Bionic Justice

For those who are new to the franchise, Devil May Cry 4 requires a bit of a history lesson—not for the game’s plotline but for the evolution of the franchise.

The original Devil May Cry was a truly groundbreaking PlayStation 2 game. It’s superb controls, intricate combo system, and lightning-fast sword and gunplay set the gold standard for the modern action game. On top of all that, Dante, the game’s protagonist, was oozing with style and was a blast to play.

Unfortunately, Capcom dropped the ball with the games inevitable sequel, Devil May Cry 2. Although the game had some solid ideas (including a second playable character), the game’s repetitive nature, bland characters, and weak storyline made it a mediocre effort at best.

Devil May Cry 3 started to bring the franchise back on track by going back to the basics, including a storyline set before the original game. The gameplay was solid, strong new characters were introduced, and existing characters were fleshed out. Unfortunately, unless you purchased the re-release of the game, Devil May Cry 3was a punishing affair. Its beyond-hardcore difficulty level truly dished up a taste of hell.

This brings us to Capcom’s latest entry into the series: Devil May Cry 4. This is the first Devil May Cry game designed on modern hardware (PS3, Xbox 360) and it shows! The graphics are beautiful, the animation is silky smooth, and the sound effects are crisp. This is great and all, but the game’s real strength lies in its balanced and polished gameplay. The combo system is at its best, there are two fascinating characters to play as throughout the game, and the mix between action and puzzle solving is just right. The storyline is once again intriguing, and the brilliantly choreographed cut scenes are a true reward for playing through each stage.

Like all games, Devil May Cry 4 does have a few hiccups. The game relies heavily on backtracking and repeated bosses. Also, the game might seem a bit short to some. Regardless, Devil May Cry 4 is easily the best game in the series since the original. Fans of solid Japanese action gaming would do well to give it a shot.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Microsoft, PS3, Reviews, Sony, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.