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 Last month Devil May Cry, Capcom's premiere action franchise, finally made it's long-awaited next-generation debut with the release of Devil May Cry 4. Dante's out (for the first half anyways), Nero's in, and the demons are back in droves.
Has the move to the next generation proved revolutionary for the series? Have the gameplay mechanics been shaken up? Are our protagonists still as white-haired as ever? Hit the jump to find out.
Franchise veterans need not worry -- this series tried and true combat is still as solid as ever. Poor level design may limit the number of engagements you get involved in to less than you'd like from a triple A action title, but once you do find them they'll be hard to resist. Combos and style points are still the name of the game, and the skills and upgrades that you'll earn will help to keep things fresh as you go along. Boss fights also remain as solid as we've seen in the past. What this series has gotten right in the in previous entries it continues to get right here. It's all of the little bits in between that keep slowing things up.
The games heavy reliance on cut scenes is detrimental to say the least. It's easy to forgive in the lengthy story segments, but when every opening doorway or new enemy gets a brief 3-5 second non-interactive moment, it really takes you out of the game. Action games thrive on fast and frequent combat and little to no interruption. God of War nails this perfectly -- non-stop action and brief cut scenes that communicate the overall story succinctly before letting you get right back in on the action. In contrast, Devil May Cry takes forever to say very little, interrupts with unnecessary cut scenes frequently, and suffers from brief periods of loading every time you go through a door or change into a slightly new area. That sort of behavior might have been acceptable two generations ago, but this is 2008. There's no excuse for such stuttered framing.
Despite a change in focus from the series earlier days as a combat heavy alternative to the Resident Evil franchise, the camera options still leave a lot to be desired. The default seems to work best it seems, but that doesn't prevent you from occasionally fighting enemies you can't see -- or worse yet, not being able to find the enemy at all.
The art direction as it relates to the games monsters is simply stunning. Franken-stitched villains and flaming monstrosities fill the screen time and time again. You only wish you could see them in a slower paced franchise like Resident Evil so that you had more time to take them in. The visuals are slick throughout, however much of the scenery is far more generic than you'd like to see in a game this generation. The art design on the story's characters is definitely in keeping with the series established look. It's very much from the Capcom school of design -- something you either love or you don't. The attitudes, mannerisms, and brash charm all fall in line -- especially when it comes to series newcomer Nero.
With a new protagonist comes a new bag of tricks as well. The most noticeable of these? Nero's Devil Bringer. In combat, the Devil Bringer is little more than the modern-day equivalent of Scorpion's "get over here!", but when the focus shifts to platforming the Devil Bringer acts not unlike the wiimote in Super Mario Galaxy. Aiming with the camera, the Devil Bringer pulls you along from marked target to marked target. It may be a borrowed gameplay mechanic, but it works well. Unfortunately the platforming and puzzle bits seem to serve as little more than filler to attempt to beef up an otherwise repetitious experience. Very little in the puzzle department would be considered puzzling, and the poor camera can occasionally turn a simple platforming moment into a few minutes of sheer frustration.
Surprisingly the real highlight of this game are the special missions that pop up mid-stream during the course of your play. Activated by accessing a special area on the map, these missions give you a specific goal like killing all of the demons in a set time limit or finding a certain number of red orbs. They provide an instant goal, fast jump in, and nothing to slow you down until it's done. It's a shame the rest of the game didn't take those factors to heart.
Devil May Cry 4 isn't a bad game -- not by a long shot. Fans of the series should have no problem overlooking our concerns regarding level design, camera issues and pacing problems. However if this is your first experience with Devil May Cry, you may find yourself wondering what all the hullabaloo is about. Do yourself a favor and pick up the original Devil May Cry for the Playstation 2 and work your way up to the fourth. You'll find it a hell of a lot more enjoyable that way.
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