Friday 8 July 2011

Devil may cry 4

Gamespot score:8.0(great)

my score:8.8

(+)Pros:-Over the top action is more than satisfying,-able to play as 2 characters (both of which fight very differently from each other),-crazy good graphics,-great boss fights paired with excellent demon design,-voice acting is good,-great soundtrack,-bloody palace tests even the mightiest of players.

(-)Cons:-Controls kinda stink for the PC on the keyboard,-boss fights get repeated WAYYY to many times.

gameplay time:10-20 hours


DMC time! Previously on the PC reviews, I did the review on DMC 3:SE. I wanted to do DMC 4 along with it..but meh, was too lazy back then. So here we are today, with the whole review of DMC 4 mapped out. When DMC 4 came out, I guess people were pissed out, since dante was no longer the main lead. I was too...kind of. Well, for those people who marked this game as bad just because dante isn't the lead, it sucks to be them, because devil may cry 4, no matter how you look at it, is one hell of a solid action game. The action is over the top, the visuals are amazing, combine that with so many other great factors such as the voice acting and soundtrack...you get one really awesome game. I would have so gotten this game on consoles if I had already known how awesome of a game this would be.....


Devil may cry 4 follows the game in the perspective of our new protagonist, nero. The game's story goes as nero goes around beating demons up after they showed up and attacked citizens. The cause is known, someone has been tempering with the demon gates, but no one knows who. Well, as a member of the order, nero is supposed to clean up the demons and rendevous with the credo, his leader. Credo is also kyrie's brother....and it so happens that nero is somewhat in love with kyrie, he just doesnt show it. Before the appearance of the demons, the church was stormed by dante, and he killed the sanctus, thus the order suspects dante now, and nero is just investigating the cause. But little does he know about the little scheme that the order is brewing up, and the events that are to come. 



Beat up your enemies as the new protagonist, nero.

Devil may cry 4 is an action game, playing very much like its predeccesors. There are 20 levels in game, and each level is packed with insane, over the top action. Levels are packed with hordes of demons standing in your way, and its your job to slay them all. You do say as either nero or dante, 2 of the game's playable characters. You start off as nero, and as nero, slaying your enemies are done with more simple, effective and brutal methods. Our new protagonist, nero, is born with a devil arm, and that arm alone posseses incredible strenght. Combined with his motor equipped blade red queen and his revolver blue rose, he is ready to kick ass. As nero, your attacks are rather simple and you will be doing attacks with the red queen all the time. Luckily though, the red queen comes with a charge feature, which affects your damage and combo rating the more you charge it and combine it with your other attacks. The blue rose is your everyday revolver, and you shoot it at your enemies to just deal puny damage or extend combos. 

But the real trick to nero is his devil arm. With the devil arm, you are able to go up to the enemy, grab them in the face, and do a cool grab move that usually results in trashing them around or smashing them head first into the ground, doing crazy damage. Its a good way to end combos, or just to spam and deal insane damage. The devil arm also has the ability to grab a sizable enemy from afar and pull it towards nero, letting him hit the enemy up close or just to extend his onslaught after his enemy has dropped. Nero also comes equipped with a "devil trigger" ability, in which he summons the spirit of the yamato (retrieved at a later stage). As you can see, nero is cool stuff, altough nothing compared to dante, nero is still a blast to play, and is obviously a great addition to the already great cast of characters.


Dont worry, dante is still sticking around to kill enemies with style!

When all is said and done, thats all only about nero. Dante, however, is a total beast. The dante fans know and love still stays, personality wise, and of course, gameplay wise too. Of course he gets a whole new slew of weapons, but thats beside the point. He still has his core styles, swordmaster, trickster, royal guard and gunslinger, and whats new is that he can now switch between the styles in battle! Sweet! Both nero and dante can upgrade themselves like in the previous games. By defeating enemies and collecting red orbs as currency, you can purchase items and upgrades. Also, you will be visiting a variety of places, including the town, an underground mine, a snowy mountain, a forest, and a couple of castles. The graphics in this game are jaw dropping good, even for a game released 3-4 years ago, it still looks great when I played the game last year. Also, during battle, you get to battle demons of many cool variations, be it lizards, scarecrows, or floating ghosts. Another plus is the great heavy metal based soundtrack during battle.

This, I believe, is what DMC is known for in its music. The heavy metal music is extremely fitting especially for defeating demons of such badasstitude with such badasstitude of your own! The boss fights are on an entirely different level. You get to fight big bad bosses each with thier own special way of fighting. The bosses are powerful and require different strategies to beat, and though you probably wont beat them on 1st try, its always good to peservere and fight these bosses until you finally beat them with your own power. There are more than a few ways to tackle the bosses, especially with dante, and using these different techniques to beat them is whats satisfying.


Fire guy with four legs, 2 horns, a molten sword and a pair of wanabe wings, how cool is that?
 Devil may cry 4 would have been 9.0 for me, but just because on the PC, the controls arent very solid or consistent, I would have to drop the score. Without a gamepad, the game is harder to play, since on the keyboard, the controls are harder to press and time. Other than that, I generally have no issues with the game...other than the fact the bosses are recycled like hell. The cycle goes like this, you fight the bosses with nero, fight them again with dante, and in the final stage, you fight them all again as nero (typical megaman type final stage). Fighting a boss 3 times in a single story play gets derative, plus, you fight them again in bloody palace. Talk about mass recycling, thats what the game is when it come to bosses.

DMC 4 is definetely one of the most awesome action games out there, and the DMC series is the only one that can compare to GOW now to me. Theres nothing for me to say, DMC 4 is an excellent action game that any action game lover would enjoy. Whats more, if you are a fan of the series, you would want to get this game no doubt.



Happy gaming!