Devil May Cry 4

"Get ready for a journey through Hell..."

Up until now, my experience with the Devil May Cry series has been an enjoyable journey of self-indulgence and cheese festivals. I've seen so many impaled demons and heard so many horrendously tacky one-liners that, after DMC 3, my appreciation for over-the-top devil splurging was beginning to wane. Was DMC 4, with its next-gen graphics and enticing new components, enough to revive my lust for demonic splendor? Sadly, no it was not. After completing the game, DMC 4 conclusively did not blow my mind, rather it reiterated Capcom's lengthy series with nothing substantially interesting or new to make it stand-out. Lazy game design, poor storyline, and repetition made DMC 4 into a mediocre hack-and-slash, rather than a glorious massacre.

Background:

Devil May Cry 4 is the next addition to one of Capcom's most lucrative franchises. This fourth installment was released on February 5th of 2008 for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, with sales reaching over two million units. The game received above average reviews and is considered the fastest selling sequel to the original DMC. Touting a new combat system, 120+ minutes of gorgeous cutscenes, and plenty of “intriguing” new characters, DMC 4 was sure to be the best DMC yet.

Overview:

Right off the bat, Devil May Cry 4 was presented to have the same stylish blend of guns and swordplay as any other DMC, but with the additions of a new battle system and new characters. Instead of immediately controlling the beloved son of Sparda, Dante, the player takes the role of another half-human half-demon known as Nero. Nero is equipped with the new-fangled ‘Devil Bringer' arm that enables gripping and grabbing of foes; this adds a whole new element of style to the already graceful combat system. Along with the ‘Devil Bringer', Nero also introduces the Exceed system. By ‘revving up' a fuel-injected blade and filling Exceed gauges with the L2 button, the player can inflict more damage and improve upon existing moves in a fiery maelstrom of speed. Other than this, expect the same DMC you know so well, just with: new characters, a new story, and some ‘Devil Bringer' elements.

For those new to the Devil May Cry series, I will quickly summarize the content of the series as a whole. Simply put, this game was designed for quick, seamless sword/gunplay. The player must stylistically decimate enemies, who are not only challenging, but come in massive horde-sized packages. Stylistic combat, in Devil May Cry, is considered to be: using varying attacks (whether it be by different weapon-specific techniques or by switching weapons on the fly) and avoiding damage. Aside from solving puzzles in gothic castles or other freaky locales, combat is the core of DMC's gameplay. The game's progression is divided into replayable missions that serve not only to further the story, but to also upgrade the character's abilities (either by new items/weapons or by orbs). After every mission, the player is rated based upon their performance (speed, style, and orb collection) and is gifted a bonus of orbs to spend on improving their character or buying items. Story-wise, except for DMC 4, you control Dante, the half demon half human son of Sparda (a demon who sealed off the demon world to protect humans). Using his demonic power, Dante takes on ‘demon-hunting' jobs for his business Devil May Cry. There is a whole lot more to the story that led up to DMC 4, which is actually a direct sequel to the first DMC (the storyline is convoluted), but in terms of this review, it is irrelevant. The games are definitely worth checking out (except DMC 2), so if you are starting with DMC 4, I suggest checking out the previous titles ASAP.

Story:

This game is going to throw explosive action at you the instant the 20-minute load time is complete, and I think this is mainly why the story blows; content was sacrificed for bad-ass cutscenes. Excessive cheesiness, frivolous characters, and a predictable plot make for a storyline that even the absurdly awesome action sequences can't make up for. You start the game as Nero, a knight of The Order of the Sword, which is a religious institution that worships the demon savior Sparda. Little to The Order's knowledge, Nero has a demonic arm, which he has kept secret for years. Not until Dante assassinates the Order's leader does Nero reveal his demonic arm, which he uses in a failed attempt to kill Dante. The story consists of Nero hunting for Dante upon request of The Order; along the way, Nero finds much more sinister forces at work. Eventually, the mystery of Nero's demon arm is solved and the reasons for Dante's seeming betrayal against humanity are revealed in a very unsurprising manner. If you've played DMC before, you probably know why Nero has a demon arm by just looking at him and you probably know the gist of why Dante assassinated The Order's leader in the course of this summary. This story is highly unoriginal and bland. Sorry if I gave out ‘clues', but this story is your basic plot that leaves little to be imagined.

So now that you know the entire story, allow me to discuss my dislike of the game's characters. Aside from Dante, who is still lovable, all of the characters are either pointless or unlikable. There are only four worthwhile characters in the game: Nero, Dante, Credo, and the main adversary. Let me start with Nero. With only three states of emotion: smartass punk, over-the-top sadness, and clichéd loser screaming, Nero is incapable of endearment. DMC is well known for it delightfully cheesy quotes, but Nero's character just takes the delight right out of them; read this, “Kid? Well... if that's how you see me, I think you'll blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass,” it's just unnatural. Nero is a shallow, flat character who serves only to force emotion into the game rather than let it come naturally. When it comes down to it, Nero is Capcom's attempt to maintain the lovable arrogant-style of Dante from DMC 3, but they wind-up making a superficial hybrid of badass and inner conflict that makes him hard to accept as real.

On the other hand, I really liked the direction Capcom took with Dante. No longer is Dante a belligerent, young punk; he is now a cool-headed, mature punk. Dante's dialogue is great and his character is actually believable. Without a doubt, Dante was DMC 4's only good character. Other than this, Credo was interesting for his conflict with loyalty vs. morality, but it didn't last long and ended without much substance. The main adversary lacked any motives beyond world domination and fulfilled no more purpose than to give the player something to fight against. All of the other characters are pointless. Kyrie, Nero's girlfriend, does little more than make cliché ‘anime shy-girl' noises. The ‘love' relationship between Nero and Kyrie feels very forced; so when I saw Nero screaming “Kyrie!” repeatedly and slamming his fist into the ground, I cringed. There was no substance to their ‘love'; rather Capcom made this lackluster dynamic in order to unsuccessfully instill some emotion into this game. Finally, Trish and Lady were utterly superfluous; they flat out did nothing. Even though the story was standard and the characters were less than passable, I realize DMC is a series focused on stylish action over enthralling narrative and they do this well. Some of the action sequences were just incredible. The Nero vs. Dante fights were epic, the boss deaths were satisfying, and the demon massacres were awesome; the fantastic action really made up for the horrible story. So in conclusion, you're not going to find a good story, but you will find amazing action.

6.5/10

Gameplay (Combat, Platforming, Puzzles):

Devil May Cry 4 continues the graceful hack-and-slash style of previous DMCs with the intent to introduce a new combat system with Nero. In reality, the gameplay hasn't changed much. By entering different combinations of buttons (Forward + Triangle or Triangle, Triangle then Triangle, Triangle, Triangle for instance) you can execute unique moves to obliterate countless respawning foes. Nero's ‘Devil Bringer' adds an interesting element to battle, enabling even faster ass-kicking capabilities. You can now grab foes from a distance or smash them into the ground if desired, and this definitely makes for stylish beat-downs. Along with the ‘Devil Bringer', Nero brings the Exceed system; which is equivalent to charging your blade to unleash more powerful attacks. On the other hand, Dante returns with four distinctive styles (Trickster, Gunslinger, Swordmaster, and Royalguard) and three new weapons. Overall, Dante from DMC 4 is a replica of Dante from DMC 3, with the exception that this time he is able to change styles on the fly. By pressing a directional arrow, you can change Dante's style in the midst of combat, which allows for even more obscene combo chains. Combat hasn't changed a whole lot, which is understandable to maintain the DMC feel, but it leads to a mass quantity of button mishmash for the stacked-on moves as the characters get more complex. Aside from combat, DMC 4 consists of wandering linear maps and solving puzzles (which usually require combat to solve anyways). There isn't a whole lot to these other facets of gameplay, so one can conclude that DMC4 is nothing more than combat and cutscenes.

Overall, the gameplay of DMC 4 is fun at first, but it immediately devolves into repetition. With any hack-and-slash, those aerial flips and ground face-smashes will lose their luster after the hundredth scarecrow. The mass quantity of complex technique capabilities leads to an over abundance of unused moves which results in the same series of moves being used over-and-over again. Streak after streak, triangle after triangle, it becomes formulaic; which is not strictly the nature of DMC, but the genre of hack-and-slash as a whole. I found the ‘Devil Bringer' to be fun and easy to use; it certainly was beneficial to DMC's combat as a whole. I didn't feel the same about the Exceed gauge; it was not useful and required lethargic charging for little results. Also, the guns were hopelessly weak, so I primarily stuck with blades. Switching Dante's styles in the midst of battle created too much complication and was never necessary; personally I liked being restricted to one style (like in DMC 3) because it added an element of limitation that required adaptation to situations rather than free-reign. Finally, the camera was awkward and at many times caused me to be slicing at air rather than at demon. There was even one moment where the camera remained stationary and I was forced to wandered into oblivion before the game caught itself.

Another gripe I have is with the proud soul-character upgrade system. Instead of only having red orbs, the player must use proud souls to purchase new techniques for their character; this is annoying because proud souls can only be obtained by completing missions with high grades. So not only do you constantly need to replay missions for enough proud souls, you need to excel at these repetitive missions. The amount of proud souls you receive is calibrated by: mission speed, orb collection percent, and stylish points. I can understand stylish points, but mission speed doesn't allow time to appreciate the game and orb collection is tedious (breaking the same benches and garbage cans); so if you want to maximize your character, you better not be playing for fun, you better be playing for business. Proud souls should either be obtained like red orbs, purchasable with red orbs, or dished out for other factors (like stylish points, exceed/styles used, or enemy juggling time; at least something that incorporates gameplay rather than orb searching or time constraint).

More beef is with the lack of variety in level and boss design. DMC 4 is setup in such a way that one half of the game is spend traveling from point A to point B with Nero, and the second half is spend traveling back from point B to point A with Dante. This demonstrates complete designer laziness. Not only are the environments practically unchanged, they also lead to the exact same bosses; so in a way, you are playing the same game twice. I got a little fed up after fighting four bosses three times apiece (even though they were pretty cool). Regardless of how gorgeous the locales were and how enjoyable the bosses were, I feel shortchanged and maybe even a little backstabbed.

Here are a couple more quick gripes. The new weapons introduced in this game were very interesting (especially Pandora), but Nero can't use them and Dante has no time to use them (received near the end of the game). So you'll be using Red Queen, Rebellion, and Ebony and Ivory for the majority of the game. Nero should definitely have had more weapon choices and Dante should have had them earlier. Finally, there was a moment in the game where you are supposed to slow time in order to fight enemies and walk through lasers. In order to slow time, the player must activate a pedestal located in the room by hitting it. The effects were room restricted and short-lived, but I think it would have been cool to take it a step farther and incorporate it into combat techniques or the Devil Trigger. Maybe, since Nero can't switch weapons, the R2 or R3 button could trigger slowed time and give the opportunity to lay waste before the demons even hit the ground. Perhaps it would become too easy, but hell, the game isn't hard enough?

In summary, DMC 4's gameplay is pretty much completely combat-based. Fighting and shooting is just as fluid as any other DMC and you can pull off some really insane combos. Nero is powerful, Dante is fun to use, and the new elements add some fun tidbits into DMC's growing repetoire. The only downsides are that it becomes: repetitive, over-complicated, and uninspired.
Overall, it is still fun, but just too monotonous.

7/10

Presentation (Graphics, Sound, Control):

Even though DMC 4 has stellar graphics and fluid controls, it lacks a good soundtrack and a simple user-interface to have an outstanding presentation. From a frozen gothic castle to a sweltering jungle to an industrial laboratory, DMC 4 has some beautiful and epic environments. The lighting is perfect and the subtle details are wonderful. Fabric textures, facial expressions, body movements, they are all stunning and convincingly real. Sadly, I feel that I didn't give the incredible landscapes the time and inspection they deserved due to the fast-paced nature of the game; why make something so detailed if you are required to run past it? But when it comes down to it, DMC 4's graphics were some of the best I've ever seen.

DMC 4's controls are extremely responsive and easy to use, but as the moves become more numerous, button inputs have become complex and inefficient. Techniques where you are required to hold down more than one button while simultaneously targeting an enemy and rocking the joystick back and forth is getting to the point where attacks no longer come naturally. Frequently I would have to look up certain button inputs to execute an attack I'd use once then never use again because it was unnecessary and hard to use. Devil May Cry prides itself on quick, easy combat where attacks become like reflexes, but DMC 4 has taken a step away from this; a select few attacks become natural and you'll rarely use the full spectrum. So, although the controls are exceptionally responsive, the intrinsic user interface is faltering with too many attacks.

Finally the audio is perfect, perfect in the sense that it is so cheesy that it fits the game to a tee. There are essentially three audio tracks in DMC 4: decent symphonic opera, bad industrial metal, and atrocious metal-core pop. Every battle is coupled with the same annoying metal song that did not ‘rock'; it just filled my heart with rage. The sound effects are good and the voice acting is impressive, but the two-year old metal ultimately ruins them. When I completed the game, I was immediately surprised that the ending credits weren't presented with a Japanese female pop song; rather, I was gifted with the sounds of literal fecal matter. I've heard a lot of bad music in my day, but this is one of the worst opuses I've ever listened to. I'm getting a little heated, but dear lord, why end any game with this off-key, cheesy turd sandwich? All in all, the audio was awful, yet perfect for the tackiness of the story as a whole.

Presentation as a whole was good, but not exceptional. Again, the graphics were brilliant and the controls were tight, but the user-interface was growing inefficient and the audio was horrifying.

7/10 (only because of the graphics)

Epicness/Overall Impact (Replayability, Sense of Accomplishment, Lingering Value):

DMC 4 is somewhat of a mixed bag when it comes to epicness. By no means did the game make an impact emotionally, but it certainly did in terms of inspiring awe. Like I said earlier, the story is standard fare and most of the dialogue is terribly cheesy, but the action is out of this world. Moments such as the Nero vs. Dante duel and the boss battle against a monolithic god were very cool and I shall remember them for a long time. But overall, playing this game was kind of like watching a Michael Bay movie; it had non-stop, high-budget thrills layered on top of empty, uninteresting content. There is little reason to replay DMC 4 unless you want to take on the extremely challenging Dante must Die mode to unlock invincible Nero/Dante, but if you can do that, you are pretty much invincible anyways. I could foresee myself playing DMC 4 again for brief kicks, but I wouldn't devote a lot of time to it. Devil May Cry 4 is memorable for top-notch action, but it is forgettable for everything else.

6.5/10

As much as I enjoy the Devil May Cry series, an average game is an average game no matter the franchise. The reality of DMC 4 may be hidden behind an illusion of beautiful graphics and high-flying stunts, but when all is said and done, I finished with a feeling of sad neutrality. Capcom can do better; as with many of their franchises, they start with a masterpiece, and then transform them into moneymaking schemes (such as Mega Man). I can only hope that DMC is not destined for this path…

Overall Score: 6.75/10 Slightly Above Average Game

Thanks a lot for reading.
Sincerely,

Brother Bartholomew

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/09

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