—Game Review— Devil May Cry 4

I bought the standard edition of this game for a measly $5 one day in a huge sale Microsoft was having on Xbox Live. I liked the demo well enough to spend $5 to try the full game. Dang, I'm so glad I did! It's now in my Top 12 games.

Since I have both, I'll review the standard and special editions. They are very, very similar, especially gameplay-wise. The biggest difference is the extra playable characters you get with the SE.

---

***Devil May Cry 4***

Published and developed by Capcom

Released 2008/2015 | Action

For Xbox 360, PS3, PC (2008); Xbox One, PS4, PC (2015)

Review: Xbox 360 (Standard), PC (Special Edition)

*Rated M for Mature 17+*

Blood | Violence | Language 

HGG Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 9/10

Nero

Prototype Nero

Synopsis? 

You are Nero, a young man with a demonic secret: a devil arm. You must hunt down the man who killed the city's religious leader, but secrets unfold along the way and nothing is what it seems. Questions arise, the main one being: Who is the real bad guy here?

Dante

Legendary Dark
Knight Dante

Graphics and voices?

Pretty darn good, I must say. The cutscenes in this game are entertaining, complete with the fairly corny dialogue this series is apparently known for. And I love that there's a story theater, where you can go and relive certain cutscenes if you want.

Vergil

Legendary Dark
Knight Vergil

Best scene? Definitely the one where Dante gets Lucifer. Holy frell, that scene is FUNNY. Yes, it's completely ridiculous, but incredibly funny too. I also love Nero's reaction to Agnus when informed he would die. That conversation happens before my favorite boss fight, so that could have something to do with it, too. :)

Trish

Lady

The only differences as far as graphics go that I've noticed in the Special Edition is the outfits. Nero and Dante each have different outfits they can wear. Doesn't effect the gameplay at all (thus the reason I'm putting this under graphics), but kinda neat. I think Dante's original outfit suits his personality better, but his "gentleman" outfit (Legendary Dark Knight Dante) is still cool. Nero's other outfit is different, but nothing all that special. Trish and Lady have extra outfits too, but they were a pre-order bonus and I didn't get them. More skins are unlocked with different playthroughs.

Gameplay?
Easy but complicated enough to be challenging. My family calls me a button masher, 'cause I like the games with combos and whatnot. And yeah, I pretty much mash buttons 'til something works out in my favor. There's no real difference between the standard and special edition in this regard, though the standard edition only allows you to play Nero and Dante, while the special edition adds Trish, Lady, and Vergil as playable characters. Their techniques are decidedly different from Nero or Dante and take some getting used to.


This game has Secret Missions, a feature of all the DMC games to date. Even the very different addition DmC Devil May Cry developed by Ninja Theory features these bonus missions. In DMC4, I find most of them annoying and impossible. I think the most I've ever managed to complete is 6.

Storyline?
Interesting, though I'd like more backstory on Nero. The standard edition leaves out so many details regarding this key character. It's not until the Special Edition was released that the devs (or someone) revealed Nero is actually Vergil's son. Now I want more story, dammit.

So, basically, the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Some mysteries of this game are actually answered in the previous ones, but when it comes to Nero, there's story there that I really want. I hope Capcom decides to come out with a continuation of Nero's story, and I hope they have Ninja Theory develop it, but I won't hold my breath.

As far as the Special Edition goes, there are two additional cutscenes (one for Vergil and one for Lady / Trish). These playable characters are basically swapped into Nero / Dante's places and that's all. The cutscenes showing a new enemy has the new character inserted, but any scenes with dialogue are simply left out of the Vergil / Lady / Trish playthroughs.

Overall?
I'm still playing this game, of course, beating my head against a wall trying to get past those damn moving grapple hooks in mission 3 (Son of Sparda difficulty mode). I will get past it and then I will frustrate myself with the disappearing floor in mission 7 and then the frelling lasers and other crap in mission 10. And don't even get me started on Dante's inability to jump over the damn lasers in mission 12! Ugh.

I should point out that this game was my introduction to the Devil May Cry franchise. Since I first played the standard edition on my 360 (downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace), I have bought the Devil May Cry 4 Collector's Edition (Xbox 360), the Devil May Cry HD Collection (Xbox 360), Devil May Cry The Animated Series (DVD), DmC Devil May Cry (Xbox 360 and PC), DmC Devil May Cry Definitive Edition (PS4), Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition (PC), and Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition (PC).

I might have a problem.

My rating?
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ - 9/10 life hearts easy.
If you're a button-masher like me, you might like this. If you're a fan of good graphics and interesting storyline, you might like this. If you like button combos and style scores, you might like this game. At the very least, give the demo a shot to see if you like the gameplay.

Where to buy?

• Amazon 
• Walmart
• GameStop
• Best Buy 
• Steam
• Xbox Live Marketplace
• Playstation Store
• ...or try your local used games store. ☺

*Screenshots / videos done by LowliGigger (aka Laura Miller; aka Jaimey Grant; aka The HGG); all things Devil May Cry are © Capcom, who does not in any way endorse this fan / gaming / reviews blog.

Until next time...