Capcom has released the PC version of DmC Devil May Cry and it’s time to see whether or not QLOC ported this console action title properly to our platform. The actual game is developed by Ninja Theory and – contrary to all previous Devil May Cry titles – is being built on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3. As a result of that, DmC Devil May Cry runs incredibly well, even on relatively low-spec PC systems, and looks surprisingly good.

Due to various RMA issues, we could not test Capcom’s title with our GTX 690 (thankfully we’ll have it back in time for our Crysis 3 Performance Analysis). Therefore, we tested DmC Devil May Cry with our GTX 295. To our surprise, DmC Devil May Cry ran with blazingly fast on that old GPU. Our GTX 295 was paired with a Q9650 at 4.2Ghz, 4GB RAM, Windows 7-64Bit and the latest version of the GeForce drivers. Nvidia has already included an SLI profile for it so you won’t have to mess with Nvidia’s Inspector Tool.

DmC Devil May Cry ran with 180+ fps on our test system. Following Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron’s example, DmC Devil May Cry is optimized for quad-cores as there was a 20fps difference between our quad-core and a simulated dual-core CPU. We’re glad to see more games taking advantage of more than two cores, so let’s hope that companies won’t let us down in the future. Moreover, owners of dual-core CPUs won’t experience any performance issues with this game. In fact, our simulated dual-core CPU was able to offer a constant 60fps experience with all bells and whistles enabled at 1080p, so rest assured if you don’t own a top of the line PC system; DmC Devil May Cry will run without performance issues on your dated PC.

Furthermore, we went one step further and tested our GTX 295 in Single-GPU mode. This basically means that our card performed like a GTX 275 and to everyone’s surprise, even this card could handle – without issues – Ninja Theory’s action game. A GTX 275 will offer you flawless gameplay experience, without any drops below 70fps at max settings. This proves that DmC Devil May Cry will not be stressing your GPUs, which is good news for all those who want to test it with Nvidia’s 3D Vision.

Graphics wise, DmC Devil May Cry looks quite good for a multiplatform title. Yes, you’ll definitely notice some low-res textures here and there, and the overall interactivity is limited. There are some shadows issues here and there that have not been addressed, and we didn’t notice any options for any DX11 features. Hell, the game does not even support POM or Ambient Occlusion. On the other hand, though, characters are highly detailed and the game comes with some amazing levels. Quite honestly, the level design alone is enough to please everyone as we’re talking about some utterly amazing and colorful levels. What DmC Devil May Cry lacks in technical features, it makes up in unique, dreamy, artistic style. Nicely done Ninja Theory, nicely done.

DmC Devil May Cry is a basic console port and nothing more. Truth be told, the game’s textures seem better than those used on its console counterparts, however we’d expect to see even more PC-centric ‘things’. The available graphical options are minimal at best, and there isn’t any benchmark tool for it. In addition, the game suffers from mouse acceleration/smoothing side-effects, therefore we’d suggest everyone to use a gamepad. Yes, the game is playable with a keyboard + mouse, and thankfully there are proper keyboard + mouse icon indications. Still, the annoying mouse acceleration and the awkward default key mapping make it really hard to enjoy it with this control scheme. It comes as no surprise that this title was built with gamepads on mind, so make sure to use one.

All in all, DmC Devil May Cry is a pleasant surprise. The game runs extremely well even on low-end specs (with all of its graphical options enabled), and its colorful level design really stands out. Ninja Theory did not support a lot of modern-day special effects, and there aren’t much – if any – PC-specific graphical features. DmC Devil May Cry is taking advantage of quad-cores, even though it does not stress them as much as Far Cry 3 did, and does not require a high-end GPU for a smooth experience. Quite frankly, this is a game that performs well and looks great, so kudos to QLOC and Ninja Theory for not turning this into another ‘GTA IV’ port.

Enjoy!