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Tuesday 4 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
As I got through more of the game, some of the best fights were with the bosses. Each boss is completely unique from the others,a and each has its own particular weaknesses. By far the best part of the boss fights however, is when they become temporarily stunned. When that happens, if you grab them with Nero's arm, it goes into a prolonged grab that looks fantastic and does a ridiculous amount of damage. They were some of the best finishing moves I've seen in any game.
While you play as Nero for the majority of the game, the game throws a curve ball the players way about three quarters of the way through. Nero gets captured by the bad guys, and the player plays as Dante for almost the rest of the game. Dante is a half demon bad-ass from the previous Devil May Cry games, and he plays very differently from Nero. To begin with, Dante doesn't have a demon arm. To make up for this, he has multiple "styles" that he can switch between, each with its own abilities. The trickster style makes Dante more acrobatic and nimble, able to dodge attacks and jump higher. The royal guard style gives Dante a powerful block, which absorbs damage and can release it for damage. The gunslinger style focuses on ranged combat with Dante's guns, and the swordmaster style focuses on using Dante's melee weapons. Because of all the styles, Dante has many more combat options then Nero, despite lacking any throws. Players also receive a new weapon for Dante after defeating every boss, with Dante having three melee weapons and three ranged weapons by the end of the game. This character switch was surprising, but was a nice change of pace, and Dante's levels are some of the most fun in the game.
DESIGN
Devil May Cry 4 doesn't make any huge innovations, but what it does it does well, and there is enough new content to make it interesting. One of my few complaints with the game is the level design. While the levels themselves are fairly unique, players go through the same areas multiple times. In fact, when playing as Dante, you are backtracking through EXACTLY the same levels that you just went through as Nero. In fact, you even fight the same bosses again, in reverse order, in exactly the same way and place. Combine this with the fact that in the last level you refight all of the bosses in rapid succession, and you actually fight most bosses three times!
Aside from that complaint, the rest of Devil May Cry 4 is fairly solid. The story is actually fairly deep and complex, if you actually pay attention to it rather than just skipping to the next fight. There are several betrayals and reveals, as well as a comical scene between Dante and one of the bosses where they have an almost Shakespearian exchange of dialog (complete with spotlights, soliloquies, and even a guy talking to a skull!). Throughout it all there is also the story of Nero trying to save his love, as well as the intense rivalry between Nero and Dante. Overall, Devil May Cry 4 is a game I enjoyed playing, and would willingly play again.
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