As Capcom had already announced earlier, DMC4 will be featuring a new character, called Nero. A younger, angrier man than Dante from the last game, Nero sets to change the tone of the game which he gracefully carries on his shoulders.
And change the game he does. His fighting style is much different from Dante’s, strikingly conspicuous is the Devil Bringer, which is the name of the ability by which he can grab on to pretty much anything using his Demon arm and throw it around. He also carries a sword, simply called the Red Queen, which can be revved up like a bike to amplify its damage output. The gunplay here is pretty simple, just a double barreled pistol which has decent firepower and can, as expected, be powered up to increase the damage caused.
The story here though, is pretty much what you might expect from this title. A power hungry person of high post (no spoilers, remember) decides to cleanse the human race of itself and to elevate himself to a godly figure by doing so. Nero gets caught up in this mess quite unknowingly, but once he does, he get to the heart of it. Like, literally.
In step with the onset of the evil plans, smashes in through the windows a mysterious white-haired man wielding a huge sword and two guns, whose exact role in all this is only revealed much later in the game.
So, Nero gets to fight hordes of creatures, dozens of towering bosses and a bit of his own image in front of his loved one, uncertain of how to be accepted as a half demon.
Dante’s part in all this is threaded from the start but he really comes to the forefront much later in the game when you will have the power to control him for a couple of missions. He of course has a wider variety of weapons and guns, each with its perks, and is in-general, a harder hitting guy than Nero. But playing as both characters will require you to significantly change how to chain combos together, as Dante here is pretty much the same character we had in the last game. In the end though, both characters come across as nicely developed and adequately strong for a replay to get As and Bs in all the levels.
The level design is pretty good too, but puzzles are far less in number here. In fact the game itself is much easier than the predecessor, and hardcore fans will need to turn up the difficulty to get the fun out of it. However, as compared to the number of levels, the number of bosses are quite less. You’ll actually have to fight the same boss quite a few times but in different game times, which might get less interesting cause you’ll have to repeat the same strategy each time. Yet the fights are entertaining nonetheless.
One thing the game misses out on (two things actually) is it doesn’t shed adequate light on Nero’s background, and the only side we get to see is the angry nonchalant young man, ready to punch a hole into anything. Dante too, though looks mature, doesn’t really impact the history of the game, but merely comes in to wreak havoc here and there.
And secondly the number of combos are pretty few. Owing to Nero’s lack of weapon variations, you’ll find yourself well versed with all the combos and repeatedly doing each one without having the option of creativity. Even Dante, who had a plethora of moves last time, has around half of it here.
Yet the wonderful character models, entertaining battles, great voice acting will make you overlook the lack of depth in the game story wise. The in-game soundtrack is still the horrid acid-punk murmur of a song, while the in-menu track is quite the soothing melody that goes with the game. Expect yourself to be stuck with this for quite a while, just for the sake of the bosses.