DMC Demo: First Impressions

So I've been a fan of the Devil May Cry series for quite awhile now. They've always had a great mix of tight and challenging gameplay with unique and humorous characters, settings, and situations. The series drops all pretense of realism in the first few minutes and never looks back, allowing for some truly hilarious spectacles in an environment without the need to question them (of course you can keep an enemy floating in mid air with bullets, it makes perfect sense if you think about it).

When the prequel/reboot of the series was announced I was very excited - that is until they released the teaser trailer for it. Capcom passed development of the new game off to Ninja Theory (previously development had been handled internally) and the design direction was clearly a deviation from previous titles, especially regarding Dante. It was revealed later that this was a conscious decision as Capcom wanted this to be more of an origin story, depicting Dante as a very different character than in the first four games.

While there was a large backlash from fans (as was expected) I was cautiously optimistic. Having an origin story to show the growth into the established character can be very interesting. My primary concern was that it showed a distinct shift of focus onto the story itself, something that had never been a major concern in the previous games. I worried not that the new direction would be negative but that the change in focus would result in a decrease in attention to detail in the aspects of the game that had been so central before.

With the release date fast approaching Capcom released a demo for DMC recently, giving gamers their first real look at the game. Were the concerns of the fans justified, or was it all just fear of change? Let's take a look at how the DMC demo stands as it's own game and in contrast to the series as a whole.

Xenogears Retrospective Part 2: The Morality of Violence

In part 2 of this retrospective I examine how each playable character relates to the theme of the morality of violence. I will be talking about events that happen throughout the game, so anyone who doesn't want to see any spoilers for the game should avoid reading this article.

Spoiler Warning

Inventories and Trash Mechanics

Check out my new 20 slot bag!

Inventory systems have been around almost as long as video games themselves. It's pretty much given that if your game has items or equipment that you'll need some way for the player to manage them, and there have been several minor mechanics that were created to either improve the inventory concept or to allow for more varied or interesting ways for the player to interact with their inventory. Unfortunately not all of them have been positive. With that in mind let's take a look at one of the worst offenders - trash items.

Xenogears Retrospective Part 1: Review

For a long time I've heralded Xenogears as having one of the greatest narratives of all time in games. I first played through this game when I was 13, but even at that young age I remember being extremely surprised and impressed with how complex and believable the characters were.

A few weeks ago Xenogears came up in discussion with a friend who had far less stellar impressions of the game than I did. He had tried to play the game much later than I had and thus asserted that the only reason I held such a high opinion of it was due to nostalgia. This got me thinking - I hadn't played the game through to the end in over a decade, and truth be told the details of the last third or so of the game were a bit hazy to me. Was this game that I have long maintained as a pinnacle achievement of narrative in gaming really as good as I remembered?

Final Fantasy VII and the Kübler-Ross Model

For many gamers Final Fantasy VII marked an introduction into the JRPG genre, and it is widely stated to be one of the best (if not the best) JRPG of all time. While it wasn’t my first JRPG nor did it turn out to be my #1 favorite this game holds a very special place in my heart for one very specific reason.

Spoiler Warning

Welcome to Bit Rate!

Thanks for visiting my blog! Some of you may be wondering what it is I'm trying to do here and why you should care. Well, my goal here is to take aspects of games both new and old and analyze them in depth. This could range from dissecting the buildup and result of a particular moment in a game, exploring some of the potential metaphors or themes, or just picking apart a common mechanic and discussing the pros and cons of it's modern usage.

I'll likely be playing around a bit with the exact format and presentation, so any feedback you have (positive or negative) is welcomed! Do you think I'm too long winded? Would you prefer some video content? Do I not explain certain concepts very well? Would you prefer I stop posing theoretical questions to you?  Anything at all, just let me know in either the comments or by throwing me an email at tevoul@gmail.com!