Devil May Cry 4 - Review

Added February 20th, 2008 by Justin McBride

Devil May Cry 4 for the Xbox 360 is the first game in the series to appear on anything other than a Playstation platform. Because of this, first time players might not know what to expect. Those expecting a fairly standard action game are in for a big surprise when they witness Devil May Cry 4’s enormous emphasis on stylish, over-the-top action. They might be surprised to see Devil May Cry’s sarcastic, almost lighthearted take on a world plagued by demons. Because of this, Devil May Cry 4 is rather unique in the action/adventure genre. If this is something that excites you, dive in headfirst and prepare yourself for one hell of a ride.

The story begins in the waterfront town of Fortuna; series newcomer Nero sits in a church.  Attendees give praise to the demon knight Sparda, whom turned his back on his demon brethren for the sake of mankind. Suddenly, as the congregation begins a silent prayer, Dante, the half human, half demon Devil Hunter descends from the chapel’s stained glass skylight, landing in front of Sanctus, leader of the Order of the Sword, of which Nero is a member. It is here that Nero bears witness to Dante quickly drawing one of his pistols and mercilessly killing his leader.  Now the story begins. From here, Nero battles Dante, bent on revenge for the death of his leader and numerous fellow Order members. Dante quickly departs and Nero is sent after him, in the hopes of bringing him to justice for his crime.

Hardcore fans of the Devil May Cry series are likely to be disappointed that Dante, the legendary Devil Hunter and primary series protagonist takes a backseat to Nero, a white-haired sardonic sort of antihero with something to prove. Nero also carries with him a demonic right arm called the Devil Bringer, which affords him certain abilities both in and out of combat. Does this sound familiar? Well, it should, because Nero’s personality is somewhat similar to that of Dante, except where Dante, while sarcastic, has a more experienced outlook on his actions and the world around him, while Nero is apathetic and overconfident. While his skills are formidable, Nero often finds himself humbled at the hands of the more experienced and highly skilled Dante.

Nero’s primary arsenal consists of his sword, the Red Queen and his double barreled revolver, the Blue Rose, which afford him both melee and long range abilities. The Red Queen will most likely be your primary method of attack, with its quick but powerful range of slashes and strikes, while the Blue Rose is best for juggling opponents and keeping combinations going with its quick burst fire and can deal powerful blows by charging each shot. The Red Queen has a motorcycle-esque handle, which allows him to rev the sword’s handle, charging it up for more powerful slashes. This system, referred to in game as the Exceed system, is engaged by pulling the left trigger. Slower more consistent pulls are more effective at increasing the Exceed gauge than simply mashing on the trigger over and over again. Each time the rev limit is reached, up to three times, the Red Queen is charged and will unleash powerful fiery blows until the gauge is depleted.

Nero brings something new to the table in the form of his Devil Bringer. The Buster attack which you access by tapping the B button grabs a nearby enemy and inflicts heavy damage by hurling them to the ground, flailing them around helplessly or even tossing them into other enemies. Best of all, the Devil Bringer Buster can be used to grapple with the many bosses as well, resulting in highly damaging and incredibly over-the-top animations as Nero tosses them around as if they were toys or bashes them repeatedly with his disembodied fist.

The Devil Bringer receives various upgrades of sorts as you advance, including one very early in the game, called the grim grip, which turns the Devil Bringer into an unholy grappling hook. With this ability in tow, you gain the power to grab faraway objects (or enemies) and pull them closer to you or you closer to them. Another useful upgrade you receive early in the game is one that turns the Devil Bringer into a metal detector of sorts, glowing near hidden items such as the oh so valuable blue orb fragments and entrances to secret missions.

During the many missions, you’ll likely come across any number of a dozen secret missions. Once triggered, these momentary diversions transport you away from the mission at hand present you with a set task, for example, raising your stylish ranking without attacking any of the monsters surrounding you. These missions can be quite lucrative, rewarding you for your efforts with a blue orb fragment so seeking them out is in your favor.

Later in the game, Nero gains access to the Devil Trigger, another series mainstay that, unlike Dante, merely projects the demonic entity that inhabits Nero’s arm above him instead of transforming him into a more demonic form. This significantly enhances the power of his sword strikes, gunshots and speed for a limited time (determined by the Devil Trigger gauge) which can be lengthened by purchasing purple orbs from Divinity Statues.

Repetition and backtracking isn’t new to the series and during your time as Nero, you will quite often find yourself treading through the same environments you just went through multiple times in order to reach a new location which has just opened up due to a new ability you’ve obtained, door you’ve unlocked, and so on. This isn’t necessarily a terrible thing for the game, but it does hurt the pacing somewhat.

Style plays a large role in the game. During combat, as you eviscerate any demons foolish enough to cross your path, you’re constantly being graded on your performance. As you string combinations together, a letter grade will pop up on the screen. This grade, referred to as the stylish ranking, slowly increases as you mix up your Red Queen Slashes, Blue Rose shots and Devil Bringer busters, the grade will increase on a scale from D (Deadly) to SSS (Smokin’ Sick Style). At the end of each mission, you are graded on how quickly the mission was completed, the number of red orbs you found and the style points you obtained during combat. All of these factors into your overall ranking for each mission. The overall ranking you receive determines the number of Proud Souls you are given, which can be redeemed prior to missions or at Divinity Statues during missions for various abilities and upgrades.

I did have a bit of a problem with the camera. While it can be freely rotated by using the right analog stick, its response is a bit slow and sluggish, especially in the heat of combat with multiple opponents. Oftentimes, this means you’ll be in the middle of a combo and suddenly blindsided as an enemy jumps at you from a side of the screen you can’t see.

It’s disappointing that Dante is used so sparingly throughout the game; the Solid Snake to Nero’s Raiden, to make a comparison to Metal Gear Solid 2. Once you finally complete Nero's half (well, “half” may not be the operative word here…) of the game, you finally take control of the immensely powerful son of Sparda himself with all of the Proud Souls and items you’ve obtained in tow. Having played as Nero for a considerable length of time prior, Danes may take some getting used to. With a new character comes the loss of Nero's Devil Bringer and all of the abilities that were afforded to you once before.

Dante carries over many of his abilities and skills from Devil May Cry 3. What makes him unique is the ability to change into four different styles (Sword Master, Gun Slinger, Trickster and Royal Guard) to suit your style of play. This skill is significantly improved from Devil May Cry 3, allowing you to change styles on the fly by pressing one of four directions on the d-pad as opposed to choosing one at the beginning of the mission and running with it. With this newfound ability, it’s easy to mix things up during combat, which will become apparent the instant he begins battle. For example, you can start in the Gun Slinger style, firing at foes in two different directions simultaneously with Dante’s twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory, if you find yourself backed against a corner, switch instantly to the Trickster style and dash away, finally switching to the Sword Master to finish off your foe.

In place of Nero’s Devil Bringer, Dante has a series of style moves, which are activated by pressing the B button and ties to the style you currently have equipped. These stylish moves are often quite powerful and can be incorporated quite easily into different combinations. While not quite as powerful as Nero’s Buster, they’re arguably a heck of a lot cooler.

Unfortunately, most of your time spent playing as Dante is spent retracing Nero’s steps through many of the same environs you’ve already played through. Sure, a few things have changed here and there, but the sense of Déjà vu you’ll feel is unavoidable. In the end, it almost seems as though Dante was included as an afterthought, a mere glorified cameo and plot point in what seems to be Nero’s show. You’ll encounter characters from numerous sectors of the Devil May Cry mythos, but they seem to be a bit tacked on, big examples of this being the few appearances of Lady. These characters appear fleetingly in cutscenes with precious little explanation, so, if this is your first time playing a Devil May Cry game, you’re going to feel left in the dark.

Contrary to the last entry in the series, Devil May Cry 3, the sequel doesn’t have a difficulty curve like a wall and in fact, you’ll likely breeze through the early missions on Devil Hunter, the highest difficulty available from the start without breaking a sweat. But of course, Capcom wouldn’t release a game totally bereft of challenge. Not only does the difficulty ramp up as you progress, but there are four additional difficulties that can all be unlocked by beating the game a total of 5 times. It’s worth noting that the latter difficulties are only suited for players with masochistic tendencies, nerves of steel, lightning-quick reflexes, incredible skill or any combination of those four. Ninja Gaiden fans take notice, this game is hellishly difficult on Dante Must Die mode alone and the even harder difficulty beyond it will break you.

Upon completing the game once, you gain access to the Bloody Palace, a timed survival mode in which stylish blows add time to the ever decreasing clock. In this mode, you run the gauntlet against scores of enemies, as well as boss characters, progressing in difficulty alongside you. In what is already a pretty long game, there’s a significant amount of replay value here as players compete for leaderboard positions as well as the all important achievements and bragging rights. Orb farming, a useful tactic later in the game offers even more reason to replay the game; going back to missions you’ve already completed in order to find the all important red orbs, which you’ll need as items increase in value later in the game.

Perhaps one of Devil May Cry 4’s biggest strengths is how far it pushes the graphical envelope. Not since Gears of War have I seen such incredible attention to detail in both environments and to a greater degree, character models. The rare muddy texture aside, the texturing you’ll bear witness to is amazing. Throughout your time with the game, you’ll encounter numerous gorgeous vistas, such as a sun soaked forested area which sparkles with detail and never ceases to amaze. There are a few lows aside from the errant muddy texture which includes some jagged and strangely lit shadows but these low points are largely outweighed by the highs, making this one of the most visually breathtaking games on the system.

The audio presentation mirrors the visuals, in the fact they are also mostly excellent. The dialog during cutscenes is all incredibly well delivered, not so much because the voice acing is great (and it is rather good) but because it seems to fit so well with the rest of the scene. During combat, the music doesn’t stray from the typical blend of electronic and metal at has become synonymous with the series. This does an excellent job of pumping you up, especially during boss fights.

In closing, while Devil May Cry 4 seems to be a hard fit in the series due to Dante’s significantly reduced role, the gameplay is as tight, stylish and entertaining as it ever was. The game soars because of its combat and obviously high production values. I make many allusions to the other games in the series because they are somewhat required playing in order to fully understand the origins of the game and its storyline, which doesn’t offer much explanation for those new to the series. Nevertheless, there is a great deal to like here for fans of action/adventure games and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t give this a shot.