I have to admit, that I hated the concept of this revamp when I first saw the previews but after playing it, it definitely grew on me. But let me first explain why I took to an immediate dislike. Dante's look. Wth is with the Edward Cullen makeover? He looks awful!! He looks like an emo- drug dealer. The white haired devil from the previous games was so appealing. And his costume was horrible. The only redeemable look that comes from this game, is Dante with the same short hair, but it's colored white and he's wearing clothes from the Matrix (when the crew is in the real world) and a pair of converse. I will only play the game if he's wearing that outfit. So that was disappointing. Even knowing that the game was starting from scratch, I expected some continuity from the original series but I didn't get any. However, after playing the game all the way through, I was surprisingly pleased with the overall product. Changing the storyline so that Sparta wasn't this all- powerful demon; not so much a bad thing. It's a less appealing image of him, but more sensible as far as establishing that the villain is the most powerful to overcome. As much as I love the other games, I always found it somewhat off that Mundus is the Deil himself yet one of his own demons (only one mind you) was powerful enough to fight the entire Underworld and defeat him. So now instead of Dante and Virgil's all powerful-Ness coming solely from their father, it comes from their Angel mother as well. That aspect works. As does the storyline. It was actually pretty good considering. Not nearly as fantastical as the others but definitely more realistic and explains how these battles take place in modern times without stirring the public. The game-play was very challenging and tough to get used to. But once you get the hang of it, it's actually very satisfying. Playing without a lock-on system is probably the most difficult but can be overlooked once you get the hang of the weapons. Going back to Dante, I don't like that the character lost so much of his charisma. Yea he's still cool because he kicks ass and talks smack but there was definitely an aspect of growth in the character spanning across the original series. He grew in wisdom and eventually became the guy with the answers and the plans. But now he's actually not that intelligent and just follows others lead- not great qualities for a main character. (especially since the lead he was originally following becomes his arch-enemy. So what would future games look like if he needs to be lead and no one's there to lead him?)/ Onto Virgil, I have no complaints. I do miss the cold, calculating Samurai-Esq warrior but the added characteristics make the character sympathetic and almost relatable. And he's still bad-ass enough to root for. The characters were definitely likable (particularly Phineas.) Overall, there are aspects that could have been done differently but Instill believe that there is enough of a solid story and great game-play to constitute a follow up game and it's too bad that there hasn't been one.
