Devil May Cry, but you won't.

February 18, 2008 by Micah Bleich

SCORE: 8.0 out of 10.0.
[Worth Taking A Break From "By Myself Happy Time"] (One Apathetic Note)

The Devil May Cry series (DMC) has never had that intricate
of a storyline. The main protagonist, Dante, is a simple man with simple needs.
DMC4 changes all of that by adding a new character, Nero, to the mix to make
things more interesting. With questions about his arm the devil bringer, the
order he is affiliated with and his relationship with damsel in distress,
Kyrie. Nero is a little emo at times but it works for him in a popular Linkin Park
kind of way, not the oft maligned Ashlee Simpson. This darker persona sets him
apart from the carefree attitude of Dante.

Gameplay: Right off the bat you take control of Nero, unlike
Metal Gear Solid 2 you won’t feel like Nero is pretending to be Dante like
Raiden was pretending to be Solid Snake. Nero’s moves are somewhat similar but
has a gameplay rhythm all his own thanks to his arm the devil bringer and this
point is especially driven home when you take control of Dante later. When you
do final play as Dante you may or may not miss using the Devil Bringer based on your taste but you
will definitely not be disappointed. If you have play DMC3 at all you will be
instantly familiar with the way Dante handle except this time it’s on
overdrive. Its easy to see that Dante has done some training in his down time
since this time you have access to all 4 (later 5) of his styles from DMC3
which makes for some amazing combo potential and that’s before you get his new
weapons!

The attack options are almost staggering so combat easily
stays fresh and interesting which is good because you will be combat a lot. The
gameplay encourages experiment and rewards you with upgrade orbs and points for
keeping your combat “stylish”. Some felt that DMC3 was insanely hard and Capcom
has listen knocking the difficulty down a notch. When you start the game there
are two difficulties Human and Devil Hunter. I played through the game on Devil
Hunter and it was a pretty decent challenge throughout. On this difficulty some
rare parts will feel like DMC3 but overall it’s a largely easier experience.
There are way more bosses this time around and they fast paced and as fun as
even. Capcom’s notorious reuse of material unfortunately shows here as you will
fight half of the bosses again 2 more times fortunately you will be so powerful
the 2nd and 3rd times that these fight will probably only
last slightly longer than a normal encounter. Playing as Dante is excellent but
it’s too bad you spend most of his side of the story playing through the same ground Nero has, your basically back track with a few gameplay twists.

Presentation: The DMC series has finally hit next gen and it
come out looking pretty damn good looking on the other end. The characters
animate well and look great as well as the environments. My only complains in
the graphics department is shadowing for the background it flickers weird and
unnaturally, this is especially apparent in the more brightly lit areas also
their will be random moment where the frame rate takes a quick dip but it never
got in the way of gameplay and they are few and far between. The music will
mostly best a miss for most people but it’s never bad enough to make you turn
it off and it’s a good fit for the game, standard DMC fare.

Summary: If you weren’t a fan of the DMC series this
installment most likely isn’t going to make you a fan but those fervently
looking for another taste of Dante and crew will come away mostly satisfied and
full.

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