Last week at EGX I had a lot of fun with a game I didn’t think would catch me attention in the least. I’m talking about DmC: Devil May Cry, a title that seems rather redundant if I’m honest. Essentially a reboot of the Devil May Cry franchise, the game’s set in an alternate reality, a move that ensures the history from earlier Devil May Cry games isn’t erased should Capcom want to go back.
It’s not the game specifically that I want to talk about today, I’ll have a preview of that coming your way very soon. Instead I want to talk about something DmC represents, a series. You see I’ve never paid any attention to the Devil May Cry games before now, they just haven’t really done anything that grabbed my attention.
With DmC being a reboot it seems like a good time to join the series, hopefully there’ll be little that needs explaining in the way of backstory. Fortunately there’s an HD collection of the first three Devil May Cry games, something I’ve picked up just in case it comes in handy with the new game.
[drop2]The collection is a real blessing, but it got me wondering about just how you jump into the middle of a series. Take Assassin’s Creed as an example. Assassin’s Creed 3 will be the fifth game in the series,f you hadn’t played any of the Assassin’s Creed titles up until now would you be willing to just jump into the new game feet first? Games are expensive, and I’m not sure I’d always be willing to pick up a game whose narrative might well leave me puzzled.HD collections obviously solve this problem to some extent; one neat, cost effective package that lets you play a good chunk of a series in one go. No waiting between games, no remembering what happened a year or two ago, just one package that gives you everything you need. Some may bemoan these titles as quick money grabs, but the core concept is actually very useful and pretty sound.
I’ve never felt like I’ve had this issue with movies, perhaps simply because films always seem like a lower risk proposition, and there’s less to pick up when you go into the new film. Of course there’s story you might be missing but with games it can be a lot more story, and gameplay mechanics that you might be missing out on too.
Sure, a good game will re-introduce these to you at the start of every game, and probably add some new ones in, I don’t think the flow will necessarily be as natural as it would be if you’d been playing since the beginning of the series. Experience will always win out over someone new to a series.
With series and franchises now dominating the gaming landscape, it’s obvious that publishers and developers are trying to appeal to people who are already fans but what about attracting new people to the game? I suppose my question is how willing would you be to jump into something new, where you could easily feel lost or confused? Have you ever dropped into a series halfway through, or have you avoided it?
Personally I think I’ve avoided it for the most part, I like to play things from the beginning or not at all. However, I’d be interested to hear if you’re happy to take that chance.
SH Number 7/Mini-Lipscombe
Do it. It will be worth it, and you can just read up on the story. the stuff playing as Connor will have reference to the previous games but I’m sure most of the story will be his own. It’s only the stuff outside the animus that you’ll have too look into too understand, and that stuff is just mental to you can just ignore it :). or I’m sure it will be easy to look up, the only stuff that was outside the animus that mattered was AC1 (which was just setting up the story of Templars and Assassins) and AC2 where they went stupid with the ending. the other 2 I don’t think really do much apart from build on the craziness and explain why the last game would be in America.
A lot of the in animus stuff will be self contained I think, so you should be able to understand and piece together the other stuff (also the series does a lot with finding hidden things in the game that fills in backstory and lore of the story revolving around the animus, so they should help you with the story as well)