Review: Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
What is it?
Devil May Cry 4 is the latest entry in Capcom’s “stylish action” series featuring fast, third-person action gameplay featuring characters of mixed human and demon lineage wielding combinations of upgradeable magical melee weapons and firearms of varying power and speed. You hack, slash, jump, vault, shoot, and use superhuman abilities upgraded along the way to fight your way through level after level of demonic foes of varying speed, attack types, and durability. Occasional boss fights scaled to match various superhuman abilities and weapons are also provided.
I didn’t write Dante in the previous paragraph because while Dante was the star of the first three Devil May Cry games — four if you count the ridiculously difficult Devil May Cry 3 that was remedied with the Greatest Hits version Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition — he is not the star of Devil May Cry 4 but a co-star. And while Dante could easily pass as a human if he avoided the blood red coat and decided to leave the big honkin’ sword off his back for a day, Nero barely can given that he has a scaly, glowing, reptilian, demonic arm. As you’ve no doubt seen both Nero and Dante have the I-have-short-white-hair-so-I-must-be-part-demon look, but they’re pretty different not just in attitude but in how they play, and you do get to play both of them during the game.
How does it play?
My tilt on Devil May Cry is considerable as I spent ridiculous amounts of time playing Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition and its associated Bloody Palace challenge mode, to the tune of about 100 hours total. DMC3SE sported a profile-like system where your saved game operated as something of a hub, letting you revisit any previous level using all of the items and abilities unlocked thus far, as well as compete in the Bloody Palace combat arena of increasing difficulty in a sort of hack-slash-shoot-and dodge survival mode like you’d see in a fighting game.
The big questions going into DMC4 were three-fold: was it (1) a return to the crushingly difficult form of pre-Special Edition DMC3 or would it integrate the crowd-pleasing features brought forward by DMC3SE; would the game (2) show a leap forward in terms of gameplay onto current-generation systems and (3) would it do something, anything about the weak story in previous games.
I was surprised to find all three things turn out favorably, even very favorably in some instances. That includes the story, which while nothing that can reach up past the ankles of the sweeping and engaging drama of God of War I and II, surprised me in terms of how it fit the setting and to some extent explained just why you’re fighting who you’re fighting.
Nero and Dante play quite differently and while not having multiple “Styles” to choose from when playing Nero the way you could choose Trickster, Gunslinger, Royal Guard, and Swordmaster for Dante in DMC3:SE I found Nero to still be fun to play. His demon arm definitely changes the battlefield, letting you pull enemies to you from a distance and even snatch them up off the ground. Larger enemies become pivot points that Nero vaults over using the arm and lastly the arm becomes a critical part of every boss fight and frequently offers special attacks via cut scenes during those fights. The combat with Nero’s arm is very dynamic and despite his very early vibe of being just a little bit whiny a la Metal Gear Solid 2′s Raiden, that quickly dissipates when the tutorial involves you learning the combat ropes by fighting none other than Dante himself.
Nero’s sidearm is the heavy revolver called the Blue Rose and his sword, which can be revved motorcycle-throttle-style, is the Red Queen. As in the past you can purchase abilities for them or Nero or purchase power-up items (for health and magic restoration, for example) between levels and at specifically placed statues in-game, say before a boss fight. This time around the currency system has changed. Just as in previous games red orbs fall from creatures based on the style meter score when they are killed and red orbs also come from some of the destructible scenery, and just as in the past they are spent on healing items like vital stars and magic restoration items like devil stars. Combat performance yields a new currency called Proud Souls. These are used to upgrade weapon abilities and character abilities and completely eliminate any angst about your choices by allowing you to refund them from any single ability or all abilities to be re-spent without penalty. If you find the choices too daunting you can also choose from pre-set profiles to have the game choose for you.
Some of the more friendly touches this time around involves this currency and the ability to quit out of any level at any point and keep what you’ve earned. You’ll even get some Proud Souls depending on how well you did up against what you caught. Each level is graded just as it has been in the past with separate scores this time around for time, orbs found, and style points. You’re given a ranking on online scoreboards and you are also given a nice dose of accomplishments to aim for on the PS3 that match the Xbox 360′s achievements. On the PS3 a system message screen appears at the end of the level congratulating you on each accomplishment looks like it might be a hook into a future universal accomplishment system from Sony but there’s no official word on if or when that might happen. For now I’m taking them at face value and using the in-game menus to compare my own accomplishments with those of my friends.
As a newcomer Nero is a very successful addition to the franchise and he works very nicely for those of us who are veterans of the series as well. The Blue Rose doesn’t have the hyperactive twitch trigger of Dante’s pistols but can be charged up and packs a decent punch, and his sword has a wide enough set of moves that new players won’t feel overwhelmed.
Dante does return in full glory and his character is more likeable and fun to play this time around, showing a little bit more maturity and seeming to take his job hunting demons a little bit more seriously. He’s still all attitude and style with his pistols, shotgun, and Rebellion sword and he also returns with all of the Styles from the previous game accessible via the d-pad. When I first played as Dante I found I missed the novelty of Nero’s demon arm but Dante’s much more diverse weapon and ability options along with the significantly more agile and faster combat more than made up for it.
In terms of gameplay DMC4 is a clear successor to DMC3:SE featuring the gold continue orbs that let you immediately continue your game with full health and magic, frequent checkpoints to continue from should you opt not to use a gold orb, and new player-friendly features like an “automatic” mode that makes stringing together flashy and fun-to-watch combos easier. The ability to grind previous levels for orbs and proud souls is a handy way to let players beef up for boss fights — something I had to do quite a bit before conquering the final boss fight in Devil Hunter difficulty — and the full suite of accomplishments for the PS3 and achievements for the Xbox 360 give you a little something to work at if you are so inclined.
How does it look and sound?
Nearly everything in DMC4 is recycled directly or stylistically from DMC3:SE and earlier with the exception of the character models. Nero is obviously all new and Dante has been completely reworked and doesn’t look nearly as young as he did in previous games (which makes sense given DMC3 was a prequel to DMC1). Sound-wise the effects all work very well, the menu sounds and background music are all very much Devil May Cry, and the levels have very similar sounds to DMC3:SE. Whether it’s smashing chairs or the barriers appearing or shattering across doorways as you play there isn’t much new in terms of sounds.
The levels are suitably gothic and in some cases show their current-generation chops in terms of sheer size, but nothing is really done with them that tells you this is a next-generation game. A good portion of the game is a retread of previous levels as another character, so seeing familiar things from Devil May Cry 3 and before which were no doubt started for technical or budget reasons on earlier consoles can be disappointing.
I will thank Capcom directly for dispensing with the squishy, organic, and gooey levels from previous games. They were my least favorite parts of the game. Nobody needs to be forced to walk through the gastrointestinal tract of a giant monster in a game, trying to avoid tiny acid puddles while being attacked. There’s really no need for it, and thankfully this game stays mercifully above-ground.
How is the replay value?
With Human and Devil Hunter modes available right away and at least two or three more able to be unlocked along with the free replayability of previous levels and the Bloody Palace modes there is a lot to do in Devil May Cry 4. Accomplishments and achievements are also available should you want to chase those. Any veteran of Devil May Cry will tell you that at high difficulty levels things are mercilessly hard and you might find yourself hitting a wall long before you exhaust all of the difficulty options in the game. I know I did with Dante Must Die difficulty mode on DMC3:SE.
Bloody Palace also deserves special mention in that it’s somewhat different this time around. You are fighting waves of enemies on a disc-shaped arena once again, but instead of 9999 levels to ascend and three portals per level to let you move up 1, 10, or 100 levels at a time things are a bit more streamlined. There’s only one portal now, sending you up one level at a time, and there is a timer ticking down as you play. Run out of time or get killed and you’re out, you’re graded on your performance and you keep the orbs and Proud Souls you’ve earned in your game profile. Current-generation systems can definitely pack in the enemies in this mode and when they start getting mixed you are definitely in for a challenge. Throw in your choice of character — Dante or Nero — and you get even more replay value.
Is it worth it?
It’s hard not to recommend this game to action game fans. It’s a must-play if you enjoyed Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition and if you skipped DMC3 because of the crushing difficulty this game is also very much worth playing. The accomplishments system and online rankings give it staying power that it might not otherwise have had on the PlayStation 3 given it’s a single-player only game on the system, something the Xbox 360 version turns into achievements. It follows very closely to the strong combat-driven formula of Devil May Cry while simultaneously reaching out to newcomers to the series and easing what could have been a brutally punishing difficulty curve even for returning veterans.
And while the story held things together pretty well, the visuals are very nice, the gameplay is suitably quick, and the cut scenes load extremely quickly from the hard drive, I was a little disappointed not to see this game be a bigger step forward for the series.
Will we see two more Devil May Cry games on this generation of systems the way we saw three of them on the PlayStation 2? If so, I hope more innovation comes into the franchise, but I can’t knock DMC4 as it’s a very strong debut for the series, especially for new players. Devil May Cry 4 gets a four-and-a-half out of five.
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