Devil May Cry 4
PS3
M
Capcom


This is now the fourth excursion in the 'Devil May Cry' franchise, and its first outing on the Next Gen consoles. If you're familiar with the game, then you'll know what to expect; plenty of demon-slashing and some dry quips thrown in by Dante, the wise cracking, half-demon hero of the piece.

'Devil May Cry 4' starts a little differently, with you in the role of the young Nero. Tough, rebellious and working for a group called the Order of the Sword , the only thing he's interested in is slaying demons and the beautiful Kyrie. The opening scene would totally throw you if you happened to be new to the game. Dante literally drops into one of the Order's services and executes their leader in front of everyone. This starts a running battle between Nero and Dante which really shows off their demon abilities and the cut scene animation of the team at Capcom. Nero has some new moves, especially his demon arm, or Devilbringer, which can be used to pick up enemies and throw them from one side of the level to the other.

Game systems are still generally the same as in previous games with the player able to use red orbs and souls collected to buy things or improve attacks. The levels are a little repetitive, as in previous instalments of 'Devil May Cry', and again you are not really forced to use the multitude of special combos, although some of them really do help. Perhaps the most repetitive aspect is that after completing just over half of the game you revert back to playing as Dante and - that's right - you have to track back through all of the levels again, including having to face the same boss battles again. Also as the game goes on it kind of loses its way as it did in previous versions. One cut scene that shows Dante as more of a flamenco dancer than a demon slayer shows the team reaching in terms of story for the final levels. The overly theatrical and very tongue-in-cheek confrontation between Dante and the evil Agnus is at least funny but still slightly distracting. One thing that does come across in this game is its connection to that other Capcom title 'Resident Evil'. The animation of the levels and characters has a very similar feel, as well as the strange twisted sense of humour that pervades the game.

In terms of gameplay, though this game is a lot of fun I found myself feeling like I was playing a slightly weaker version of 'God Of War'. This is not entirely fair because 'God Of War' owes a lot to the breakthroughs of 'Devil May Cry'. Despite its strengths in terms of animation and fun, a lot of gamers will feel some sense of disappointment with this title, especially seeing as it was the talk of the 2006 Tokyo Game Show and has been one of the most anticipated PS3 titles this year. Whether it's fair or not, 'Devil May Cry 4' fails to live up to its own daunting reputation.

Anthony Paxton