I just played... Devil May Cry 4

GotY 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 – Amnesiac Gamers Association 

I have a technique to help you enjoy Devil May Cry 4 to its maximum potential, with the following steps:  

1. Play the game till you complete Mission 11 

2. Get a friend or acquaintance (if you do not have one, find one or hire someone) to be your accomplice 

3. Have your accomplice sign a contract that frees him/her from criminal charges 

4. Have your accomplice buy a potted plant 

5. Find a building with multiple floors and windows 

6. Stand on the road, have your accomplice stand on the 2^nd floor

7. Have your accomplice drop the potted plant on your head

8. Recover from the injury and cope with amnesia

9. Return home and play Devil May Cry 4 (hopefully you left yourself a note to resume your progress) 

10. Enjoy it greatly.

Devil May Cry 4 is the, you guessed it, fourth instalment in the not-very-long-when-compared-to-other-franchises-such-as-final-fantasy Devil May Cry series. A series that started off as the reanimated remains of a Resident Evil game (the irony), that managed to define a genre, set style statements and be stylish in one fell swoop, provided you banish the existence of the second game to the nether reaches of your mind, and the world, and the universe, and existence itself.

Get stylin'

                To be honest, you should try to somehow play the second game. Maybe it’s just misunderstood, maybe they did not intend to make a high-octane stylish action follow-up to its highly successful high-octane stylish action predecessor. If you look at it in the correct way, Devil May Cry 2 is an exploration of existentialism, one that makes you question the purpose of existence, of life and what you are doing playing this dreadful game. By the time you find yourself yawning for the 324^th time during a boss battle, even as the blaring music is anything but a sweet lullaby, you might find yourself reaching an epiphany, a deeper understanding of life, an epiphany that will make you cast aside your control and spring into righteous action. A profound epiphany that will make you go “Why the fuck am I playing the second game when I can just play the first game for the 11^th time and still have more fun and keep my sanity intact.” And so you do.

You'll be running around a fair bit.

                So I’m pretty sure the big existential question people have about Devil May Cry 4 is: is Capcom going to pull a Microsoft here? Have every odd instalment be something you wish to serenade sweetly as you caress the controller in your hands, but have every even instalment be something that makes you want to set free the devil inside, by which I mean commit suicide. Well, the game’s tagline is ‘Set free the devil inside’ so you judge by that. Will this be a Vista or a 7?

Look at this picture... 

                If you seriously just judged the game by its tagline then I have to bring up the age old saying about books and covers. But in this day and age where copies of the Great Gatsby no longer bear the signature Eyes of the Doctor and now bear an image of Leonardo Di Caprio and company on the cover, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to now want something based on its cover. Which brings me back to the point that you’re still wrong for judging things by their covers, you silly little thing you.

                The game starts things out with a dash, by having change as the first entrée by having Dante, the series’ protagonist, get booted out of the protagonist’s seat and replaced by the young smack-talking white-haired Nero… who is pretty similar to another character from the series (hint: DANTE). Though this bold change of having a new character with a new style and new personality (despite its inherent similarities) is somewhat moot when half-way through the game they decide to go “Haha, did you enjoy playing as Nero? Yes? But nonetheless, out goes Nero and in comes Dante!” and suddenly you’re in control of Dante as you basically replay everything you just did as Nero, with Dante.

... and look here. Familiar?

                “Wait, what?” you say, with a speck of confusion in your beautiful eyes, “are you telling me that you basically play the same (half) game twice, with different characters?”

                To which I reply “Yes.”

No need to gawk, you'll see this sight again, like all the others.

                You revisit the same locations, fight the same bosses and overcome the same challenges (albeit shaken up a bit… because, y’know, variety and stuff). What makes this laziness in the second half really sting is the fact that Devil May Cry 4 is not a bad game. It’s actually a pretty good game, the combat is stellar, challenging and exciting; the presentation is slick and gorgeous and the production values are pretty impressive. Though the plot is nothing to write home about, or nothing to write anything about, it does have a pretty hefty share of charm owing to nice performances from the voice actors and the series’ signature narm ‘n’ charm. Over the top craziness, crazy cockiness, crazy stylishness and crazy craziness are all intact from the third game, and aesthetically the game leans more towards the first game… with great results. The controls are responsive and the fixed 60 fps is a thing of beauty. So what we have here is an enjoyable and stylish game, which is arguably still one of the best action games around.

This game is pretty pretty. 

                And that’s why this laziness is such a shame. While the argument can be made that all (reminder: the 2^nd game does not exist) the previous games featured backtracking in droves; the counter-argument I give is that those games did backtracking ‘right’, since your backtracked through very different versions of same area, after they had been changed over the course of the story. Revisiting parts of the castle in the first game at night, as far more deadly monsters lurked around every corner, or revisiting parts of the tower in the third game after story events caused it to be reshaped and broken were acceptable, and intriguing in their own rights. In this game you just revisit these parts as they were, with the exact same layouts, albeit in the opposite order.

The camera is much better this time around, but it still has its kinks.

                The significant changes present when you’re playing the first half again in reverse order with another character, are to the mission-related gimmick(s) present. But considering that to be consolation is like telling a child that he will now get an extra serving of pizza on pizza night because his mother is dead; because these gimmicks are about as pleasant as the presence of a trans-dimensional being that weaves its way between realities in order to steal your pizza and use it to fuel the machine that will eventually let the being replace its tentacle-d mouth with a proper mouth so that it may be able to eat pizza. They just get in the way, and serve as an unwelcome break from the combat. Here’s a tip, if your combat is great you typically don’t want to keep interrupting it to make me turn from demon slayer to plumber. When something in your game is good people are technically going to want to enjoy the part that is good; would you want to eat last night’s questionably pungent spaghetti when there is a box of fresh pizza in front of you? Normally, you want players to take a break from the combat if it is the sort that gets tedious, because if you don’t the player is going to get tired of it and get burned out or just drop the controller and get some pizza; which is why you will often find the God of War taking part in several non-war activities.

Show me your platforming impression. 

It's a shame that the most enjoyable boss is fought only once.

                Though really, the combat is like a great pizza. The options and variety presented between Dante and Nero makes for some pretty substantial enjoyment, since both approach the same fights from very different angles. Nero focuses more on controlling the battlefield, with his long range grabs and charged shots; while Dante focuses more on manipulating his styles and larger arsenal to get everything he wants. The problem though, is that both have varying platter problems. Nero’s platter is small but satisfying, but ultimately a bit small, which leaves you wanting more variety. Dante’s platter is much bigger, but perhaps too spread out, you might find yourself eating a few things and ignoring the others, or eating just a little bit of everything. Though, Dante’s problem is arguably less relevant in the multiple-playthroughs-on-multiple-difficulties scenario, because he ultimately enjoys more variety (but still arguably too much on his hands at one time) which lets you play around and approach things different. Nero, on the other hand, approaches everything in the same way every time, making things a bit dry in the long run. The boss fights are fantastic, which is great thing because you’re going to end up fighting most of them at least three times… and unlike the first game, these encounters lack that ‘nemesis’ feeling to them to pseudo-justify the repetition. Though, another nice thing about the combat are these ‘little details’ thrown into it, such as hidden counters and interactions between attacks, which means that you will likely keep learning new things about the combat in subsequent runs. Gimmick enemies are far less prevalent when compared to the third game.

               

 With flashes of white hair, lots of swords and a whole lot of stylishness we watch the classic series come to its end (to the very likeable song ‘Shall Never Surrender’). Will we ever see more of this series? Personally, I’d prefer not since I feel that is has come to its ‘end’ and I prefer to see a series laid to rest than to be defibrillated back. The fourth game is cursed with unforgivable laziness, but is redeemed by its combat, but the shame that this could have been an outstanding game Shall Never Fade. 

Sometimes, when I crack terrible jokes I just want to jump.

  

 I have to confess to one tiny thing, I accidentally deleted most of my screenshots, save for those from a few select missions (which is why there are so many screenshots from the same mission(s)).