reviews

Name: Devil May Cry 4
Genre: Action
Platforms: Xbox 360/PS3 (Reviewed on Xbox 360)

 The fourth installment of Devil May Cry arrived on American shores this past February. Fanboys of the series rejoiced on this momentous occasion, taking part in wild release day parties where no one wore clothes and held hands as they gazed upon the breathtaking animation.

 For some reason that still escapes me to this day I chose to pass on picking this game up and decided I would come back for it someday. Well that day came sooner than I expected and as I stood at my local Blockbuster this weekend. I looked through the slim pickings of the gaming section to find DMC4 sitting there on the shelf. I thought this time would be as good as any to give the game a shot: seeing that I could devote all weekend to conquering the game. I went straight home grabbed the usual can of Brisk iced tea and got to work.

 As you can already tell I am not a hardcore DMC fan of any sorts. I had no idea what to expect when I popped the disk into my 360’s tray: hell I could’ve been fighting zombies with babies for arms for all I knew. The only thing I did know about the game that it was a big hit in Japan, and it obviously was going to be a game with a deep emotional story, lots of cinematic camerawork, and plenty off blood. So I wrapped my raincoat around my shoulders, got a box of tissues, and got ready for the tears and blood splatter.

 Devil May Cry 4 begins by showing off some of the beautiful architecture of the city you inhabit. The camera smoothly moves to and fro along the main street of the city and finally trains itself on an enormous building where a ceremony is being held by the Order of the Sword. The residents of the city are all gathered inside, huddled in pews, praying away to some higher power while an old man known as Sanctus preaches about the Savior. The scene then cuts away from the preacher to a white haired man named Nero making his way to the ceremony down the empty city streets. Along the way we see Nero encounter a few of the weirdest demons I have ever seen. After making mincemeat out of these strange entities our hero finally arrives at the meeting to fill the seat an attractive woman who kept gazing at during the ceremony. A spoiler-riffic event unfolds shortly after your arrival that puts you face to face with the series icon Dante. A short battle ensues where you are familiarized with the button mapping and different combat techniques that you will utilize to progress through the game. The battle abruptly ends and Dante escapes into the distance with you hot on his tail in the hopes of bringing him to justice. So after what seemed to be an hour’s worth of cinematics I was finally going to get to actually play the game.

  After what seemed to be an eternity I actually got to use the controller I sat down beside me. The jest of the story so far was that Dante did something wrong and it was my personal mission to bring him to justice. I had a gun, a gigantic sword, and a forearm that glowed a brilliant blue color. I was used to the standard sword and gun that had been given to me in most games, but I in no way was I prepared for how my blue forearm: known as the Devil Bringer, would change my perception of games classified in this genre. My arm was now transformed into some kind of weird Sticky Hand weapon that I would use to grab enemies, pull them close for an attack, or slam their demonic bodies WWE style onto the ground. My enthusiasm for the game grew with every enemy I slammed. At one point I thought that this might be the greatest weapon ever put into a game. I used the Devil Bringer in every situation I could and it definitely came in handy when taking on one of the game’s different boss characters. I could go on and on about this special ability but let me just simply say I fell in love with this ability. (SPOILER) That love didn’t last long though because half way through the game you assume the role of Dante and are stripped of this ability. At this point I felt a little disappointed and confused as to why Capcom would dangle the greatest weapon known to man in front of my face, just to take it away. So stripped of the one thing that made the game completely enjoyable I played (SPOILER) almost the entire last half of the game as boring old Dante.

 By the end of Devil May Cry 4 I was frustrated out of my mind and my fingers were exhausted from all the button mashing that I was doing. There were some things I wished Capcom had changed before they put the game out. First off the camera angle they gave you was sh%t. Half the time it felt like I was dragging it behind me, the other half I felt like I was wrestling with the cameras constant urge to change the angle on me while walking through doorways. This continually plagued the game and kept my attention focused on the controls instead of enjoying myself. I found it bothersome to only be able to control the camera in some areas of the game, mainly where I didn’t need to. The other perplexing thing that I accidentally stumbled upon while messing around in the game was that during the scenes where two characters were in deep conversation you could zoom in by either pressing in the left or right trigger. This doesn’t sound strange but I noticed that when on a male character it would zoom in on their face, but when the camera was fixed on a female counterpart and you pressed one of the triggers it would zoom in on her chest. This creeped me out a little to tell you the truth, I felt naughty when I did it, but I did it anyway.

 Some of the other noticeable things that bothered me about this game was the music. It sounded like something Rob Zombie wouldn’t even touch with a ten-foot pole. I constantly heard the same annoying song over and over again. It drove me crazy and drove me to complete the game as fast as I could. They even threw in some mariachi music in one scene and I thought to myself, “where the hell did that come from?”

 The big boss fights were also strange to say the least. I would battle these huge demonic creatures hacking and slashing away at them for what seemed to be thirty minutes. The confrontations were of epic proportions and most of these creatures were enormous in comparison to my small human body. These duels seemed to last forever and required me to do a heck of a lot of dodging and attacking anytime I saw an opening. The first boss fight I took part in was amazing, but when it ended with a cut scene of me destroying the demon with a single pistol shot, I felt like I was sold short. This happened with every boss I defeated, and by the end of the game I felt bamboozled. I was expecting maybe a sword to the head, or a body cut in half like back in the days of Voltron, but all I got was a one shot cut scene. It was simply unbelievable that after one thousand slashes one measly gunshot brought the enemy to their knees. The camera rolled on constantly throughout the game and I felt that I must have spent just as much time watching as I did playing. This was just one of the many of the downfalls of the game.

 So if you love to spend just as much time watching a game’s story unfold as you do actually playing It, Devil May Cry 4 will be right up your alley. If your idea of a good time is a hack-n-slash with a poor camera system, then once again this one is for you. Do yourself a favor don’t bother spending your money on this, it might be worth the rent just to find out I told you so. But if you’re looking for a solid action game you won’t find it here. If you are one of the people who does own this game do me a favor and bury it deep in the backyard where no one will ever find it.

 

 

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