Hey, Frayed Wire readers! This is a review Josh made on his old site, but is now being moved here!
I have never played any Devil May Cry games, so my first predictions of Devil May Cry 4 on the Xbox 360 were that it was going to be a hack-and-slash demon killing type of game. Those impressions were right, but I still never imagined it would be so arcadey and full of tongue-in-cheek humor. And I never said that was a bad thing.
I don’t really know a whole lot about the story, or if there is one. All I know is that from the second I heard the echoey, futuristic female voice proclaim “Devil May Cry” I knew that this was going to feel like an arcade game. The short, sharp rumble from the controller I felt after pressing Start added to this feeling.
Once again, I was right. Devil May Cry 4 is certainly an arcade-style hack-and-slash. It’s also quite apparent that this is a Japanese game, with the main characters sporting red coats and silver hair, a title that makes no sense whatsoever, English voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch (Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach and Kaneda in Akira, among other rolls), and an obsession with giant swords and guns that never run out of ammo. Even the cutscenes feel like they were taken straight out of an action anime.
Arcade style games can be fun for the limited time you have to spend with them, but once you’ve played them for a while the lack of depth becomes apparent. I was afraid Devil May Cry 4 would fall into this trap. Did it? Well, this was just a demo so I can’t really make any real statements about the game. The fighting is really all about enemy attack patterns and timing, not the variety of attacks. Nero, the playable character in the demo (series regular Dante wasn’t in the demo, although he is in the real game) has three different weapons - his gun, sword, and the Devil Bringer, his deformed, glowing arm. It’s used in the demo for throws and grappling onto things/pulling enemies closer.
Now that may sound like a good variety for the kind of game this is, but the gun is practically useless against enemies, leaving the Devil Bringer and sword to do all the work. Supposedly the Devil Bringer is upgraded upon defeating bosses in the real game (which are often gigantic and purposefully over the top) , so I’m sure there’s a more satisfying variety on that.
Devil May Cry has long been a Playstation exclusive. So why has it made the jump to the Xbox 360? Maybe Capcom is worried that it won’t sell well on a system that hasn’t sold well. Even so, the Xbox 360 controller is essentially a Playstation controller with the left analog stick and D-pad switched around, so the game’s controls fit naturally. All attacks are assigned to the four colored buttons, leaving the shoulder buttons to charge up Nero’s sword and lock on to enemies.
The graphics haven’t changed much in the system leap either. Devil May Cry 4 features some beautiful environments (although in terms of level design they can be quite linear at times) and flashy effects. The 360 version of the game looks just as good as it does on its original system, the PS3.
Overall, I had fun with the demo of Devil May Cry 4, but I don’t think I’ll be spending 60 dollars on the real version of the game. It feels like a great hack-and-slash, but one that belongs in the arcade. Yes, I know it’s far too large of a game for that, but the gameplay really fails to prove itself on a console. However, it’s still worth a look for those interested in Japanese and old-school action.
By Josh60502
[UPDATE]:
You know, to tell you the truth, now this is one of my favorite demos to play. It definitely got better the more I played it. Strange, huh?