Devil May Cry 4
Review
Time to thrash more demons
by Zkylon
reviewed on PC
Introductions
Whenever you go buy yourself a Devil May Cry game, you know that there is a certain number of things guaranteed upon your purchase: grey haired human/demon interbreeds with badass attitudes, fiercely challenging enemies and frighteningly more challenging boss fights. Devil May Cry 4 did not disappoint when it came out for consoles. There is good news for PC owners: Capcom deserves a pat on the back as they have done well with this port to PC.
The Devil May Cry series tells the story of Dante, son of a human woman and the renowned demon Sparda, who chose to oppose the forces of Hell and embrace what humanity his lady had bestowed upon him. Dante follows the way of his father, becoming a demon slayer himself and battling those that threat commanding demons for evil purposes. And those, it seems, are many.
While previous Devil May Cry titles focused almost entirely on Dante, Devil May Cry 4 derails from the series by introducing a whole new protagonist called Nero. Nero shares many signature features with Dante, namely gray hair, long coats and keenness towards swords, guns and stylish demoncide. What sets Nero apart from his predecessor is his right arm, the Devil Bringer, which allows him a full set of enemy specific grabs that, even if lacking button mashing mechanics, reminisces God of War’s.
Their personalities collide; Dante going for the cocky, “I’m so awesome that I make fun of gigantic demons” while Nero defines himself as the “I’m also cocky yet I have someone worth fighting for” archetype. This translates as Nero being kind of whiny, not overly, just kind of. His someone worth fighting is Kyrie, an opera singer of sorts, better known for her dialogue lines count not reaching the two digits and for having a name that’s awkwardly pronounced through the whole game.
Demon mumbo jumbo
Devil May Cry 4 starts off in an opera house where a Sparda worshiping ceremony is taking place by followers of the Order of the Sword. Everything that is going on is new to us, as we’re not familiar with neither this Order of the Sword or any of its members. After the ceremony is over, Dante appears out of nowhere and puts a bullet through the High Priest of the Order’s wrinkly forehead for no understandable reason. After he flees the scene, Nero is given the quest of pursuing him in order to bring him to justice. It so happens that meanwhile many gates leading to the demon world opened and set free the thousands of demons roam the streets, looking for innocent citizens to transform into victims.
The plot in Devil May Cry 4 gets simple really fast and the argument, while taking a 180° perspective, hasn’t strayed too much from awakening of the huge, powerful demon scheme. No one expects a Metal Gear Solid performance but with such a narrow storyline like this game has, chances are history’s gonna repeat itself. Like Capcom’s own Megaman series, Devil May Cry’s Sparda, Hell gates and the whole demon mumbo jumbo have already been told one too many times. Add to it the insignificant and one-dimensional cast of supporting characters (mind you, despite his backseat role in Devil May Cry 4, I still consider Dante as a main character) and you have major plot shallowness. Luckily for us who play the game for more primitive reasons, so no one really cares. I won’t put the blame on Nero, who manages to become a somewhat loveable character in spite of his constant whining and his condition of simply not being Dante. Like Devil May Cry 3, cut scenes are dramatic and action packed and don’t water down the overall visceral experience one bit.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
