Okay… what does that even mean?
Previous games in the Devil May Cry series have become pretty famous for playing at a slick 60 frames per second. It makes a huge difference, it feels much smoother, less jerky. It makes transitions between different attacks feel better. When you play a game that runs at that frame rate you instantly feel the difference.
The new Devil May Cry, being developed by Ninja Theory, runs at 30 frames per second. That bothers certain people; fans of the franchise. But the folks at Capcom are insistent that certain techniques employed help make that game almost as responsive as it would if the game were running at double the frame rate.
“60 frames per second is a speed the brain and the eye can catch up with and understand,” said the game’s Director Hideaki Itsuno. “But at 30 frames per second there’s a technique where you take advantage of the brain’s ability to fill in the blanks.
“So even though you have it running at 30 frames per second, you create the motions and the poses in such a way that the brain will naturally fill in what would have been the extra frames.
“Also, on the players’ side, we made some adjustments to the button response and when it’s reflected on screen.”
We’re cynical. There really is no substitute for that instant feeling you get when playing a game running at that extra frame-rate. According to Capcom the team decided to sacrifice that ‘feel’ for added visual fidelity, which is fair enough — most action games run at 30 — but we’ll definitely miss that Devil May Cry smoothness.
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