== Devil May Cry 4 ==
Devil May Cry 4 is an action game and it has been developed by Capcom. The Devil May Cry series of games have always been one of my favourite and upon hearing of a forth installment, I was shocked. Previous games were great but all the three previous games was back in the PS3 days. Now for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC comes a new installment called Devil May Cry 4. This game has lots to offer and I feel the best thing about it, is its story. The game is set after the events of the first Devil May Cry but its set before the second one. Confusing I know, but its like a prequel. There is apparently a Devil May Cry 4: Refrain for the iOS.
The basic story of the game revolves around two characters. Whilst at first you can only play as Nero (main character) if you complete the game you can play as Dante. The game starts with Nero and a short movie. Nero is a rough looking character who has potential. His right arm is in a sling. The movie is Nero running towards the towns Opera House. Hes in that much of a rush he has to fight demons that have taken over the town on the way. After getting closer to the Opera House, Nero can hear the voice of Kyrie. In the Opera House Kyrie has started and is saddened to find that Nero isn't there. As she finishes she looks around again and Nero is sat there like he has been there the whole time. After her song she goes over to sit with Nero because Sanctus, the high priest starts talking about the towns god and some other bits. As Nero gets up to leave through boredom, Dante comes flying in through the Opera House roof and he kills Sanctus. He then turns his attention to the oncoming guards that want his head. After defeating the guards Dante is attacked by Nero. Now its time for you to take control. This part of the game is just the training mission so you know what your doing. Its simple enough and shouldn't be a problem. In this fight Nero reveals that his right arm that was in a sling is a demonic arm with great powers. After what seems the death of Dante, he actually awakens and runs away. Now Nero has the mission of finding Dante and either killing him or bringing him back.
=== Gameplay ===
Devil May Cry 4 offers more in terms of gameplay than what is probably expected. You can play as Nero or Dante but to play as Dante you either have to get through the game or wait while your further along, depends how well you do. Nero and Dante look very similar characters in the clothes they wear but Dante is much older and there is a twist in the story to do with both of them but I wont give anything away. They both have different weapons and attacks. Nero uses a different sword to what Dante uses and also uses different guns. Each character starts with their own combos and special attacks. As you progress through the game you will notice many things on the levels. Some of these include shops. Shops sell healing items and other items. They also sell new combos, techniques and special attacks. You can purchase these combos with points you acquire at the end of each level. Throughout each level you collect red orbs and these orbs can be spent on healing items in the shop or other items the shop has to offer.
Nero has the ability to use his right arm to do some serious damage to enemies and his right arm also helps with some puzzles you come to in the game. Nero can also do things like evade, counter, run super fast, jump and other actions. One in particular is my favourite and thats the ability to use exceed. Dante on the other hand can do far more things and is by far the superior character (even though from the movies Nero seems better). Dante has better combos, better skills and other things. He also gets a skill called Devil Trigger, which Nero cant. At the end of each level you are given a rank. These ranks are pretty important. The higher the rank the more skill points you receive and the more chance of unlocking bits such as achievements or items. With skill points you can upgrade your skills and your ability to use swords, duel guns or other aspects. After completing the game you receive your rank and this rank can be uploaded to Xbox Live to see where you fair overall in the leaderboards.
Whilst you don't really get different weapons. Each character has different combos, weapons, skills and other items. The gameplay is full of action and you meet countless enemies. When you enter certain rooms/places you are trapped in them until you defeat all the demons. There are endless amount of demons to fight and lots of variety in them. There are also a lot of huge and beautifully designed bosses that you take on. Some of these bosses range from a giant frog (looks better than what it sounds) to a creature known as Berial. Berial is my favourite boss and also the first boss. Berial is better known as Fire Hell because thats exactly where he comes from. Throughout playing Devil May Cry 4 you meet new and old characters and you meet many different creatures. Overall all of this fits right into the gameplay category and it makes Devil May Cry 4 one of the best action games there is.
=== Graphics & Sound ===
The basic graphics to the game are pretty good. The scenery in the game stands out really well. In most games the scenery hardly gets noticed but in this one its really noticeable and it looks beautiful. One of the best things is the basic design of the characters in the game. I was very impressed with how all the characters look and the way they entered the game. Dante looks like Nero and to be fair it works well with the story of the game. Some of the other characters really do leave a good first impression on how they look and the movies they are inducted in. I also think the design of the demons is really good. The main creatures you fight are called Scarecrows and there are a lot of different types of Scarecrows. Each one look incredibly designed but the different demons you meet later in the game are much better designed and make the game even better in terms of graphics. One of the best parts about the graphics was how stunning the bosses looked. Berial looks amazing and HUGE. One of the other aspects to the graphics I was very pleased with was the movies in the game. They looked brilliant and made the story more interesting because of this. Overall the game has some stunning graphics and I was really pleased with this.
The sound effects are equally as good as the graphics. I will start by saying the music to the game is great and every place you visit has a different track. One of the better things with the music was the way the chosen track got faster when you have to be quick in doing a certain part of the game, or where it got slightly slower when nothing was happening. All of the characters are voice activated which is great and one of the surprises to me was the bosses are also voice activated. There is nothing more surprising than a giant frog talking to you. I was very impressed with the sound effects of the fighting elements in the game, especially when fighting the larger and more ferocious demon. Devil May Cry 4 does have a few annoying sound effects in the game and one is at the end of level screen. When your navigating through the screens its a really annoying sound, hard to describe. It sounds like an out of tune instrument mixed with a bang. Apart from that every other sound effect in the game is pretty much spot on and to be fair it cant be faulted.
=== Difficulty & Longevity ===
The controls to the game can be quite confusing at times but thats mainly due to the fact that there is absolutely loads of combos and skills to learn, master or even remember. The games menu screen is easy to navigate and understand. Some other parts in the game are quite tricky, for example there are so many ways to go and it doesn't tell you which way to go. The map isn't the best map to a game and can become a bit silly when trying to understand it. There is a part in the game where your right hand comes into play but it doesn't actually tell you what needs to be done, so its basically just guess work. While there are many ways to go on each level, the game itself has a variety of difficulty in it. The monsters are fairly easy to beat but to get a great rank on a certain level you have to be fast, great at finding the red orbs and skilled with building up your combos. Its harder than what it sounds. There are numerous ranks to obtain. The highest is an SS rank which is almost impossible to get. Another thing about the game is that the achievements can be quite tricky to acquire. That is pretty much most of it, everything else is quite easy and would suit most gamers. The bosses aren't very hard once you know how its done. At the beginning of the game there is also two difficulty levels to choose from. One being Human mode which is pretty much easy mode and the other being Devil Hunter mode which is for the more experienced gamer.
The longevity of the game is not to shabby in my opinion. There are a total of 20 levels and 10 of these levels you play as Nero, 8 as Dante then back to Nero for the last two. If you complete the game and get so many S or SS rankings you can play as Dante through all of them. It takes roughly around the 20 hour mark to complete the game but thats just on one mode. If you was to do both modes and get 100% completion, I would say your looking at 50 hours tops. Now thats not to bad in my eyes but if I was to be extremely critical of the game, about 3 hours is wasted purely on the movies in the game. I actually love the movies because it makes the story better but for the gameplay it definitely shades a few hours off it. Each mission can take a different amount of time to complete it all depends on the gamer to be fair. Overall the difficulty to the game is about right and the longevity could of been slightly improved with less movies.
=== Good Bits ===
*You get to play as both Dante and Nero throughout the game.
*Lots of different demons to destroy and lots of different and HUGE bosses to demolish.
*There are endless amounts of combos to learn, both characters have different combos and different skills.
*Devil May Cry 4 offers some beautiful graphics and some spectacular sound effects.
*You can upgrade your character with new abilities and lots more by using orbs you collect.
*You have to go through the game more than once.
=== Bad Bits ===
*The game can become quite repetitive in terms of levels and fighting.
*The game could prove slightly tricky to the amateur gamers.
*The achievements to the game are quite hard to get and there are 46 of them.
*No multiplayer options except for leaderboards which are pretty much pointless and impossible to get on.
=== Final Thought ===
Devil May Cry 4 is by far one of the best action games out there. It offers lots in terms of the variety in its gameplay. It also brings a new dimension to the graphics of an all out action game. The game offers some great sound effects and a good soundtrack. Capcom have made many popular games such as Resident Evil, Dead Rising, Street Fighter, Lost Planet and Devil May Cry 4 is very much up there with the best of them. Resident Evil games are Capcom's biggest selling games but the Devil May Cry games have always been close, maybe within a few years they might actually take over if they can keep this up. There isn't any multiplayer or online options in the game and this is quite a let down to me. There also isn't much downloadable content over Xbox Live so thats an even bigger disappointment and the only things you can download is a few Avatar items and a few videos. I am also very disappointed in the manual to the game. It offers very little in terms of support for playing the game. It doesn't list everything a manual should have. The game has a rating of 16+ and to be fair I cant really see why its so high. It doesn't have much strong language and it certainly doesn't contain anything that could offend younger gamers. I would recommend the game because its got a fantastic story and has lots of variety in its gameplay. The game is going for around £13 brand new from Amazon. However I bought mine used from Amazon and it cost me an incredibly cheap £5.63 and I feel with both prices its worth every penny. My copy came in great condition and looked as good as new. Overall the game is brilliant and I would recommend it. I would give Devil May Cry a solid 8/10.
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