"It's the Devil in Me!" (Twisted Amusement from DMC4)
In my personal history of playing the Devil May Cry series-I think Devil May Cry 4 all of them by an excessive margin. Well, yes-the first in the series was the pretty much the undisputed king of slasher games of its time, the introduction of Nero and his wicked Devil Bringer Arm puts a whole new fun into this terrific franchise. Seriously-you can slam monsters to the ground, throw 'em up in the air, slam them back down again-and (my personal favorite) literally grab them by their tails and hurl them at enemy characters, doing additional damage along the way. Also-the Red Queen and the Blue Rose are a nice little compliment to this uniquely innovated fighting style, throwing in quite a punch of their own.
What's a major relief about this game is the fact that your "devil-rank" (A-D and S for "stylish") is not altered by the use of healing items. (A fall-back, which I found to be somewhat of a hindrance in the previous game).
Graphics:
The graphics are absolutely amazing, thanks to the wondrous powers of the Playstation3 and the X-BOX360-I mean, lord almighty; 'everything' is rendered beautifully from the granite of the cathedral walls to the metallic glaze on Nero's weaponry. And I think that for once in video game history, that the game play itself exceeds the visuals of even the cut-scenes (that's a major breakthrough, people).
My only beef with the graphics is during Mission 3, when you are given an extreme close-up of a pantie-shot from the biggest sensually fashioned character in the whole franchise (screw the Kiss of Death maiden-this is 'serious') who also visually exerts obvious, pieces of the most, erm… "Interesting focus points" of any type of fan-serivice known to man.
Sound:
Mono and Stereo sound is perfectly fine in this game. Although, the new and classic sound effects, joined by the most engaging types of music can only be "completely" appreciated with 5.1 (plus) Surround Sound. I know this for a fact. I have a Magnavox in my room (when I want some quiet-time) and an Aquos Sharp in a home theater styled environment in my den, and this is where the game jumps from just being pretty eye-candy-to kick-@ss "awesome!" The music is pretty good, with the exception of the song "The Time Has Come." (I think the only reason I like it as much as I do is because I made fun of it in my editing class by adding footage of "dancing chickens" during the phrase: "…my army comes from deep within"-so its basically just personal)
In addition-the voice acting would be nearly "flawless" (our lovable characters can sometimes really come life)-if not for god-awful 'screenplay.' Let's face it people, the script is loaded with the lamest catch phrases "any" douche-bag could ever verbally exert, but to put it in a more sophisticated way, imagine some other country taking a generic/stereotypical version of American Slang-and turning it into a total nightmare. Also-let's not forgot those- "lines" said during battle, including but not limited to:
"Go down!"
"Slam Dunk!"
"It's Over!"
(eye-roll)
Conclusion:
In my opinion-Devil May Cry 4 is probably the "BEST" violent action game you can get for the PS3 (don't know about the X-BOX360-let them tell you their opinion). It's twisted, it's devilish, and probably one of the better games that Capcom has punched out of their company. In short-a "must" if you have anyone (or both) the high-definition counsels. (Just make to disable the subtitles before you play)