A good action game that's enjoyable if you can handle a few terrible platforming sections.
Marking the game down for having the exact same gameplay as its PS2 predecessor isn't really fair. The main reason the combat hasn't changed in over half a decade is that it was pretty much perfect to start with, but there are some other things that could've done with being updated. The game is very linear, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but there's a sequence near the start with a whole load of demons wreaking havoc on the streets and all you can do is watch as you ruin across a balcony up above. It can feel a bit constrictive at times which doesn't give it the feel of a next gen game.
So what does give it the feel of a next gen game? Well for one the graphics. DMC4 has fantastic visuals and great character designs and animations. The only bad thing about the graphics is the show effects. They look pretty awful, but aren't really noticeable with the exception of one puzzle that focuses on where the shadows fall. A note for developers, if there's something about your game which isn't great do not draw attention to it! The other part of the presentation is the game's story and the cutscenes which tell it. First off the story's dire, but worse than that the dialog is horrendous for the most part. Several times the main character will try to use a witty line or pun that falls so flat it's almost laughable.
Of course although not great the story is important for why you're battling through hordes of demons, and why you're not the series' protagonist Dante. Well for some unaccountable reason you begin the game as some guy called Nero who is quite similar to Dante in that he also has a huge sword and gun, as well as long white hair and a leather coat. In fact the two look so similar at one point towards the end of the game my flatmate asked me why the same guy was talking to himself, not realising that they were two separate characters. Nero's main difference to Dante is that he has a demon hand which allows for some very cool grab attacks. You do eventually get to control Dante again just after the game's halfway point and as he still features heavily throughout the game he's not missed.
But Devil May Cry isn't about the story and the game seems to know that. It comes off as very tongue-in-cheek, to the point where you recon that the developers know the story's awful and so just have fun with it. Now this is where the cutscenes shine. The action in the cutscenes as well as the overall quality of the animation is fantastic. Many Hollywood movies would do well to take a look at some of these action sequences. Sure they're over the top and seem to be taken straight from an action anime series, but they're just really fun to watch. Whilst on the topic of the graphics though I have to say that the game is a bit cheap with a few transformation sequences. Many of the enemies for some reason can transform into insect looking things and almost each time it's done it's off screen and even the few times it's seen it's hidden with a bright lighting effect which I thought was very cheap. The only other slight gripe I have is that your characters can do some things in the cutscenes that they can't even come close to when you're controlling them which comes off as annoying if nothing else.
Speaking of the combat I suppose I should mention why it's so awesome. As I said you start as Nero who is armed with a sword that has a throttle on its handle, a double barrelled pistol and his devil arm. Each of these items can be upgraded as you progress through the game allowing you to unlock new and interesting ways to slice up the many, many enemies that you'll encounter through the game. Of course just as you're getting used to Nero the game switches you to Dante who has a similar fighting style (in other words also a big sword and guns) but it's the details of each of their attacks which makes the two so interesting. Dante has a whole range of different attack styles which can be switched between on the fly making for some very cool combos. He also has three different primary and secondary weapons which keep things interesting. In fact there's so many upgrades and extra abilities for both characters you'll have to go through the game at least twice to get the full use of them!
The levels themselves are well designed and most end with a cool boss fight. One of the best things about the levels this time around is that they're possible to complete! As I mentioned Devil May Cry 3 refused to have checkpoints throughout the level. Now while I'm all on board for a game which is tough the way they did it was just poor design. I got to the boss on the first level in that game and died and so had to go through the entire level all over again only to be killed by the boss again. After doing this for the third time it was then traded back into my local games store. DMC4 is still tough, but in a far less "controller thrown through the TV screen" kind of way. Firstly it has checkpoints throughout each level which is nice, so if you do get killed by the boss you just start right back from the start of the fight. If you die several times the game even puts it down to an easier difficulty for that particular battle so that you can progress. However it never loses its battle hardened roots as if you die or need the boss to be put on easy mode for you the game points and laughs at you because of it. The amount of points you get to power up your weapons will be less if you were less successful getting through the level which keeps you as a player striving to improve yourself as the game forces you to.
So the cutscenes are good, graphics are great and the fighting and progression system is also excellent so what could possibly be wrong with this game to warrant it not getting a higher score? Well there's quite a few things. Firstly when you take over as Dante at about the halfway point he just goes through all of Nero's levels in reverse order. This isn't actually as bad as it sounds as he does get different standard enemies to fight and because his fighting style is different even the same bosses feel fresh. The game does however make you face almost all of the bosses a third time towards the end of the game which is just a bit too far. The boss battles may be fun but when battling them for a third time it seems stretching it a bit. Even the final battle is pretty much the same as one you fight about halfway through the game.
But that isn't the worst part of the game by far, the worst part is the platforming segments. Apparently the DMC creator never plays any other games for fear of them polluting the ideas for his games. This is never more apparent than in the platforing sections as if he had ever played any platforming game such as Mario or Jak and Daxter he'd realise why the jumping puzzles in DMC4 suck so much. Platforming needs precise controls to perform fiddly jumps, which is something Devil May Cry doesn't have as far as movement goes. You basically have two types of jumps; a standard hop which goes pretty high but only about three feet forward and a running leap which goes about fifteen feet. Neither of these are good for traversing different platforms. But if that wasn't bad enough the camera tends to be fixed in these situations purposefully to give you the worst angle making judging which direction to press near impossible. These sections are so bad and so infuriating that they should be used as a type of torture technique. There are three I can think of in the game which are particularly bad and each of them I came very close to turning off the console and throwing the game out of the window. The only thing that stopped me was the promise of exciting battles to follow (which of course there were).
So with the exception of some disastrous level and story design Devil May Cry 4 is still a good game, if not a great one. If you're a big fan of the series then it's probably worth buying but if not then it might be better to rent for a few days. Considering it isn't particularly long it can easily be finished in a week. However there are a few extras after you finish it and trying to get all of both character's power ups as well as doing all the secret missions does extend the game's lifespan a bit.