Devil May Cry 4

by Shane Ghiotto - 2008/02/11 2:59pm

In 2001 Capcom introduced us to the charming devil hunter Dante, who wooed gamers with his slick Stylish Combos and witty one liners. Fast forward seven years to 2008, Dante and Devil May Cry have been through many ups and downs, bottoming out with the horridly unbalanced Devil May Cry 2 to the insanely difficult but refreshing Devil May Cry 3.

Devil May Cry 4 has taken a step in a new direction, having the much loved Dante take a back seat to newcomer Nero. Nero is a member of the Order of the Sword, a religious organisation that worships Sparda, Dante’s father, as their saviour. The story begins with Dante literally crashing in through the ceiling of the Order’s ‘church’ and assassinating the leader. The subsequent missions following this see Nero chasing Dante through a variety of environments, all the while Nero is learning, bit by bit, who really is the bad guy. Two-thirds of the way through the story, to the delight of many fans, Dante once again takes the spotlight away from Nero, until the final few missions where Nero is once again given the lead role.

Although some major questions go unanswered throughout the game, the story of DMC 4 is the most compelling of the series, leaving the player interested and motivated to finish. The story, just like in DMC 3, is driven by some of the most stylish and action packed cut-scenes the industry has ever seen, along with the corny but loveable dialogue of Dante, Nero, and the supporting cast.

The cut-scenes and gameplay are shown off with very detailed and beautiful graphics. Smooth animation, dazzling effects and overall solid environments, characters, and lighting pave the way to one of the best graphical experiences available on the PS3 (although sometimes blocky and flickering shadows, especially in the forest level, can hurt the overall appearance albeit only slightly).



Now to the heart of DMC 4; the gameplay. The game is broken down into 20 15-45 minute missions, with the player receiving a ranking at the end of each mission from D to S. The ranking is based on the time, style, red orbs collected, and number of other Bonus/Penalty options available. The game initially has two of the five difficulties unlocked, Human for those new to Devil May Cry, and Devil Hunter for the experienced Devil May Cry players. For each difficulty beaten (besides Human) a new one is unlocked, reaching all the way up to the frustratingly difficult but addicting Dante Must Die, to the nearly impossible Hell or Hell mode, where Nero and Dante die in one hit.

Since its initial release Devil May Cry has been known for its brutally hard but rewarding gameplay, capitalised by its Stylish Combo system, where the player is rewarded for varying their moves and keeping a fairly consistent flow of attacks to form visually amazing combos. DMC 4 does not stray far from this formula. As in previous games of the series, the player is rated constantly during combat from a ranking of Deadly (D) to Smokin’ Sick Style (SSS), with the player receiving more Red Orbs (essentially Devil May Cry’s currency for buying items) and a higher end of level ranking. These rankings are fun and relatively easy to reach with the wide repertoire of moves available to both Nero and Dante.

To Devil May Cry veterans, at first, Nero may feel just like controlling Dante - he has a sword and a rapid-fire revolver, but the one key difference that makes Nero different is the addition of the devil bringer. The Devil Bringer is Nero’s right arm that has been inhabited by a devil of unknown origins. The Devil Bringer allows for Nero to perform extremely powerful slams and throws on enemies that Dante simply can’t, as well as pulling light enemies towards him and pulling himself towards heavy enemies (very useful against bosses). The Devil Bringer allows for an even more furious rate of combat than hardened Devil May Cry players are used to.



Playing with Dante, on the other hand, focuses more on his ability to switch weapons and styles on the fly. Dante has three Devil Arms (sword, gauntlets, etc), three guns, and four styles that can be switched to on the fly, giving the player unprecedented combination options. The four styles are carried over from DMC 3, and include Trickster, where Dante can use evasive moves, Swordmaster, where Dante has even more offensive moves for the Devil Arms, Gunslinger, where Dante has expanded uses of the three guns, and Royal Guard, where the player uses very precise timing to block enemy attacks.

Both Dante and Nero use Proud Souls to learn new moves and upgrade other abilities, these Proud Souls are given to the player at the end of each mission based on their ranking. This is good for players that find themselves stuck on a certain boss or mission, because the player can go back to a previous mission and ‘farm’ orbs and Proud Souls to buy some items or abilities that could help them beat whatever they are stuck on.

The highlight of the previous Devil May Cry games, besides the addicting combat system, have been the personable bosses. As said before, DMC 4 does not disappoint in this respect. The bosses in this game are all varied, ranging in size and style from a giant fiery centaur-like creature, to a human-sized angel, and they all require some extra effort and thought from the player to defeat. One complaint about the bosses is that four of the boss battles are repeated, twice with Nero and once with Dante. While this trend was present in DMC 1, the bosses at least had noticeable differences each time you fought them. In DMC 4, the bosses may have one or two tacked on moves each time you fight them, and you even fight the boss in the exact same area every time. Nevertheless, the boss battles in DMC 4 are very epic in feel, and remain one of the highlights of the game.



Replay value has been another major asset of the Devil May Cry series, and DMC 4 delivers on that. This is the type of game in which the more a person puts into it, the more they will get out of it. There is almost no limit to the amount a person can improve by. Complex moves, such as jump cancelling and the intricacies of switching styles and weapons give the combat system nearly limitless depth. If the motivation of getting better is not enough, the additional difficulties and the challenge of getting S ranks on every mission on every difficulty is enough to keep anyone busy for months. In addition to that, there is also a survival mode called Bloody Palace and there are online leaderboards for that and the single player campaign.

One minor complaint is the difficulty curve, or lack of one. The game stays relatively the same difficulty through the first 10 missions, but then experiences a rather large spike in difficulty seemingly out of nowhere. Other than that, all other complaints have been addressed.

You may have noticed a trend throughout this review about DMC 4; it does everything similarly to its predecessors. DMC 4 is nowhere near revolutionary, with its only major innovation being the addition of the Devil Bringer, yet the game still does everything it sets out to do exceptionally well. It is still as addicting and fun to pull off the Stylish Combos as ever, it is one of the most challenging current generation games available (rivaled only by Ninja Gaiden: Sigma), and it is the best hack-’n’-slash action game available on the PS3.