[HEADING=1]~Devil May Cry 4~[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Released: July 8th, 2008[/HEADING]
Having played the first 3 games on the PS2 (got introduced to them a bit too late with the Anniversary Collection), I enjoyed the high paced combat, style, and just all around cockiness and wit that the games display. Soon after I learned that a fourth installment had been released, trumpets and fanfare were heard throughout my household...unforunatedly, I do not own a next-gen console..until alas, I have acquired the PC version of the game, into which I proceeded to "whip out" of the CD case, "thrust" into my computer's disc drive with great force, it continued to "penetrate" my computer files at every angle until at last, with great strength, it "rammed" itself onto my desktop, and I hope this review..
[HEADING=2]..will leave you all satisfied!!![/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Story[/HEADING]
Taking place between DMC 1 and DMC2, you start off within the city of Fortuna, a place which has long ago ruled over the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, and since then, the people of the city have based a religion, the Order of the Sword, around his worship.
Nero, our new protagonist in this installment, is waiting within the city's church/opera house for his love interest, Kyrie. Getting anxious and bored of the church ceremony, Nero decides to leave, but before he gets a chance to, a mysterious figure in red breaks through the church ceiling and assassinates the Order's leader, Sanctus, and start decimating the Order's forces. Eager for a challenge, and wanting to protect Kyrie, he starts dueling the man in red to buy time for the retreating church-goers, and so begins the plot of Devil May Cry 4 which leads Nero on a journey of deception, revenge, and like always, love.
[HEADING=3]Gameplay[/HEADING]
[img_inline caption="Legendary Dark Knight mode in action"]http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Games/D/Devil%20May%20Cry%204/Bulk%20Viewers/PC/2008-04-23/002_bmp_jpgcopy--article_image.jpg[/img_inline]
Ah, the shining point of the Devil May Cry series. DMC4 is a hack n' slash "spectacle fighter" like all the previous entries in the series, with an emphasis on combos and making your moves as stylish as possible. Being able to switch from melee attacks and combos, to firing a few gun blasts into your opponent, following up with a taunt, and finishing off with a new move introduced via Nero, the "Buster" through his right arm, Devil Bringer.
DMC4 has 20 missions, equaling about 10-15 hours worth of gameplay, full of fun enemies to fight, bosses to smash, and items to collect. Around halfway through the game, through your toil and struggle, you will finally get to play as the famous devil hunter himself, Dante. The only disappointment is (depending on your opinion), all of his missions are just backtracking Nero's levels with some new twists, which might put off some gamers or fans of the series.
Also, like all the previous installments, there is a lot of replay value with the game coming from 6 difficulty modes, plus a bonus 7th mode, and setting only available in the PC release.
These go from Human(Easy), Devil Hunter(Normal), Son of Sparda(Hard), Dante Must Die(Very Hard), Heaven or Hell(Devil Hunter, only you have 3 lives, you die with one hit...but so does everything else), and Hell and Hell(basically the same as Heaven or Hell, only the enemies lose their one hit kill handicap...and the difficulty is increased). The included PC bonuses are a new difficulty known as Legendary Dark Knight mode, which plays at the same level as Son of Sparda, but instead of having say...4 enemies spawn in a room, around 20-40 will spawn, which ramps of the difficulty, and pushes your PC to the limit; and then there is the Turbo Mode, which increases the game's speed making it harder to block/dodge the enemies attacks. And, also returning from DMC3, is the Bloody Palace, a 101 level gauntlet that tests your abilities and combo making skills.
All these gameplay elements brought together end up creating an incredibly fun, and amazing looking experience which should last you many hours of enjoyment.
[HEADING=3]Sound & Music[/HEADING]
This section might be hit and miss with some people. The sounds are all fine, squishy noises when hitting monster, or solid sword/gun sounds when hitting armored foes, all of it is fine, what comes to personally taste here is the music. While the opening orchestral/opera song "Out of Darkness" is outstanding, the rest of the music, battle music and otherwise, is mostly metal. Some people might like it, it might put others off. I, myself, didn't have a problem with it, it fit the situation and I enjoyed hearing it during my battles, but I have heard of people outright hating it, so enjoy at your own free will.
[HEADING=3]Final Verdict[/HEADING]
An incredibly enjoyable game, made more fun and challenging by all of its different modes. Most DMC fans will enjoy it, plus all the bonus PC features, and any hack and slash fans will have a blast beating up and tossing Frosts and Assaults. That being said, there a few small things I need to nitpick at. The first is the lack of alternate costumes, in the previous titles, after every mode completion you would unlock a new, amusing costume, sometimes with benefits, the lack of costumes(besides the Super ones) is not a huge problem, but could have easily been fixed, or with DLC. And two, the lack of Dante, again, just my personal prefrence. I didn't have problem with Nero, it's just that I prefer Dante more, due to his playstyle and wit, but ultimately the game turns out to be about 60% Nero, and 40% Dante.
And alas, the review is over. I hope you all enjoyed it, and as a farewell gift till next time, I give you...Cheese!
[sub]This will explain my whole rant at the beginning....I couldn't help it... T_T[/sub]
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