Devil May Cry 4 is the latest game in the action adventure demon-killing series for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Like in games past, it is a frenetic action game in which you, as a devil-hunting hero, must use a plethora of varied moves to destroy the legion hordes as you make your way through the game’s many pretty environments and watch cut-scenes to advance the game’s story.
Although the game has been upgraded for the current-generation of consoles, it really does not play that much differently than games of the past. In fact I’d go as far as to say that the game could’ve used a lot more changes and/or an complete overhaul in the vein of Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise. But they choose to stick to what works, and it works as well as it did in the past.
This is all despite the game starring a brand-new character known as Nero (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch who you may know as the second Black Ranger from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers TV show or the voice of Vasch the Stampede in the Trigun anime, among many other game and anime characters) who you will control throughout most of the game. But Nero really isn’t that much different from Dante, and at first-glance may even be mistaken for the legendary demon-slayer, since they even look similar.
System: Xbox 360, PS3 (and eventually the PC)
Released: US Feb. 5 2008 – AUS Feb. 7 2008 – EU Feb. 8 2008 – JAP Jan. 31 2008
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: Single Player
Save: 200 KB, done via the system menu or between missions.
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Origin: Japan
When you first fire up the game, you’ll be assaulted with a very cool intro sequence that has an all new metal track blaring and will highlight parts of the story that you’ll see during the game as well as shining the spotlight on some of Devil May Cry 4’s more dramatic moments and it’s sappy love story, interspersed with glances at the gameplay.
Right away you’ll notice that the game has some annoying issues with the sound. While the music is fine, often the voices are spoken so quietly that they are very hard to make out, and the sound effects and music over power it. You will encounter this often throughout the game and it’s definitely something that Capcom should have fixed, but thankfully all the dialogue is supported with sub-titles, so you won’t have to miss any line of speech. I wasn’t able to test the PS3 version so I don’t know if it has the same sound issue, but I imagine that it does.
Before you dive into the game, you will select the difficulty from the in-game menu (or “system menu”). Either Human or Devil Hunter, Human being the equivalent of easy, and Devil Hunter being the equivalent of normal. Or as the game puts it, Human if you are new to the series, and Devil Hunter if you’ve “faced the demonic hordes of Devil May Cry before and lived to tell the tale.” Additional difficulties are unlockable as well, for those that enjoy punishment.
The storyline in Devil May Cry 4 opens during a ceremony in which Nero’s love-interest Kyrie (pronounced Keer-ree-a) is singing at an Opera House conducted by the Order of the Sword, a sort of cult-group that worships the dark knight Sparda, Dante’s father whom they worship as a God. With Dante being the series protagonist in all the previous games. You know, the guy in the red trench coat with the dual pistols and sword.
Just as prayer is being initiated by the Order’s high priest, Sanctus, a horrific scene happens in the blink of an eye, as Dante comes crashing down through the stain-glass window overhead. Landing directly in front of Sanctus, he disposes of the holy leader with a single pistol shot to the head at point-blank range. It all happens so fast that the security doesn’t even pull their swords out to attack until after the blood has been spilled. This prompts an epic dual between the new protagonist of Devil May Cry, Nero, and the series mainstay, Dante. This is shown via some very impressive CG cut-scenes akin to the smooth fighting seen in something like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, but also serves as a tutorial on how to play the game. The tutorial will give you certain commands on-screen for you to try out, including how to do basic combos and roll to the side to dodge Dante’s incoming pistol fire, and doing so will prompt the next cut-scene in the continuing fight. This is a nice way to get players up to speed on how the game plays, although it should be noted that the game never actually tells you that you must do what is being displayed on-screen to progress to the next cut-scene. Which had me fighting and fighting Dante and wondering why nothing was ever happening.
After a few comments between the two, and a seemingly “knock out” via sword puncture through the chest (almost looks like a crucifixion the way it’s presented) via Nero, which fans of the series will recognize as a somewhat common occurrence . . . And Dante, like any good demon, does not stay dead. And he doesn’t, and he gets away . . . .
During all this craziness, we are introduced to quite a few of the new elements and characters in Devil May Cry 4. You’ll see Nero use his Devil Arm, which is one of the new features in the game and a significant part of Nero’s character and how he plays. You’ll also be introduced to Sanctus, the leader of the cult (who predictably becomes the main adversary as well) as well as Kyrie’s brother Credo, who is the leader of the knights of the order, the security team if you will. It is Credo who also sends Nero out to capture Dante and bring him to justice for his slaying of Sanctus. But naturally things run a bit deeper than that, and the game will eventually dive into the true meaning and agenda of Sanctus and the cult, as well as introduce a few other characters.
Watch a Devil May Cry 4 story trailer:
The storyline overall though doesn’t tread any real new ground and is very predictable. In addition to that, you will come across a few other characters, including Lady and Trish from Devil May Cry 3 and 1 respectively, but they play such a bit part that they could have just as easily been discarded. And the so-called “love plot” between Nero and Kyrie is very shallow without any sense of depth whatsoever. Overall I was disappointed with the story and the lack of character development in the game.
But like with Ninja Gaiden or other similar action games, even the previous games in the series, it isn’t necessarily the storyline that you play a game like this for, it’s the action gameplay!
And while Devil May Cry 4 doesn’t stray off the beaten path in any significant way, what it does do is offer plenty more of the frenetic and often-times tense action that you have come to expect.
The game is divided into 20 separate missions, just as the last games were, and you will play as either Nero or Dante depending on the game’s storyline. Although you won’t get to play as Dante until half-way through the adventure.
The game basically has you working your way through the various environments to an ultimate goal which is usually reached by simply getting to a certain point in the environment (sometimes hinted at by the mission’s description), and oftentimes also facing up against a behemoth boss. As you work your way through the environments you’ll encounter various demonic enemies that you must dispatch with either Nero or Dante’s extensive list of moves and combos that you can pull off much like you would in a typical one-on-one fighting game, although much less complex. Either way, getting a handle on the moves isn’t always simple, depending on how use you are to this type of action game.
The controls are a bit complex and take some getting used to, again depending on how familiar you are with these type of games or the Devil May Cry titles. With either character, you use the right-bumper to lock onto an enemy, and can cycle between other enemies with a press of the Left Control stick, which you use to move your character around the environments, which by the way are all seen from a fixed perspective, just like in the previous Devil May Cry games and you use the A button to jump.
With Nero, you use the Y Button to swing your sword, the A Button to jump, the X Button to shoot off your pistol and the B Button to use your Devil Arm. You can pull off different moves with a combination of the control stick and the Y or X buttons and will unlock more as you play. And by using a combination of RB (Right Bumper) plus B you can use what amounts to the biggest addition to DMC, and that’s Nero’s “Devil Bringer” move. This move allows Nero to shoot out a phantom like hand from his Devil Arm that can grab foes at a distance and then pull them to you. You can grab them whether you are in the ground or in the air, and this allows you to continue a combo from one foe to the next, without having to break that combo. Naturally, this allows for some very extensive combos as you chain moves together, for those willing to really learn how to make best use of the Devil Arm in conjunction with Nero’s move set. And even if you never learn how to master this technique, it’s still a fun move that really opens up the combat and makes it that much more fun. Lastly, you can use the Left Bumper to initiate Nero’s Devil Trigger mode (once you reach that point of the game, basically it gives him stronger attacks and a few new moves, just like in games past) or use the Left Trigger to charge up Nero’s Exceed, or EX, gauge. This too allows for stronger attacks by Nero, as well as a few new ones and works as if Nero was “revving” up his sword. This can be accomplished by about three presses of the Trigger, and a full EX gauge can even be stored (once you’ve bought the upgrades) for more powerful attacks.
Dante plays much the same as Nero except without the Devil Arm, and with many more attacks making him quite a bit complex. You can switch between firearms (pistols, shotgun and a new one) with the Left Trigger and cycle between melee weapons (Sword, Iron Knuckles and boots, and a new one) with the Right Trigger. In addition, Dante can change his style with a direction on the D-Pad: Up for Trickster, Right for Sword Master, Down for Royal Guard and Left for Gun Slinger as well as one new style. These add new moves to Dante’s repertoire and change what attacks he can perform with the B Button. The rest of his controls are the same as Nero. A jumps, X shoots his gun, Y uses his Sword and the LB switches into Dante’s Devil Trigger mode.
Although at first glance the characters don’t seem to differ a whole lot, they really do, mainly because Dante has so many more moves than Nero due to all his different styles, making him very complex (although familiar to veterans of the series) although once you’ve played so much with the Devil Arm, it’s really hard to go back to not having it, since having the ability to pull enemies to you makes a world of difference and makes things much easier when actually battling with enemies. It also makes things faster.
Killing enemies will net you with a few different types of orbs, just as in previous games. And you can also find them by breaking various objects in the environment, like chairs, vases, etc. Green Orbs refill your health, while Red Orbs act as currency. You’ll also find Blue Orb Fragments hidden in the environment and as a reward for completing Secret Missions (which you can also find hidden in the environments). Collecting four of them (or purchasing a whole one) will raise your maximum health gauge, making them one of the most useful items in the game. Since the more health you have, the longer you will last! You’ll also find or be able to purchase Gold Orbs (revive you if you die), Purple Orbs (Raise your maximum Magic gauge which you use for Devil Trigger) and White Orbs, which refill your Devil Trigger gauge.
As mentioned, you can use Red Orbs to purchase Items since they act as your currency. You can do this either in the Mission Menu screen (before you start a mission) or at Divinity Statues that you’ll come across during a mission, just as it was in the previous games.
What’s new this time is that Red Orbs can ONLY be used to purchase ITEMS. Such as healing potions, Holy Water (damages all the enemies on the screen), etc. that you can use by pausing the game and going to “Items”. You can’t use Red Orbs to purchase new moves . . . . the only way you can get new moves is to purchase them with Proud Souls, which you earn after completing a mission, based on what rank you got.
You are rated on various criteria, including your stylish rating (which is based on doing new and unique combos to foes), how many orbs you collected, whether or not you used a Gold Orb and how quickly you finished the mission. The better the rating, the more Proud Souls you will get.
This is a double edged sword. It makes it harder to purchase moves, particularly while in a mission, since you only collect them by completing (or playing part of. If you restart a mission you’ll get a small number of Proud Souls) missions, which may be annoying to fans of the previous games who liked being able to purchase new moves mid-mission from the currency the collected therein. However this also encourages players to retry previous missions in order to earn a higher ranking, something I did many times. Which I think is a good thing.
The game features a lot of similar returning enemies, including types based off enemies you encountered in the original DMC as well as in 3, and then there are the boss battles, which are magnificent fights against mostly hulking beasts that are some of the games best moments. One of the cooler aspects too is the fact that Nero can pull of a sort of super move by simply pressing B to use his Devil Arm when a boss is stunned, and some of these “super moves” are typically very cool and fun to pull off, even if all you do is hit the B Button.
Much to my surprise, Devil May Cry 4 really contains nothing in the way of puzzles (outside one “Lost Woods” area where you must do the “ripped-straight-from-Zelda” thing and go in the correct direction a certain number of times) and there are only a few sections that are “tricky”. One of the “new” things you’ll encounter are floating orbs (called Grim Grips . . . stupid name I know) that you can grab onto with your Devil Arm. A bunch of them will be placed and you’ll have to use them to navigate over or up an area by grabbing onto one, then the other, until you reach your destination. You do this by locking onto them and then using your Devil Bringer (RB+B) to pull yourself to them, also having to make sure you are facing the right direction to grab on to it. Some of these parts can be fun, and others a little frustrating. But either way, I couldn’t help but think . . . “Really? This is ALL you could come up with? Do you think this is in the least bit innovative”. 😛
And then there are the other gameplay elements that they introduce in certain sections, including Gyro Blades, which are devices that spin when you hit them, and then once spinning, if you use your Devil Arm by pressing B, you can launch them across the floor and use it to break tough walls that you couldn’t break before . . . innovative I know. Finally, you have this Chrono Slicer item that you’ll get eventually, which allows you to activate devices that slow down time . . . . I won’t repeat the word for a third time.
So as you can see, my beef doesn’t really lie with the actual gameplay mechanics of Devil May Cry 4 or anything. It simply lies in the fact that DMC4 is about as formulaic as you can get. They really didn’t try to push the envelope in any direction further than what you would expect (the Devil Bringer possibly being the only exception) and as a result Devil May Cry 4 plays exactly how you’d expect a fourth Devil May Cry game to play. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Unlockables in Devil May Cry 4 include the aforementioned extra difficulties (lots of them) as well as a few other things, like a Survival Mode, a Theater for watching all the game’s movie scenes, a Gallery that features a “History of DMC” video (don’t be fooled by the word ‘video’, it’s all text based), as well as bonus artwork and images (among other things) with further pieces for you to unlock, and unlockable costumes. There’s also the “Library”, which you can view from the beginning. This tells you information about all the games items, enemies, characters, and moves, with more added as you encounter or purchase them. So if you like the game, then there is definitely enough to keep you occupied for well over 40 hours if you want to try and conquer the higher difficulty settings and replay missions for better scores. The game even can connect to Xbox Live to review world and national leaderboards, as well as compare your score with that of your friends on Xbox Live who also have the game. And of course, the Xbox 360 version also features 46 Achievements for you to get.
Watch Devil May Cry 4 enemies receive a beatdown:
All in all, I was a bit disappointed with Devil May Cry 4 and thought they could’ve done better. But for what it is, it’s great action adventure game and it will satisfy people who were satisfied with previous games in the series. Even though they may too feel like Capcom could’ve done better than what they got. But hey, at least the crazy stylish action still rocks!
FUN FACTOR: 8.0
Devil May Cry 4 is a great action adventure game with lots of action and fighting, from ordinary demons to very large beastly bosses. If you are looking for another Ninja Gaiden-style game for the Xbox 360 (and PS3), then you can’t go wrong with Devil May Cry 4. However, the game could’ve been better. And I take issue with the shallow-storyline and rather stupid love-plot and throwaway characters (such as Lady and Trish). Also they could’ve come up with more innovative gameplay elements . . . but either way, the game is still a very fun action game. And that’s all that really matters.
Graphics: 8.5
High polygon counts in both the characters and environments make the game look pretty . . . although it looks like Devil May Cry, for better or for worse. At first glance I reckon you won’t even be able to tell that the graphics are greatly enhanced, I know I couldn’t. To me it could’ve been any DMC game . . . So it’s technically solid, it has no sense of style.
Sound & Music: 6.0
The metal theme they play over, and over, and over, and over again grates on the nerves (just like in the past . . . I swear they should just leave out lyrics like they did in the original) and the voices are spoken way too quietly. Thank God for subtitles or it would’ve impacted the overall score much more. But either way, the soundtrack doesn’t particularly stay memorable, even though the main metal theme is cool initially.
Ingenuity: 7.0
You get the feeling that they are actually running out of ideas . . . even as far as the storyline is concerned which features many returning elements from previous games, so much that it becomes predictable. Too predictable. The game also features the same static camera angles you’ve come to expect (which is often a bad thing) and features gameplay elements whose most original is probably the Devil Bringer, which allows you to pull enemies towards you . . . . in the end, this game is hardly original. And if they don’t overhaul it for DMC5, then there will definitely be some outcry. As the formula is wearing rather thin.
Replay Value: 8.0
There’s a lot of stuff to unlock in Devil May Cry 4 and a plethora of difficulty levels for you to play through that will take you quite some time, and lots of gameplay mastery, for you to conquer. Enough to keep you occupied, even without any kind of multiplayer. If you enjoy the game, then the extras will definitely suffice.