The repetitive nature is undeniable, and after the thirtieth or fortieth barrier comes down to impede progress til everything’s dead, some players will struggle to stifle the groan. You’ll either buy into it wholly, forgetting all other concerns in the pursuit of a perfect SSS-Rank in every stage, or you’ll spend a few hours giggling and smiling at the combat before you suddenly realise you’re a wee bit bored by the whole shebang. Once you start spending Souls to upgrade your moves and weapons, the combat starts to really shine, as you mix ranged and melee attacks together to punish your foes as stylishly as you can.īut here’s where you’ll go one of two ways as a player. Pulling distant enemies close or grabbing near enemies and slamming them into the scenery are two of the Devil Bringer’s primary functions, and both add a touch of personal style to his repertoire. The hardcore fans don’t seem to care much for story, and why would they when the frantic sword and gun-based combat is so immediately satisfying? DMC4’s strength is the brawling – combo-focused and progressively complex, the onus is on juggling enemies and moves to get your style rating as high as possible.īesides his sword (Red Queen) and pistol (Blue Rose), Nero’s party piece is the Devil Bringer, his corrupted right hand. Which is kind of the point of this series. He seems the sort who’d rather be a cocky asshat than step up to the plate, but gets involved anyway when what passes as plot development starts throwing demons at him for no reason at all. Like Dante and Vergil, Nero is a Nephilim – half-angel, half-human – whose destiny to save the world is all too much like hard work. The nonsensical plot kicks off with protagonist Nero killing demonic monsters in a gothic city for reasons best-known to (and apparently kept mostly secret by) Capcom themselves. One of the many triumphs of Ninja Theory’s controversial reboot was a coherent, well-written and well-delivered story, and revisiting older games in the series makes me wish it had always been so.
It’s just that there’s only so much style-over-substance bombast you can take before your aching brain starts longing for something, anything, to actually make sense. That’s not to say that DMC4 is a bad game. All I know for sure is that what felt to me like a repetitive, slightly soulless sequel-too-far in 2008 still feels a bit like one now. Oddly, it seems that’s what Capcom may have done, choosing to re-release Devil May Cry 4 over the superior third game. Given the overall calibre of Capcom’s Devil May Cry franchise, you’d think you could just throw the “definitive edition” dart blindly into the pile and dress up whatever you hit for an instant runaway success.
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