Hi folks,

I recently finished Devil May Cry 4 and I've written a review. I've read over it a number of times and can't see anything specifically worng with it, but I'm not quite happy with it. I'm still on the fence as to whether I score it 7.5 or 8. I think my problem is that the text review doesn't match the score, and I harp on about the difficulty a little too much, though by the same token this is likely to be the make or break on whether someone loves the games or loathes it. I thought before I submitted it as a player review I would get some feedback from my peers, as I know some of you are great writers. Feedback much appreciated.

The review

Devil May Cry 4 is a slickly animated action game, pitting you against a horde of demons as you make your way through the highly detailed and visually stunning environments. There is huge depth to the combat systems in place, but the same depth and steep learning curve may be daunting for some.

As I have not played previous versions of this game, initially the story was a bit lost on me. The story is a mixed bag; in some of the cutscenes, Nero is mourning for Kyrie, his female interest who becomes involved in the story, and the voice acting here as he wails for her is superb. At other times, particularly with Dante but also with Nero, they display wanton bravado and their behaviour is playful and whimsical. On their own these cutscenes work well, but their tones do seem at odds with each other at times. Regardless of their tone, any time there is action in these cutscenes, you are ensured an entertaining show to rival any action sequence that Hollywood can produce. Without giving any twists away, the story serves well enough to keep you moving along and provides the back drop to slay plenty of demons.

You begin the game as Nero, and an intro fight with Dante (who you will play as later in the game) teaches you the basics of combat to get you started. At the outset Nero has his sword, his firearm and Devil Bringer, his supernaturally powered arm, as weapons. A handful of combos for his sword are available, with plenty more moves to unlock for his weapons.

There are two types of currency in the game, the first of which are blood orbs. These are collected from slain enemies, and from items you can break in the environments. These can be used to buy items, such as healing items or holy water (to deal damage to enemies), or permanent increases to your magic and health. The other currency is proud orbs, which are awarded at the end of each mission. The amount earned depends on your grade for that mission, which comprises of how long it took and your style among other things. Which brings us to the style meter.

Once a combat sequence begins and you land an attack, a style meter will appear in the corner of the screen, which begins at Deadly (a D rank) and works it way up to a potential SSS rank, but begins to drop as time goes on, and drops faster the higher the current rank. The key to raising your style meter is to use different attacks. The sooner you reuse the same attack, the less it will impact on your style meter, or not at all while it continues to decrease. On the one hand this forces variety to get better style and encourages unlocking more moves, but some enemies may only be prone to certain attacks or will viciously counterattack if you use certain moves. Overall though, the system works well, and can give you incentive to replay a mission to get a better rank.

Nero has plenty of moves, both offensive and evasive that he can learn by using the proud points he earns at the end of each mission. Some of these are almost essential to learn, and certain areas may be excruciatingly difficult or frustrating without them. You can go back and play previous missions again if you want to earn more proud points if you do find yourself short of an essential skill. Most of the variety in your attacks will come from Red Queen, your sword. Most of the combos require some variation of locking on to an enemy, directional pushes with the analog stick, and sometimes precise timing of the melee button during certain animations, including a number of mid-air combos that can help juggle your foes. While the large selection and sometimes complex moves may take some time to get used to, once you do the controls feel responsive and you will rarely pull off a move you weren't trying to. Snatch is a great ability that let's you use your Devil Bringer to drag enemies towards you, or in the case of heavier enemies pull you towards them, even while you are in mid-air. This really makes the combat intense and helps fuel your style meter as you are nearly always in combat instead of having to close the distance between enemies.

Devil Bringer is also used similarly to drag you around pseudo-platforming elements, among other environmental puzzles that are scattered through the first half of the game. These are not bad on their own, but are usually a little too long, too frequent or require you to do the whole section again if you fail. In the latter half of the game when you control Dante, these sections become nearly nonexistent; better pacing in this regard would have been appreciated. There is also a fair amount of back tracking in the game, to the point of confusion. At times I was unsure whether I was heading in the right direction, and at one point did a full circle of an area before finding the right exit, because it had been several hours since I was last there.

After a period of time playing as Nero, I began to settle into certain attack routines. Make no mistake, the combat was definitely fun, but I reached a limit for how many moves I wanted to memorise. While I had points I could spend, my brain was already overloaded and forgetting to employ some of the moves that I had learned. Then the game switched to Dante, which was an alienating experience. Dante is even more complex to play than Nero. Dante has four styles, which can be switched on the fly by using the directional pad, which changes the functionality of the B button and enables combos for that particular style. On top of that, Dante acquires new weapons and firearms, which can also be switched on the fly. Mastery of Dante and switching between his styles and weapons is sure to earn you high style points, but it will take plenty of practice to get there.

The enemies you fight and the combat are really the highlight of the game. Whenever you encounter a new enemy, it is preceded by well produced cut scenes that gives you an impression of their menace. All of the in-game animation and visual effects are superb, making the action slick, fast, and intense, with no slowdown anywhere in the game. The game keeps things fresh by changing the mix and numbers of enemies in any given area, which often means employing different tactics each time to avoid getting the snot beaten out of you. The bosses are impressive sights to behold... it's a shame however that a few of them will be faced 3 times in the game with no significant changes.

What may mitigate your enjoyment factor of the game is how fast your reflexes are, your dexterity to string together combos, and how difficult you like your games. Combat with regular enemies can be challenging but not terribly frustrating once you have learned their behaviours, though some combinations of enemies will certainly provide a higher challenge. The bosses on the other hand, can be downright frustrating until you learn their behaviours and how to best take advantage of them. For many of the boss fights, I turned to FAQ's and video walk throughs as I felt somewhat helpless after a few attempts. Even once you have learned their basic patterns, it will still take some diligence, fast reflexes and practice to take them down. Most stages do have a couple of automatic checkpoints throughout, and there is always one before a boss fight. Restarting a saved game however will begin at the beginning of a mission.

There is an automatic mode where the game initiates combos from button mashing. While I did not like the lack of control this gave (such as performing automatic combos when I was actively trying to initiate another), it will allow players not so interested in learning the nuances of combat a chance at a decent style score. When it comes to items, the game also employs an increasing price each time you buy an item. This is fine for certain items, such as permanent increases in health, of which you can only buy a limited number. For reusable items, like recovering lost health, this is ludicrous. For example, cheap healing stars start off at 500 red orbs, and scale by 500 (based on my experience) each time you buy another. This means if you buy 5, if it will cost you 7500; another 5 will cost you an additional 20000. Perhaps there is a cap, but this system is a slap in the face to less skilled gamers. I lost a boss fight after using a few items, and turned off my console rather than continue so that I could preserve those lower prices on my last save. This is obviously not a desirable outcome.

Despite all that bashing, for the most part the game skirts the line between frustrating and the satisfaction you get when you make it a little further through the level or boss fight than the last time. My playthrough was on Devil Hunter Mode, though an easier mode does exist. Completion of the game unlocks some Bonus Art, Devil May Cry History (which would have been more useful before starting the game) and Bloody Palace, which is a timed arena mode, with more time awarded for better style as you face progressively harder enemies. The Son of Sparda difficulty mode is also unlocked, and there are an additional 3 to unlock on top of that for the perversely masochistic or savant among you.

Devil May Cry 4 has plenty of things going for it with great control, excellent presentation throughout all aspects of the game, and a deep combat system to sink your teeth into. If you are interested in this genre then the only reason not to play this game is if a strong challenge frustrates you.