Capcom's latest Devil May Cry installment makes a successful trip from the console and adapt surprisingly well on the PC
- Fast-paced, flashy gameplay with two characters to play with
- Superb boss fights
- Incredible visuals and cutscenes
- More reasonable challenge than the Devil May Cry 3
Negative
- Some slowdowns, even if resolution is lowered to minimum, performance over graphics
- Platforming and puzzles slow down the pace, and most of them are awful
I wanted to play this game on the PS3 rather than the PC, and I never expected to play it on my PC. Capcom's latest devil hunting series is a great beat-'em-up, surprisingly translated well in spite of a few issues. You need to lower the resolution to the lowest because this game is all about speed, and even so there might still be some slowdowns here and there, and you absolutely need a gamepad. But the gameplay has adapted well on the PC, the fantastic visuals will wow you, and the superb boss battles make DMC 4 one of the best in the series.
Devil May Cry 4 is more demon hack-and-slash, play through missions, blast your way through and move on, which is pretty similar to the previous installments. Capcom bring back series veteran Dante, but this time he doesn't take the main spotlight. The game starts a new protagonist, Nero and his powerful demonic arm which can make combat amusingly fun at times, and fast. The story may not make any sense at first, but it is engaging and worthwhile, especially with those vibrant and superbly done cutscenes. Dante isn't the main character here, since you start with Nero, you will be hunting Dante after murdering the Order's leader. The reason of Dante's action is unclear at first, but as the game moves on, and if you are a Devil May Cry fan make sure you stay hooked. You might encounter special missions when playing which take you to another place and give you limited time you complete the objective given. This may be too much for beginners. At the very least the difficulty is very fair, allowing beginners and veterans to feel right at home.
Not having Dante may be a bit surprising, but Nero is a great character and his demonic arm can offer some amusing fun. For those who miss Dante's personality, they won't miss much since Nero has a similar personality, being cool and sometimes arrogant as well making him very similar to the man he's chasing. The game is divided in missions, and this time around the missions are longer than DMC 3. You will also be judged on your performance, but this time around you are judge on fewer things. While Devil May Cry 3 overlooks every detail on your mission, DMC 4 takes in consideration only your stage time, number of orbs collected, and your style. The gameplay is very fast-paced and flashy, if you are willing to sacrifice graphics for performance, but if you can't do that you won't be able to fully enjoy the game. Add a gamepad which you will need to have a proper experience. The game's tutorial and control instruction for the gamepad are for the XBOX controller, so if you have a regular controller, you might have some problems adjusting at first. The tutorial is helpful and it is interesting that you are pitted against a boss in your first fight.
Nero plays well, and is fast, and thanks to the demonic arm the gameplay takes a few changes of Capcom's long running series. The demonic arm can be stretched to grab the enemy and pull him over, or slam him into the ground with sever power with the triangle button. I will give the controls according to a normal gamepad; I don't know the XBOX controller. With the square button Nero will strike with the sword, and the sword's attacks are flashy and fast. The gun with the O button, which seems to be the weakest weapon you will use and isn't very helpful. You can target the enemy with the R2 and by doing so you can grab an enemy from afar, or even dodge enemy strikes. There are a lot of moves to buy and items as well. There are no multiple fighting styles in the game for Nero. You will encounter red orbs similar to the ones in DMC 3 which you will only use to by items this time around, items like blue orbs, holy water and such you've seen before. Proud souls are obtained by completing missions, and those only can be used to buy moves. You can buy moves and items between missions, or by the statues on missions, which appear often than before. Combat is overall simple and straightforward and can get repetitive.
The bosses are big, superbly designed and very fun to fight against and all require a different strategy to approach. Even on the lowest resolution, the bosses are huge and look magnificently. There are several bosses to be fought in the game. Aside from this, the puzzles and platforming are pretty disappointing. The puzzles can really chop the pace at times and the platforming is a bit annoying. The camera is also a bit of a hindrance, especially if not gamepad is used. If gamepad is used, the arrow buttons are better than the right analog stick, also make sure your gamepad has dual-stick analogs.
After half of the game, around mission 12, you switch to Dante. Overall Nero is better than Dante since Dante is more aggressive and doesn't possess a demonic arm. Although Dante has some tricks up his sleeve. He has 4 styles which were in the previous Devil may Cry, from Trickster to Sword Master and others. The ability to switch styles when fighting instantaneously is a big advantage sometimes. Using the arrow button allows you to change styles at will, but you will be unable to use the arrow buttons for the camera anyone. Dante will also get new weapons which Nero didn't. The biggest problem of the game maybe here. Dante will repeat the same levels as Nero with a few changes. You will also fight the same bosses fought in the first part of the game, only slightly harder. It could be because Dante's attacks are simple and limited, unless you can unlock a bunch. Defeating certain demons takes more time. Platforming and puzzles are more than annoying in Dante's part. In platforming, Dante seems to have a shorter jump than Nero, and the repeated puzzles will surely slow the pace. The combat is flashy and is fun, and compared to DMC Dante is more fun to use this time around because the weapons he will obtain are really awesome. Orbs and proud souls you had with Nero will be transferred to Dante. The devil trigger is still an option with limited time. Fighting the bosses more than once is not the smartest thing, but works.
Difficulty of the game is more reasonable than ever before. While I only played the original DMC 3 years ago on the PS2, the difficulty was insane beyond comprehend. The Special Edition's difficulty for the PS2 was much, much better to the point to call it child's play compared to the original. People who couldn't tolerate DMC 3's insane challenge will find themselves more comfortable this time around. Human difficulty offers reasonable challenge for beginners and non-experts, but the harder mode offers a little more challenge but doesn't border insanity. You can play both difficulties at any time, but you have to play each mission in that difficulty, for example you can't make mission 8 if you still haven't completed mission 3 of hard mode, even if in easy mode you are over mission 8. The missions are longer than before making the game longer than before and there are some worth hours of play after defeating the game.
The game looks beautifully, even if you have to sacrifice graphics for performance. The game is all about speed, and lowering the resolution and most likely putting the shadow quality off with do the trick. The models are superbly done, and the backgrounds are dazzling with beauty. Enemy come in different types and their design is great. The boss are very well done and fun to fight against. Cutscenes are a brilliant piece of work and easily one of the best points of the game. Overall the characters have changed a little, like Dante and Trish don't exactly look the same, they benefitted from the graphical improvement. The game looks more realistic than ever. Compared to the console versions, the PC version looks great, but you need to sacrifice graphics which pull the graphics score a bit back. If you don't want to lower the graphics, you won't be able to fully appreciate the game.
While DMC 3's music was over the top, Devil May Cry 4's music is less impressive and repetitive. Although the quality is not as good, the music passes and you might learn to ignore it. The voice acting is as great as ever. Gun sound effects may seem sort of strange compared to other shooters, but overall good. The camera is a bit of a pain if you can't use the arrow buttons. Production values are incredibly. Gamepad required to have the proper experience. It works with the keyboard, but I wouldn't try it.
Devil May Cry for the PC stands out well amongst other translated games from console to PC. While there is still room for improvement and changes, this installment is not the best DMC but has the potential to be. The graphics and cutscenes are superbly done, great boss fights and flashy combat overcome its predecessors, but the tedious puzzles and platforming, repeated bosses and areas limit the appeal. All those who don't own a next-gen console, and have wanted to play this installment for some time now, the PC version stands on par with them. If you how enough to run this, even if you never played a Devil May Cry before, the 4th game in the series is worth a try.
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Graphics = 8.5
Beautiful, fantastic visuals all around, from models to environments especially. Need to sacrifice graphics for performance though, resolution down and shadows off for the game to run properly (on most PC)
Sound = 8.2
Although the soundtrack is not as good as DMC 3, it is not annoying at all. It can be easily ignored though. Great voice acting and sound effects.
Presentation = 8.7
Superbly well-done cutscenes and production values. Fast loadings. Gamepad needed since the keyboard controls aren't good enough. Camera a bit annoying.
Gameplay = 9.0
Nero introduces new combat skills and possibilities. Using the demonic arm is fun, but switching to Dante unlocks new possibilities. Combat is very flashy and fast-paced, engaging and a bit straightforward. Puzzles and platforming are simply awful at times. Fantastic bosses, but fighting them over again may not be a smart idea. Plenty of skills to unlock.
Story = 7.8
First half of the game plays with Nero and the second half with Dante. New story, interesting to the end. Still uses mission format, but reward on less criteria, only orbs collected, time and style. Longer missions than before and more acceptable difficulty. Second part of the game relies to much on repeated puzzles, platforming and bosses.
OVERALL = 84 / 100
Capcom's latest Devil May Cry installment makes a successful trip from the console and does everything in order to offer something for anyone.