boy.
      
      I don’t know. I just want linearity. It’s just sad that developers can’t quite measure up good gameplay with good stories all the time. But don’t blame it to the developer, taking this job lightly is an armature’s mistake.
      
      Just don’t buy this game and get the HD collection.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Fawwaz-M-Yusuf/655161507 Fawwaz M Yusuf

Well the combat in DmC looks pretty good(if a little slower than what were used to) and capcom is keeping a close eye over the development of the game to ensure gameplay wise it doesn’t upset any dmc fans(like myself). S’long as the game is challenging and has a ton of replay value I can live with a completely different looking dante(was never a fan of the old dante tbh).
Renjick

Is the myth that Enslaved and Heavenly Sword had good storytelling still being perpetuated? Jesus Christ. *facepalm*

I mean you can think that if all you’ve ever experienced are shooters and shallow rpgs but wow. NT does subpar gameplay and subpar cut-scenes. It still baffles me where this upsurge of game journalist fanboying of NT came from when Naughty Dog does what they do better by orders of magnitude.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/MDGFVSKEOFBDFNT62R66JX45UI Daniela
  
  I wholeheartedly disagree with you. NT indeed does a great job at story telling. The article did point out the mediocre gameplay. By any chance, did you even play those games mentioned? I sure did. And yes Naughty Dog does gameplay/story better, but they are more adventure oriented (it’s not a bad thing, they just don’t focus on the whole “action” part) and their stories are sometimes shallow at best.
- Aiddon
  
  Yes, it is kind of silly how critics yap on and on about NT’s storytelling being “good.” All they’ve ever made are shallow narratives dressed up with some decent dialogue. They’re nothing more than a bunch of spoiled brats you haven’t made it big for a good reason.
http://profile.yahoo.com/MDGFVSKEOFBDFNT62R66JX45UI Daniela

This article pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about all this.

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