Devil May Cry 4 - Xbox 360

I personally find there are things in life that can be amazing if approached from the right angle. In the case of Devil May Cry 4, the right angle would be; It really can't be taken seriously, so you can laugh to yourself while you rev your sword like a motorcycle. Vroom Vroom.

When I think of 2 hours worth of cut scenes, cheesy dialog, and manly men trying to prove how manly they really are – I would immediately think of Metal Gear Solid, and the la-le-lu-le-lo. This time, however, I've been playing the fully interactive Anime of Devil May Cry, complete with Vash the Stampede voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch as the dashing lead smart-ass, Nero.

With this being similar to just about any Anime-styled game, there is an aspect of exaggeration, especially in the sword department. Nero's sword, the Red Queen is unique not just by exaggerated size – this sword also has a “fuel injection system,” and Nero will turn the handle quickly to give it a revving boost. If other Anime characters are compensating for size, he's compensating for performance as well.


Rev my sword baby, do it.

Aside from the revving sword, Nero also has an added demon power that is his right arm. This power will have what looks like a spirit of Nero's hand leave his body to grab objects, enemies, or even propel him across areas in some cases. Something like “Go-Go-Gadget Spirit-Grappling-Hook-Hand!” Aside from the ability to grab, you also absorb powers, and even the Yamoto sword into the Devil Bringer hand. Eventually you'll even unlock Nero's full demon power, making him a lot of fun to throw at any enemy – or throw any enemy, as the voice acted response to slamming something into the ground is: “SLAM DUNK!”


You could almost imagine being Scorpion all over again, “Get over here!”

Nero's double-barreled six-shooter (The Blue Rose) seems to only be there because Dante had guns, but isn't really as useful as the Devil Bringer arm, or his sword.

Basically, the fighting style is still a lot of fun - beating things senseless, then throwing them at a wall, then shooting them in the face and watching them explode into red and green glowing orbs is wholly amusing. Amusing is good, because besides the ridiculously long and cheesy cut-scenes (I wasn't kidding about the 2 full hours of them) this pretty much makes up the game.

I am getting a little tired of watching games though. I personally related with how ZeroPunctuation's Ben Crowshaw put it; It was like they were worried I was going to cramp their style. And its true, a lot of the cut-scenes would/should be perfectly playable. Especially considering the in-game graphics are so close anymore - the entire game feels like a pretty, playable, cut-scene anyway.

As for the rest of it, you'll spend a lot of time getting turned around while running too fast because of fixed camera angles – which added atmosphere in the slower moving Resident Evil games, but they just add frustration when you're a speedy-demon-guy. As well as starting over in certain areas if you screw a puzzle up, all of the enemies come back to delay you, presumably to extend the actual gameplay hours.

The “secret missions,” which can be found by watching Nero's demon hand blink like a homing beacon, almost always have to be revisited after you unlock some power you don't have when you first find the secret areas. I guess this is another of Capcom's tricks to extend the gameplay...

You eventually unlock Dante, and get to use him as a main character – only he gets starting equipment and powers, so you'll have to spend a lot of time building up his abilities before he can be nearly as satisfying as Nero. I guess you could look at this part of it as getting a second game out of the deal – double the amount of cheese, doublemint gum.

Aside from wearing Chaps, too many buckles, and bad boot-covers in this installment, Dante will throw a little bit of tango cheesiness your way;

And otherwise carry over the “Lets rock, baby” feel of the original. Even the pause menu gives you a taste of the over-the-top metal music, completing the general package.

To sum up; if you like obnoxious cheesiness and appreciated the original, this game is definitely worth picking up since the price drop, if for no other reason than to rev your sword at some random enemies.

Now imagine me, only saying “vroom vroom” any time I do anything.