Devil May Cry 4

"Sure....The Devil May Cry....BUT SO MIGHT YOU!"

Once again, a next-gen videogame that is difficult to review due to all the hype that surrounded it. Are we judging the hype of the game, or the game itself? It seems most reviews judge the hype, and of course, the hype NEVER lives up to the actual game. I mean, seriously, most of these next-gen games (the PS3 ones especially), have been in development for YEARS. We've seen them at E3's, have seen images, previews, developer interviews, etc, etc, for so long, that when the game FINALLY comes out, we truly expect something wonderful. But do we always get something wonderful? Depends.

Well, Devil May Cry 4 was one of those games that fell short. Not just in hype, but in the game itself. Allow me to explain.

Time to break this baby up into the traditional categories:

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Devil May Cry 4 is a truly beautiful game. The developers definitely took advantage of the PS3's abilities and created some very lovely environments, amazing enemy designs, and added complicated textures on EVERYTHING to make you proud to own a next-gen console! Some of the same Devil May Cry-type enemies have made a return, and that's not exactly a bad thing, because they have all been graphically updated dramatically, and are quite enjoyable to fight.

Bosses are breathtaking, especially the textures on every surface of them. There is always something to appreciate on screen at ANY given time. HOWEVER, I've noticed that even though the graphics are great, I think the developers used that infamous "let's make everything shiny!" effect a bit tooooo much.

Why does it look like every single enemy and boss is coated in a thin layer of petroleum jelly? I know that making things shiny causes them to seem more graphically complicated and cool.....but it's honestly starting to get a bit overdone. The "let's make everything shiny!" approach only ends up making everything look like it's made out of plastic.

Thankfully, the environments don't suffer from this problem, and are very raw and realistic. Rock looks like rock. You can practically count the tiny pores on a granite pillar. Marble is reflective and smooth. Trees reflect sunlight just the right way. It really is a nice looking game, no doubt about it.

I give it 8 out of 10 because of some obvious clipping issues throughout the game. Also, it needs considerable help with anti-aliasing. You'd think game developers would have anti-aliasing down by now, but they don't. When two planes line up, or a row of polygons in the distance, a row of pillars, some tree branches, whatever....you get that fuzzy effect: everything melds together, gets digity, and flickers. I'm sorry, but that doesn't cry out "Next-Gen" to me at all.

Not to mention the horrendous shadow effects in this game. On some of the darker levels, you barely notice it. But when the sun is shining, all the shadows look like they are being rendered by a Super Nintendo. Not even exaggerating. Play the forest level and tell me I'm lying. A small detail, yes, but enough to kill the score, definitely.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

If you liked all the previous Devil May Cry's, then you cannot go wrong with Devil May Cry 4. The gameplay is very much the same, with some minor tweaks here and there. For instance, you now play as a spunky young lad named Nero. He's got a sword. He's got a gun. He's trying too much to be like Dante. But wait.....what's this? He's got a huge, ethereal demon arm that can do his bidding? You mean he can use this "Devil Arm" to pick up and totally smash the heck out of enemies? SCORE!!!! I'm starting to like this Nero fella.

The Devil Arm mechanic is probably the most unique aspect of the game, giving Nero a fighting edge against all the enemies and bosses in the game. You see, it acts differently for every enemy in the game. For the simple Scarecrow-type enemies, Nero grabs them, and smashes them into the ground, then tosses them against the nearest wall like a sac of unwanted potatoes. Some of the later enemies you can even use their own weapons against them. These "throws" can be used offensively or defensively, blowing enemies back and causing them damage if they get in your way while doing them.

Also, it is worth mentioning just how extremely powerful these throws can be. You might find yourself in a pinch....but as soon as you get done throwing an enemy, you can pull them back to you and simply throw them again before they can even get back on their feet!!! This can feel cheap at times, but you can always mix it up and add some sword slashes and a couple clips of ammo into them (that is what the DMC games are all about!).

Also, all the bosses have unique weaknesses that can be discovered, opening them up to grab attacks. These animations are extremely satisfying, and can definitely turn the tide of battle in your favor. Some attacks can even be countered with the Devil Arm if you practice your timing. This is an interesting new addition to DMC gameplay, and I really did enjoy it.

The "experience" system is also a lovely change, because you can use souls to unlock new combos and attacks. You only have so many souls at a time, so you have to choose which combos you want to unlock and which ones you don't think you'll need. But the best part is that you can always refund ALL your souls, and change your stats around. This is a lovely option to have, because you will notice a LOT of pointless attacks, but a few great attacks that are very expensive.

And while we're on that topic, that is one thing that definitely bummed me out. There honestly aren't that many good things to purchase with your collected souls. There are only like 2 or 3 combos, and 3 upgrades to almost every attack you will never use. For instance: the Exceed system. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this new mechanic, but it simply doesn't work. Nero's sword is mechanical, and can be 'reved' up, like a car engine. You rev it up with the L3 button, and can charge it up to 3 levels. Once your sword is maxed out, you can do a couple charged up, fire-based attacks. Sounds cool, right? Wrong. It takes too much time to rev up your sword, and the end result are attacks that are BARELY any more powerful than your regular attacks to begin with. Plus you can only charge it up 3 times. This means you can swing your sword 3 times, then it's done. Of course you have a much more advanced bursting dash attack forwards, and a sweet flaming uppercut, but they are only slightly more powerful versions of moves you had to begin with. Why would I want to stop, rev up my sword, and use charged attacks....when by the time I've done that, I could have killed the enemy with regular attacks or Devil Arm throws? It would have been more worth it if these Exceed attacks were SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful, but they really aren't. In fact, the average enemy will still be alive even if you hit them with all 3 charged attacks anyway!!! Try it yourself, I'm not even kidding. It was a nice idea, but not well executed.


STORY: 7/10

Decent. Gets the job done. Some entertaining dialogue, with a few interesting twists in the plot. There are also a LOT of cutscenes, which many people have complained about, but I actually enjoyed them! If you don't like them, you can always skip them by pressing the 'start' button. The graphics are lovely, so why would you want to skip them? Sadly, there are many questions that go unanswered, and many of the characters you meet....don't really get much screen-time. The whole game is about Nero and Dante, which is nice....but for the amount of characters thrown in there....they all come out looking like a buncha discarded extras that nobody loves. You don't get very connected to any of them, so it has a very empty feel to it. But then again, the DMC games never really were about the story, so it's not too big of a deal.

DESIGN: 1/10

I added a "design" category, because this was actually something that severely annoyed me about this game.....and it doesn't quite belong in the graphics, gameplay, or replay value category.

I am not exaggerating in the slightest: You fight every boss in the game 3 times....and there are only about 5 'noteworthy' bosses in the entire game.

You run through the game, fight the bosses......them some stuff goes down....and for the last half of the game, you run completely backwards, through the game again, fighting all the same bosses.........THEN, near the end of the game, you fight all the bosses again.

I can't help but wonder.......was Capcom running out of ideas, or time, or money? This game has been in development for YEARS.....I truly expected more from them than this.

Not to mention the horrendous back-tracking. I understand that the previous Devil May Cry games contained a good bit of back-tracking.....so I guess it's "good" to keep it traditional like that??? Ummm......is it just me, or isn't back-tracking a BAD quality to have in a game??? It was a bad tradition for Devil May Cry games to contain so much back-tracking.....so if they are going to bring the series to a next-gen console, how about IMPROVING IT.....not keeping the same strengths AND same weaknesses!!!! That's like making a new Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Wii and having it 2-Dimensional and able to be beaten in 15 minutes (because that's what the traditional Mario brothers game were, so we want to keep it traditional for the fans!!!). Blah.

Also, the level designs are horrible. You are limited to extremely tiny paths and there are no exploration elements at all. It feels like I'm riding a boring rollercoaster....because everything around me seems so vast and wonderful....but I'm limited to this pathetic pathway that is only 5 feet wide. The level designs in Devil May Cry 1 were better than this game.

The bosses were nice, the levels were pretty....but you will be let down by the fact that once you've made it halfway through the game, you've seen everything there is to see. Now you get to see it all backwards!!! YAY for Capcom's laziness!!!!!!

SOUND: 5/10

Nothing astounding. I barely remember any of the music. The heavy metal songs during fights are nice, but....like DMC3.....the fact that it's the same song every time.....gets really old....really quick. The sound effects are nice, and they brought back a lot of the classic sounds of grabbing orbs and swapping through menus from the previous games....but once again....nothing fantastic. Just average. 5/10, nothing more.

REPLAY VALUE: 4/10

There ARE a lot of different difficulties (total of 6 I believe), and a few goodies to unlock by beating them. They've brought back the Bloody Palace too (sadly it's not as epic as before though). However, you may be like me, and was so disappointed by the design of this game, that you won't be too eager to play it again right away. The game was pretty easy too (which was a bummer considering how much of a challenge the previous installments were), so a good challenge might be the only reason you'd want to try the higher difficulties. I think I read somewhere that Capcom said they purposefully made this game easier so that it could attract a younger audience, and bring them into the DMC world. I can't help but wonder though......if that was their intent.....why did they have to get so incredibly lazy with this game's design, considering how long it's been in development? This game might actually keep kids away.


So yeah, when all is said and done, I actually did enjoy this game for the most part. It's incredibly average. Decent. Gets the job fun. Nice to look at. Trish and Lady jiggle a lot. Dante is hilarious and fun. Nero's Devil Arm will make you grin when you pound yer foes with it. But for the 4th installment of a great videogame franchise, making it's way onto the next-gen consoles........I expected a lot more from you, Capcom.....a LOT more.

5/10....and that's because I'm feeling nice right now.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/08

Game Release: Devil May Cry 4 (US, 02/05/08)