Zero Punctuation: Devil May Cry 4

[Cara6190]

Amen to when you said Back to the Future is the only thing that had the best sequels.

But Kingdom Hearts II was really good, I think. I know you don't like recommendations.

But, come on, Kingdom Hearts?

I'll be looking for it when the third game comes out.

 

[Zetim]

exactly how i feel, but i felt this way with every devil may cry game, particularly so the first one.

 

[Wyatt]

dont forget dungeon keeper II, ive never even seen the first one so by default the second had to be better.

i dont think the problem is with a sequel so much is it is with the companys not knowing when to STOP with sequels.

still atleast with a sequel you may or may not actualy get something of value. when you concider the sequel versus the 'expantion' that is.

most games are giving up the idea of making an actual sequel to a game and going the rout of 'expantion' instead. thats the really moronic idea that a customer should buy a half finished game then make payments every few months to buy another part of the game in hopes of someday actualy getting the entire finished product for something less than $500 USD.

give me a sequel (even a semi-bad one) over this idiotic idea of buying games that are broken up in pieces and sold for a total cost of somewhere around $300 ish over the corse of a few years any day.

i personely refuse to buy any expantions at all ever, and i wont buy a sequel unless i really REALLY liked the original and hear nothing but glowing reviews about the sequel , no matter how much i may have liked the original. i totaly LOVED the warhammer 40K game, but i refuse to buy any of the (so far) 3 expantions for it. i liked the Sims but i dont own a single one of the 298 expantions, or even the sequel and their 47 expantions. and i just stand in total shock and awe at EA for getting their club full of retards to keep buying the same 'sports games' over and over and over again year after year after year.

still, cant blaim the companys for this, they are in it to make as much cash as they can, you can only blaim the halfwhits who keep paying cash for crap, laying out cold hard coin for half finished games that are sold on the installment plans (Sims or Warhammer), or dishing out cash for new skins and a gun that now shoots lemons (any game with a roman numeral in its title), or worst case, new skins and a few name changes (EA sports) for the same full price.

you keep paying they will keep letting you.

 

[electricmine]

...I have the game but I lol'ed so hard. xD

So funny.

 

[Sylocat]

Nice bone to throw to the anime fans, to placate us somewhat (by acknowledging that not all anime is the same) while still making it clear that you continue to place yourself aloof above us fanboys. ;-) I guess Yahtzee thought there were a couple of fanbases that even he was scared to tick off too badly.

As for the review itself, it wasn't as rip-snortingly hilarious as some of his other recent ones (the Umbrella Chronicles and Guitar Hero III reviews leave me in stitches every time I watch them), but there were some definitely memorable moments. I do question the wisdom of pointing to Capcom as representative of the Japanese gaming industry as a whole (the Heavenly Swords video did that too, when he talked about the RE5 trailer and used it as an excuse to call the Japanese a bunch of xenophobic dicks), but Yahtzee is paid to be outrageous so I won't take it too seriously.

I do agree with whoever said that Capcom doesn't seem to take their franchises nearly as seriously as the fans do. Gamefaqs actually has several users who have put up "plot analysis" FAQs on the Resident Evil series, which is a little like writing a treatise on the philosophical metaphors of an Aaron Seltzer movie. What's more, even several of the people doing those plot analyses seemed to realize how ridiculous it all was, it was interesting to see their writing styles shift from serious fanboyish intrigue to Yahtzee-esque mocking somewhere along the way.

I actually am not quite sure that it's actually an issue of BAD story writing. I'm wondering whether Capcom is actually trying to lampoon the clichés of the genres they write in, and the fanboys just aren't sharp enough to pick that up. That would actually explain a lot...

 

[Dhileas]

Props on the review, my coworkers and I have watched all of your stuff and are avid fans. Treacherous... I know. It's refreshing though. When you're in the game industry, no matter how much fun we have - which in many cases is merely proverbial - it's your critiques that give us a wicked kick in the no-no button... but in a good way!

I have to be honest, I've never really played any of the DMC games, but I've watched plenty of other people play them. I wasn't too terribly impressed from the get-go. It was kind of cool, but seemingly tedious and painstakingly monotonous. Apparently the fourth edition isn't much of an improvement. I'm awaiting Capcom to bring out something to my appeal. I think the last of their games that made me soil myself like a one year old beagle was the Alien vs. Predator game in the arcades. I don't know about you, but a company that hasn't impressed me in fourteen years doesn't exactly set off my tinkle alarm. Especially with a tetralogy of one-liners and combo-centric spawn-spamming. Dear god, I've become infatuated with hyphens...

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

dont forget dungeon keeper II, ive never even seen the first one so by default the second had to be better.

i dont think the problem is with a sequel so much is it is with the companys not knowing when to STOP with sequels.

still atleast with a sequel you may or may not actualy get something of value. when you concider the sequel versus the 'expantion' that is.

most games are giving up the idea of making an actual sequel to a game and going the rout of 'expantion' instead. thats the really moronic idea that a customer should buy a half finished game then make payments every few months to buy another part of the game in hopes of someday actualy getting the entire finished product for something less than $500 USD.

give me a sequel (even a semi-bad one) over this idiotic idea of buying games that are broken up in pieces and sold for a total cost of somewhere around $300 ish over the corse of a few years any day.

i personely refuse to buy any expantions at all ever, and i wont buy a sequel unless i really REALLY liked the original and hear nothing but glowing reviews about the sequel , no matter how much i may have liked the original. i totaly LOVED the warhammer 40K game, but i refuse to buy any of the (so far) 3 expantions for it. i liked the Sims but i dont own a single one of the 298 expantions, or even the sequel and their 47 expantions. and i just stand in total shock and awe at EA for getting their club full of retards to keep buying the same 'sports games' over and over and over again year after year after year.

still, cant blaim the companys for this, they are in it to make as much cash as they can, you can only blaim the halfwhits who keep paying cash for crap, laying out cold hard coin for half finished games that are sold on the installment plans (Sims or Warhammer), or dishing out cash for new skins and a gun that now shoots lemons (any game with a roman numeral in its title), or worst case, new skins and a few name changes (EA sports) for the same full price.

you keep paying they will keep letting you.

heads up mate, DS1 was better IMO, DS2 is a Daiblo 2 clone,D1 1 had something that was rather cool for a overhead action RPG no monster respawning this gimmick or feature or bug really forced you to keep your characters to their class it really anchored the gameplay in a way I have not seen since.

DS 2 has more story I guess.....but...for me its more generic whack a mole action/rpg... also I perfered DS1's interface and group controls...
=================================================================

DMC4 is ok better than 2 worse than 3.
The review is quite nice BTW!

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

Is there a sword that seriously turns into a motorbike in the game?

no. But the sword does rev like a moterbike to make it more powerful

 

[Martin4848]

Nothern Lights/Golden Compass - Fine

The Subtle Knife - Great, Imspiring, Well Written

The Amber Spyglass - Dull, Predicable, and badly written

For example - it's full of "Then saw something. It seemed to be a tree"
Either its a tree or it isn't. Generally you reserve the word seemed for something which might not be what it is, but whenever he uses the word seemed he's describing something which can only possibly be what it is.

The bit where she actually creates the spyglass and learns about the creatures is quite good, but the book was so terrible that I can berely remember how the spyglass actually affects the story line or helps the heroes defeat god and go to hell and back.

SO imo HDM fits the bill perfectly. No doubt sarcastic Star Wars fans would liken HMD to Star Wars in that regard, since generally people love ESB and hate RotJ, but not me since I saw RotJ at the cinema and then ESB on video.(prolly betamax)

 

[Wyatt]

heads up mate, DS1 was better IMO, DS2 is a Daiblo 2 clone,D1 1 had something that was rather cool for a overhead action RPG no monster respawning this gimmick or feature or bug really forced you to keep your characters to their class it really anchored the gameplay in a way I have not seen since.

DS 2 has more story I guess.....but...for me its more generic whack a mole action/rpg... also I perfered DS1's interface and group controls...

thanks for the info but i think you misread my post. i was talking about dungeon KEEPER II not dungeon seige.

in reguards to dungeon seige i did in fact only play the second one, and found very little to like, the story was dull as rocks, the combat about one step up from a nose picking contest with a 4 year old, and the endless collection of totaly usless items and the inventory managment that came along with it was about as exciting as filing my tax returns. this game is also the reason i never jumped on the diablo band waggon because if this is a clone of diablo than unless diablo 'teleported hookers into the room', or 'sported a magical make the game better botton' it holds no interest for me at all.

unless it is to become a totaly different game in an future sequels i wont be buying it under any name. OR diablo for that matter. the whole 'genra' is horrible if you want my opinion. changing 3 or 4 sets of random numbers at 'level up' with no noticable difference in game play, and making you slog around killing one thing after another in massive pile ups of enemys despite the fact that if 25 enemys at a time can be and ARE are duly slaughtered by you then the most basic nodding connection with reality sould say they wouldnt ATTACK you but rather RUN from you, and adding all that to the equipment collection that is about as exciting as turning you into a giant magnet and dumping into the worlds largest pile of paperclips, ive long since tuned out any talk about any diablo and clones information. i get as much excitment out of playing windows solitaire, MORE in fact since i dont have to waste 30+ hrs of my life to finsh the dull as shit game, and didnt spend $40 USD to buy it either.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

heads up mate, DS1 was better IMO, DS2 is a Daiblo 2 clone,D1 1 had something that was rather cool for a overhead action RPG no monster respawning this gimmick or feature or bug really forced you to keep your characters to their class it really anchored the gameplay in a way I have not seen since.

DS 2 has more story I guess.....but...for me its more generic whack a mole action/rpg... also I perfered DS1's interface and group controls...

thanks for the info but i think you misread my post. i was talking about dungeon KEEPER II not dungeon seige.

in reguards to dungeon seige i did in fact only play the second one, and found very little to like, the story was dull as rocks, the combat about one step up from a nose picking contest with a 4 year old, and the endless collection of totaly usless items and the inventory managment that came along with it was about as exciting as filing my tax returns. this game is also the reason i never jumped on the diablo band waggon because if this is a clone of diablo than unless diablo 'teleported hookers into the room', or 'sported a magical make the game better botton' it holds no interest for me at all.

unless it is to become a totaly different game in an future sequels i wont be buying it under any name. OR diablo for that matter. the whole 'genra' is horrible if you want my opinion. changing 3 or 4 sets of random numbers at 'level up' with no noticable difference in game play, and making you slog around killing one thing after another in massive pile ups of enemys despite the fact that if 25 enemys at a time can be and ARE are duly slaughtered by you then the most basic nodding connection with reality sould say they wouldnt ATTACK you but rather RUN from you, and adding all that to the equipment collection that is about as exciting as turning you into a giant magnet and dumping into the worlds largest pile of paperclips, ive long since tuned out any talk about any diablo and clones information. i get as much excitment out of playing windows solitaire, MORE in fact since i dont have to waste 30+ hrs of my life to finsh the dull as shit game, and didnt spend $40 USD to buy it either.

DOH! LOL

DK1 was a bit better,DK2 was solid but DK1 was awesome, I really enjoyed DS1 because it forced you to keep to your class and you could do some neat things in it (loved the bomb spell and grenade launcher), DS2 followed the predictable clone path to much fro my tastes once it gave you a endless amount of monsters to fight it became easy and boring, Sacred bored me to death too even tho they played with the mechanics some.

I really wish DS went back to the one shot deal, with a proper save system and some token hunting grounds it could be a interesting game,if anything make reswpaing something players can chose to turn off.....

 

[lucifer6642]

Audiosurf? Jet? Are you gonna be my girl?

What a coincidence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC3rjGTL-ME

 

[Dectilon]

"Nice bone to throw to the anime fans, to placate us somewhat (by acknowledging that not all anime is the same)"

I just realized how stupid that decision was ^^ Added to the standard email deluge will now be "suggestions" from anime enthusiasts assuring that Naruto or Noir is the series that will change his opinion. : )

The most painful part in this is however that after realizing this I can no longer mail him about GITS ~~

 

[Cavouku]

I once had a wolf spider, I put a small bee in with it. They both died but the wolf spider was the winner. I miss him. it was fun watching him kill flies with such acrobatics.

 

[sfried]

psychonauts is one of the most inspired pieces of western gaming since Grim Fandango.

It is also one of the most clunky platformers I've ever played: Collectathon shinanigans so hard to get it makes Banjo-Tooie's forgivable.

That's a slight exaggeration, but you are right. Psychonauts did have its weak points. It was certainly not perfect. It started off slow, the opening levels were average, collections were tough, it had many platforming cliches.

...

The level designs were integral to the story, and felt like it belonged. No contrivances here. Milkman had a delusional paranoid, and warped, view of the world. Lungfishopolis had its fishy scaled view of humans (and its clever Godzilla twist). The Theatre level contained set changes instead of storeys (excuse the pun). It's completely inspirational design.

So it actually plays better later on? I might give it another shot.
I guess it's for those people who'd like to let style trump susbstance in awhile, like killer 7 and No More Heroes. They're not perfect games and can definately feel very rugged, but they have alot of personality going for it.

Still, couldn't hurt to ask for more polished gameplay. People nowdays are putting too much emphasis on thematics than fun.

 

[Inklings]

Finally, someone in view of the general public takes a stand and gives His Dark Materials a good whack on the tush. Pullman is so pretentiously arrogant and self-absorbed I think there's going to come a time when his blatantly atheistic head is going to rip open and there will be a portal into the effing cataclysm. For God's sake, he places himself above Tolkien and Lewis by calling them whimsical or "racist," but then he goes and does an alley-oop, blames the Christian faith for being overly-controlling (racist, but with religion), and completely emulates the feel of Lewis' prose while simultaneously trying to imitate the serious tone of Tolkien's prose, but fails. And when I say fail, I mean he manages to turn words into printed turd balls.

That is all.

Oh, and I enjoyed your ramblings Yahtzee.

 

[Zabadack]

Devil may cry 4 was the retarded ginger cousin of the family but I still enjoyed it, love the line about dante concentrating on wearing too many belts.

 

[ayoama]

You got Dante and Nero so right, Yahtzee.

 

[Mstrswrd]

Well, I liked the game (Combat, Combat, Combat), but I still thought that this was a great review. And the platforming sections aren't hard. I don't know why everyone seems to think they are. Even on "Dante Must Die" they're not hard. And as has been stated, the dice sections arn't that hard either, if you know how to manipulate the dice.