Nut Load. Mini reviews of games old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional shock face.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Devil May Cry 4 (2008)

Genre: Action / Adventure | Players: 1 | Developer: Capcom

DMC4 is set after DMC1 but before DMC2, apparently. I say apparently because I didn't play the previous three games in the series. Nor am I attached to the characters in any way, so this is from a DMC noob POV. I understand being influenced by fan-service can improve appreciation of a game, but that'll be absent, so if I trample all over someone's love for emo protagonists don’t come crying for an apology. Harsh but true. I’m dry.

After an agonisingly long install (I had time to take a shit, make a cup of tea and a sandwich, and it was still only at 18% when I got back) and a lengthy intro scene you finally get to game. You control Nero, who looks and dresses like Dante except that he has a demonic fap arm. Later, you do get to control Dante, but by that stage I was suicidal. I really didn't care who I was controlling because the game hated me and I hated it.

You struggle though 'missions' that require you to solve puzzles and kill the same class of nasty over and over again. You’re graded on your performance and combos (aka: your ability to button bash) from the highest (SSS) to the lowest (D); it’s very easy to get an S grade except on boss battles, where you’ll have to work a little harder. Don’t worry, though, because you’ll have much practice - you'll have to fight the same boss battles over again when you get Dante. Lazy ass devs.

The FMV was dull, I had to struggle not to skip; I failed a number of times.
The camera is occasionally your enemy but forgiveable.
Combat is boring but competent. When you strike something with your sword it feels like it connects most of the time.

This game received high praise upon release, but it came early in the PS3 lifecycle and reviewers back then were handing 5 out of 5 scores to anything that didn't look like a PS2 game upscaled. It looks beautiful, the HD sprites are rendered with love, but in truth I can think of two dozen PS2 games that look like shit I’d rather play because they had what this lacks: interesting and diverse gameplay.

1 frustrating piece of shit that came with a rather nice art book out of 5

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