Devil May Cry 4 may not be the best in the series, however it is worth playing if you are a DMC fan and action lover!

User Rating: 8.5 | Devil May Cry 4 PS3
Game: Devil May Cry 4
Genre: Action
Developer: Capcom
System: Playstation 3 (PS3)
Total Score: 85/100
Value Score: 8.5/10

• Story: 8/10
o Devil May Cry 4's story takes place several years after DMC1. You play as a boy named Nero who's arm is mysteriously demonic origin yet he does not know why or how. The story begins as he runs towards the church where his lover Kyrie is singing, when all is said and done after a speech from their religious leader Sanctus, they began to pray when Dante came out of nowhere and supposedly killed Sanctus. Nero ends up fighting Dante but it ends in a draw, Dante leaves Nero questioning on what is really happening as demons begin to invade the City of Fortuna where the game takes place. Nero must find out why Dante has come to Fortuna, avenge the fallen religious leader Sanctus and slay the demons which now inhabit the streets of Fortuna. Along the way Nero confronts several demon lords such as Berial, Bael and Echidna and finds out more about the Order of the Sword (which is the group in which Nero is in) dark secrets especially those surrounding the fallen priest Sanctus.

• Characters: 8/10
o Devil May Cry 4's character roster isn't as varied and in depth as Devil May Cry 3's was, but you will still get satisfaction from the new characters such as Nero and Kyrie who bring a breath of fresh air to the series, however for some reason Capcom seems to make the worse villains in the DMC series aside from Mundus and Vergil. Now you can add Sanctus who is the generic villain who probably more than likely inspired the villain of Final Fantasy XIII. Along with the character list you have Credo who is a older brother of Kyrie and plays somewhat of a major role in the first half of the game, and of course you have popular returning characters such as Dante who you will be able to play in the 2nd half of the game along with Trish who makes an appearance time to time during the storyline and a cameo appearance from Lady (DMC3 main female lead). Along with that you have demonic villains such as Berial who is pretty much a badass until he comes across both Dante and Nero, Bael who is like a replacement for Cerberus from DMC3 but with a humorous tone, and Echidna who is like a generic snake dragon demon. Out of all the characters that have been mentioned, possibly the most annoying which wasnt mentioned is Agnus, a self obsessed scientist and researcher who is trying to become a perfect being by creating all sorts of monstrosities and finding ways to improve himself through others, other than that he stutters and has one of the most annoying voices you can have for a character in any video game, a villain of course but not one that is kindly welcomed especially with his facial expressions being so out of place compared to the other characters in the game.

• GamePlay: 10/10
o Devil May Cry 4's gameplay is quick paced like Devil May Cry 3's gameplay, you'll notice similarities of DMC3 in this game which is a good thing. For the first half of the game you will play as Nero who has the sword Red Queen, a gun named Blue Rose, and a devilish arm called the Devil Bringer which he can use for both grappling enemies and to move through certain locations throughout the game. The 2nd half of the game involves you playing as Dante, so players who were worried about not playing Dante in this game will not have to worry anymore as you can play as him. His fighting style is the same as it was in Devil May Cry 3 except with a few minor changes, he no longer has all the weapons he had, he has the Rebellion and the Ebony+Ivory combo along with his shotgun Coyote-A. Dante will however will be able to get newer weapons along the way. Since Dante lacks the Devil Bringer, his styles from DMC3 are brought back, this time rather than having only one style at a time, he can have all 4 styles whenever he wants to in during a stage with a push of the d-pad this is possible. You can switch out his weapons with the R2 and L2 similar to DMC3. What both Nero and Dante share exactly however is the power to transform into a demon with the help of the L1 button. Nero can also charge up his sword with the L2 which can be helpful, pretty much the two characters will learn about 40% of all the same skills with 60% of their own unique skills and abilities. Red orbs, green orbs and all other orbs return to this game. Red orbs however are only used for buying materials and power ups for the character's health and magic along with holy water to damage surrounding enemies and a gold orb to resurrect oneself. Players are introduced to a new item which will replace the red orbs when it comes to learning abilities. Devil May Cry 4's gameplay surrounds in a multitude of difficulities ranging from the Easy Human Mode to the hellishly difficult Dante Must Die Mode.

• Graphics: 10/10
o Devil May Cry 4 brings out some of the best visuals out of what the PS3 can pull out of, though some may say there are better looking games, DMC4's visuals are simply breathtaking, the motions of water dripping, the detailed environments of the city, castle and the forests will all leave you in awe of its majestic beauty. Every single motion from characters to the environment changing is amazingly crystal clear and fluid, you will surely enjoy the cinematic like graphics in this game.

• Sound: 9/10
o Devil May Cry 4's sound effects are well done , the transition of sound effects from DMC3 to DMC4 are nicely done as you can hear similar tunes however they are refined to meet today's standards. Though the sound effects are well done, the voice overs are far from perfect, as some of the lines from the characters will make you wish you didnt hear them or wish they had a better actor for the certain characters.

• Music: 8/10
o Devil May Cry 4's music is similar to DMC1 or DMC2, there are no remixes of certain songs unless you add Dante's DMC1 remix, but other than that, the tracks in this game are all new. However the songs that play are repetitive in nature as they are played majority of the game. Unlike DMC3 where you have different battle themes which were originally made and had remix versions of the songs, DMC4's soundtrack is actually smaller in size and content, while it does only include a handful of songs that were originally made, the game does contain some famous songs from the past mostly from the orchestral genre.

• Length: 6/10
o Devil May Cry 4's length is its main weakness just like in the rest of the series. DMC4's short storyline should not take you no more than 10 hours to complete it which is of course shorter than DMC3 and longer than DMC1's 8 hour conquest. However despite all that, you still have different modes which will ultimately add more hours to your game clock.

• Replay Value: 6/10
o Devil May Cry 4's replay value wasnt as a stellar as DMC3's replay value, as this game lacks many of the extra rewards that would of normally be given to the player upon completion. You start off with 2 game modes called Human and Devil Slayer, human is easy mode while DS is normal. Not much difference except for the rewards in the end of the playthrough and the difficulty of the enemies. Once you finish them both, you can unlock the history of the DMC series which explains to you the first 3 games, several pieces of artwork and for harder modes you will unlock costumes or power ups. A new feature added to this game that the rest of the series lacked is the theater mode where you can relive the memories you made with the characters through cutscenes. You also have access to the library where you can relook at notes and tutorials along with enemy and character bestiary/profiles. There are other modes along with Human and DS, some of which include: Dante Must Die and Heaven or Hell. There are also leadership network boards where you can compare scores with other players which will force you to play the game multiple times just to beat your old score. A let down to this game version however is the lack of a trophy support by Capcom, due to the fact that the game originally came with the Xbox360's system intact, Capcom decided not to implement the system with the trophy system.

• Player Value: 10/10
o Devil May Cry 4 brings forth high fast action with a storyline that isnt perfect at best but pretty damn good along with a cast of characters amazing visuals and gothic style, decent music and sound effects and nostalgic moments. You will enjoy this game if you loved the original Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3. Action hero players and demonic genre lovers will love this game as well!