DmC has garnered much controversy simply based around Dante’s new look, which quite frankly is stupid, but I’m not going to get into that at all today because the main focus on any game, and more importantly any action game, is the gameplay. DmC will take us along for the wild ride of Dante’s origin story, something that has yet to be told in the Devil May Cry universe, taking place sometime during the post-punk movement (presumeably during the 70′s). This time around Dante has sleek new Angel skills in addition to his Devil skill set, skills sort of fall into two groups: battle and navigation. Angelic battle skills summon a scythe for some fantastic crowd control combos, while Dante’s Devil skills conjure up a badass demon axe for delivering earth shattering blows best used for breaking guards and large shields. On the navigation end of things, Dante’s Devil pull can be used to pull platforms closer and rip cameras down, while his Angel push (I believe that’s what it was called) causes him to dash forward a great deal. The coolest component of the navigation based skills is how they can be utilized in combat, for instance, in one battle I found my self fighting a pair of cherubs brandishing shields, I used the Devil pull ability to snatch the pesky infant’s shield and then used my Angel push to put myself in the perfect position to wail on him. Ninja Theory is actually working really closely with team members from previous DMC games to make sure all of the action is spot on and it really shows, things always move at a brisk pace and you never feel like your hand is being held too much outside of the initial tutorial (which only last about a minute). A while ago when DmC was first shown, Capcom continuously stated something about the city wanting to kill Dante, which really didn’t make much sense at the time, upon playing though, you really do get a feel for what they meant. The city will contort and rebuild itself around Dante in a constant attempt to be rid of him; walls will close in on you, staircases will form into gaps, and floor tiles will shift suddenly underneath you. Admittedly, the whole concept sounds as though it could become really annoying, but in execution, its actually a rather fun method of keeping a player on their toes even while just exploring or looking for collectibles. Dante’s signature devil trigger ability will also be making its return, and when activated everything turns black & white and time slows down for everyone except you, leaving your enemies very vulnerable to attacks and juggling. As of now DmC is slated for a January 15th release next year and I can’t wait to see all the city has to offer.