Published by: Capcom
Developed by: Capcom Production Studio
Score: 75

I still remember the first time I saw videos of the first Devil May Cry way back in 2001. The second after I saw this guy in red pop a monster up and juggle him in the air with bullets, I ran my ass to my local FUNCOLAND and put up $5 of my lunch money to preorder it on the spot. Back when the PS2 was still struggling to find a standout title (people actually had Fantavision in their top 5 PS2 games lists, believe it or not), it came and literally dropped jaws. It singlehandedly redefined the action game genre as we know it, and despite its flaws it still stood out as a triple A title. The series would fail to garner a similar reaction in the following years, as its sequel was regarded as vastly inferior to the original. The franchise finally progressed with the third game, but it’s NBA Jam-level default difficulty turned most off. Now, almost 10 years later, the fourth installment sees the series take its first step into next gen territory.

The story this time around is pretty much par for the course in the series, meaning that it’s pretty lame and largely forgettable. The new character Nero (well, new except for the fact that he looks, dresses, and acts just like Dante) is introduced as some sort of holy knight in a small religious town. In typical DMC fashion this town turns into hell, and as both Nero and Dante you’ll have to fight a fair share of oversized bosses and Chuck-E-Cheese reject puppets to survive.

Oh and there are some chicks in this game, but I guess Capcom was aiming for a touch of realism in this aspect because they generally do nothing but look pretty.

Previous DMCs have always shined in the gameplay area, and this one is no different. Nero brings a completely new game mechanic to the table in the form of his right arm, the Devil Bringer. In some cases it’s used for platforming areas, but mainly you’ll be using it to Ike Turner all your enemies. When used in boss fights it triggers a God of War-ish cutscene where Nero just demolishes the boss with some insane move(the insanity is upped when used in conjunction with his Devil Trigger)and skyrockets your style points. Halfway through the game you’ll finally take control of Dante, who demands a whole different approach to combat altogether. While (obviously) lacking the powerful Devil Bringer, Dante has instant access to all of his styles from DMC3(Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Royal Guard and the still useless Trickster) via the D-pad and can instantly switch between all of his weapons as well. As far as weapons go, the Gilgamesh, shotgun, and Yamato all return along with new additions in the form of the Lucifer and the Pandora’s Box(without a doubt the most insane DMC weapon yet). The combat system itself is also very deep, with tons of hidden tricks and maneuvers to master such as Just Frame Attacks and Distorted Attacks (check youtube for more info).

The game itself is aesthetically beautiful. Being the first entry into the next-gen era, expectations were high for DMC4 to deliver in the visual department and it doesn’t disappoint. Character models look nearly lifelike, yet still maintain their comic book-like flair (see: Trish’s chest). The environments themselves are a visual treat, the forest stage complete with rain effects stood out as particularly nice and high definition-y (fuck a thesaurus) to me. The special effects are particularly nice and….you know, the graphics sections of reviews are some of the most boring paragraphs to read and are even worse to write, so I’m gonna sum this up with “THIS LOOKS GOOD” and move on.

So nice graphics, tight gameplay and a passable story means this game is a must-buy, right? Well, not so much. Sadly, as with the rest of the series, this game has a number of glaring flaws that are just too obvious to ignore. First off, the game is pretty short, clocking in at 12-15 or so hours on the default difficulty. You may be thinking that’s not bad at all, and it really isn’t, but the actual time isn’t the problem. The problem is that this game is virtually only half that length, and you have to play through it twice just to get to the ending. Basically, without spoiling too much, when you take control of Dante halfway through the game you don’t actually go anywhere new. You just backtrack through the same areas you already conquered as Nero, facing the SAME BOSSES as you go on. Then, just in case you haven’t had enough after beating them twice, you have to run through each boss AGAIN in a penultimate battle. So yeah, even though the bosses are cool and all, you’ll be more than tired of seeing them again as the game closes to an end and, if you’re like me, may find yourself screaming “FUCKING DIE ALREADY” at your 27″ SDTV screen( :( ).

As if the backtracking and seemingly endless boss fights weren’t enough, the developers decided once again to throw little side distractions at you in what I can only assume was a lame attempt to extend the playing time. Twice in the game you’re forced to play a “dice game”, where you punch/shoot/dropkick a giant die in the middle of the room to move your stone avatar across a board. If your avatar lands in the wrong space you will be thrust into a frustrating battle with hordes of enemies, and these sections can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour depending on luck (yes, I realize now that there’s a pattern to the dice rolling but I didn’t know about it until it was too late). Finally, it has to be said that the story starts off with a bang but sadly turns into some extremely cliche garbage near the end, as if the developers just quit trying and wanted to wrap up the game as quickly as possible. All these factors combined drained the replay value of the game entirely for me, but luckily Capcom reinstated the Devil Palace from DMC3 so after you finish the game you can jump right into battle without any of the aforementioned complaints.

All things said, if you are a Devil May Cry fan you won’t be disappointed. It is far from the train wreck that was DMC2, but significantly worse than DMC3 in the story department. Still, the retooled combat system makes this title well worth your time if you’re an action game enthusiast. Seeing as how it can be beaten in only a few sittings, it’s definitely a rental first. With a little more time in development DMC4 really could have been something special, but as it stands it’s just something to satiate action gamers until Ninja Gaiden 2 finally rolls around.