Devil May Cry 4 PS3 Review

This was my first entree into the Devil May Cry franchise. I read up on the game and expected something special from all the early hype. Fans of the series who are into the characters previously seem to love this game. However if you are a new comer like me, you might come away from playing it more confused than entertained.

The experience on the PS3 began with an unimpressive biblically epic load screen. There is an elaborate story line that explains why we are mashing the buttons of war. As the load screen grinds on with the annoying hymnal sounding music in the background the number 24/100 slowly ticks off. “Twenty - four out of one hundred what?” I wonder. It would have been helpful if somewhere in all the monotony it was mentioned what it was counting down. Obviously the game is installing itself on the hard drive. Oh dear Goddess it’s re - running again, that means the same story and the same screen shots flipping in a loop now 42/100. I type, ‘The game begins hellishly…’

On the face of things the game is an action-fighting game that has a typical RPG type drama. There are big boss fights and lots of hacking and slashing. The game has missions which you solve as you attempt to kill enemies, collect a variety of colored orbs and participate in a tug of war over the fancy heirloom sword between Nero and Dante. You are provided with a map feature.

It has what it needs to have. The graphics are pretty much comparable to the near top of the line on the PS3 too. Somehow this game just doesn’t quite engage you. There are plenty of cut-scenes, but they leave you sort of yawning. The story itself is derivative of just about every anime and manga out there. A predecessor leaves behind powers in cased in a sword or other talisman and the legitimate and illegitimate sons battle for that. In between the action sequences you may find yourself drifting off to get a sandwich.

The game is uneven in terms of control. One difficulty with the game is the camera locks up and you can’t always get a complete spherical view. That makes figuring out the platforming very difficult and un - fun. The camera issue is a big problem, there shouldn’t be any excuse for that. It’s great to have the strengths in other areas but the game play should come first. Figuring out where you are supposed to go next is another issue. Even though the map is there, it isn’t clear if you are traveling north or south. Nero can’t move while the map is open either. There should be some sort of compass indicator on the interface as well. There are save issues which also shouldn’t be happening in a next gen game.

At the beginning you choose two classes Human or Devil Hunter. The Human choice is described as a novice level. There is also a long tutorial mode. Nero is the character who is played throughout most of the game. He has a Red Queen sword, a Blue Rose revolver and the power of his Devil Bringer that is embedded into his right arm. The Red Queen also has an ‘Exceed Gauge’ that charges up for more powerful slashes. When Nero uses the Devil Bringer there are some good lighting and explosion effects. But they are repeated. He also has the same three lines that he says; “Catch this”, “Get lost” and “Slam dunk”, that get’s old very quickly.

There are new and returning characters who are presented in the story. Including “Gloria” who is Trish in disguise for some reason that I never quite fathomed. As Gloria her physical attributes are exaggerated, which isn’t as bad as how she is so strangely dressed. She wears an ugly costume that wouldn’t cooperate with gravity in real life or stick on a real person. It looks like something sewed in home economics class with no idea of how a garment works on a body. The boobs look like they are on a mannequin. They lack the lighting and physics that you normally see on an over - the - top video game bimbo. In this case even the obligatory bimbos aren’t even done well. The legs are too long and out of proportion to the body. She looks like a creature rather than a woman. As far as I played through, I found no female playable characters. I’ve looked it up in several places and it appears that there has not been a selectable playable female character in the franchise. There was some game play with a female character in Devil May Cry 2.

As a fan of anime and fighter style games I really wanted to enjoy this one. I was expecting something that would have all the advantages of the new PS3 and the sophistication of a Japanese game. This time it was lost in the translation. The game lack cohesion and clarity. There is too much glam and not enough game. More attention needed to be paid to things like navigation, camera, and directing the player through the game. The cutscences though intended for elaboration, rather than providing important information, they were more of a distraction. I found myself really trying to like this game. And there’s the problem. I know that there are many enthusiasts that love this franchise to death. I was set to enjoy it too, but found little there to compare to other games that I want to get back to. I give Devil May Cry 4 a very unimpressed and average 6 out of 10.

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