Devil May Cry 4
The fact that the phrase ‘devil may cry’ makes no sense is quite fitting since most of this game doesn’t either. The story leads you along a path of random events that are rarely explained and almost never make sense. I found it very difficult to be drawn into the experience when I couldn’t figure out why anything was happening. The action can be fun, but didn’t save this game from being only mediocre. This is the first game in the series that I have played and wouldn’t be too disappointed if it is also my last.
The game plays much like any other in it’s genre. Many of the same ideas are seen in God of War or Conan. The same green floating orbs give you health, blue for magic, and red for upgrades. There are quite a few new moves and combos that can be unlocked, but many of them never quite felt right. Several of the button combinations were so awkward that I just stuck with many of the basic attacks. The awkwardness of the controls extended to the boss battles as well. Most of these fights had me wondering if I was actually fighting them correctly or just getting lucky. Each fight against normal enemies was fun, but over way too quickly. It seemed like just as I was getting into the flow of the battle, the stream of enemies would stop. This is also another game that contains the over-used mechanic of magically sealed doors that disappear once a certain amount of enemies are killed. There is quite a bit of unnecessary backtracking as well. Many areas begin with a locked door nearby and you are sent off to find a way to open it. Once you unlock it (usually after 15-20 minutes of play) you then have to make your way back through the empty level and to the original door. Some of the level layouts are somewhat confusing and it is easy to get lost on your way back, especially if you have to quit and come back after a couple of days. If you do enjoy the game, there is a good deal of replay value. You can go back to replay levels to earn more points to buy abilities. There are also secret areas that cannot be entered until you come across an ability much later in the game, giving you reason to go back to past missions.
Many gamers were disappointed to find out that Dante isn’t the main character of this game (although he becomes playable later), but I thought it was a cool idea to have a newcomer. Much like Metal Gear Solid 2, being able to watch the hero of past games from a new person’s perspective made him seem that much cooler. Unfortunately, Dante doesn’t make nearly as many appearances here as Solid Snake did in his game. The new guy is a cocky smartass, but still likable. The only strange thing about him is his treatment of his mysterious demon arm. Sometimes he is ashamed of it; so much so that he kept it hidden in a sling in the beginning of the game. Other times, he seems quite proud of the power it gives him. I guess the argument could be made that he is torn about how to feel, but it just seems odd that he would want to hide it immediately after using it to great success in dispatching a group of enemies.
The plot progression is so random that the entire story is a jumbled mess. It was never a problem figuring out what was going on, but only trying to understand why it was happening. The game begins with your character, Nero, trying to get to church. On the way, he is attacked by demons for no explained reason. Upon reaching the church, he acts as if nothing happened. Then, after he arrives, the preacher is murdered in front of everyone. I couldn’t help but think that the entire situation could be avoided if Nero had just told someone what had just happened outside to him. After the assassin escapes, it is decided that your character has to chase after him. Although the assassin never gives a hint as to where he was going, you are sent to a castle. Upon searching the castle, you don’t find the assassin, but you locate a secret research facility headed up by none other than the man who sent you there. So let me put some perspective on this. I was sent to a location by my commanding officer after someone who wasn’t there, and had no reason to be, only to find a facility that my commanding officer didn’t want me to find. The rest of the game contains situations like this. After completing one mission, you character says that he should report back to headquarters. If you try to go back, the path is blocked and you move on to a new area because it is the only way to go, not because you need to go further. The castle scene takes place on a cloudy night. Upon completing the castle, you run up a short cave and emerge in full daylight. Upon defeating one particular boss, the human boss turns into a wasp like creature during a camera switch. There was no explanation of this and it even took me a second to realize it was supposed to be the same character. Even when these random events are explained, it isn’t until much later in the game and by that point I couldn’t make myself care about the story anymore.
Graphically, this game is last gen through and through (with improved resolution). The environments are impressive and definitely set the mood, but everything else is somewhat disappointing. People’s hair is in clumps so that each individual strand doesn’t have to be animated. Your character’s feet glide slightly with each step. They also slide up stairs and move as if on ramps instead of steps. The game looks very similar to Metal Gear Solid 3, but that game did a better job with most of these problems even though it was a PS2 game. Most object transitions (such as someone picking something up or one person passing something to another) don’t happen on screen. They are hidden by clever camera work using tricks that never really fooled me when they were first used years ago. There are a few points where a person is stabbed in the chest with a sword. The sword floats around in their chest and show that it is not actually stuck in the person but the two are only occupying the same area. When the swords are removed, there is no mark on the character or in their clothes. One of these character’s spits up blood after being stabbed, but the blood appears just slightly outside of his mouth. All this happens during cutscenes, so you can imagine how many graphical glitches are in the main gameplay. Your sword travels through walls without making a mark or sound. Some objects are destructible, but most are not and there is no easy way to tell which would be which. The end of the PS2 and Xbox era looked better than this.
The game can be fun, but the inability to move the series into next gen is incredibly disappointing. Fans of the DMC will still love this game (but those are the same people that aren’t going to care what I have to say anyway). Everyone else can have a much better time with God of War 2 or Conan. If the next game in the series is rebuilt from the ground up instead of simply tweaking the last game’s engine, it could have a shot at being an awesome game. I thought we had moved beyond the last gen-and-a-half games but I guess not.
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