Leveling Down

Devil May Cry 4, a game that looks modern but still clutches to the good and the bad of old school Japanese game design.

For anyone trying to complete all of Devil May Cry 4′s Achievements, you’ll be playing for a very long time as I have quickly learned. Often times I write reviews on games after I’ve gotten every Achievement I planned to get in the game, but with Devil May Cry 4, I don’t think it will be possible. It’s going to take me dozens of hours more to have a chance at getting every single Achievement, but even then, I don’t know if I’ll be skilled enough to get the most difficult ones. Still, after having gone through it once on the easiest difficulty I believe I have enough to formulate an opinion of this “hardcore” game.

Intro
In 1996, Shinji Mikami created the game, Resident Evil, for the first Playstation. The game became so popular that Mikami was promoted to producer and oversaw the Resident Evil sequels that inevitably followed. As a producer in the early 2000s, Mikami worked with another guy named Hideki Kamiya to create another Resident Evil-style game. After some thought the two decided to create this game as a completely new entity, naming it Devil May Cry instead of some Resident Evil spin-off.

Unlike the survival horror style gameplay of the Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry would instead be a stylistic “horror” action game starring a suave character named Dante. With a combination of skill-based combat mechanics revolving around gun and blade use, a likeable main character, and an entertaining combination of horror and comedy, the first Devil May Cry game attracted quite a following and went on to sell 4 million copies.

With the original game’s strong success, two more sequels were released on the PS2. The second game ended up bombing due to poor design and unenjoyable gameplay, not to mention a new team working on it that did not pay much attention to the first game. After the poor reception of the second game, the team behind the second game decided to create the third game and bring its game mechanics back to that of the first game. With the third game back on track, the Devil May Cry series continued to be popular.

Devil May Cry 4 was originally a PS3 only release. When Capcom announced back in March of 2007 that it would release the game for both the PS3 and the 360, several PS3 owners were outraged. They even went so far as to start a petition to ban the buying of the game since it was also being released on the 360. Capcom, who realized how strong the U.S. market was for their game (both of their earlier 360 releases, Dead Rising and Lost Planet, both sold over a million copies), simply shrugged the petition off. Their argument, that they just wanted as many people to experience the game as possible, made the PS3 petitioners seem silly since it wasn’t like they weren’t getting the game on their system. Maybe some of them bought the PS3 for the reason that Devil May Cry 4 was one of the exclusives to their system?

Nero, the starring character for Devil May Cry 4, is not as whiney as Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2.

Storyline and Premise
Unlike the first three games in the series, Devil May Cry 4 introduces a new leading protagonist, Nero, to the game universe. While some have gone on to lament the fact that this seemed too similar to Metal Gear Solid 2′s “bait and switch” of showing Snake in all the previews but having Raiden as the main character, Nero is actually a far more likable character.

The storyline revolves around Nero trying to rescue the woman he loves from various humanoid monsters with Dante showing up and meddling with everything – sometimes helping Nero and sometimes hurting him. To be honest, the storyline is simple yet confusing at the same time. It is a little less confusing than Lost Planet’s storyline, but that isn’t saying much. We just need to accept that Nero is the “good guy,” even if he is a demon.

The game is set up in 20 missions, each taking about half an hour for a 10 hour playthrough. The thing that is pretty annoying though, is that the first half of the missions involve going through the game as Nero, while the latter half of the missions you assume the role of Dante and backtrack through the same levels that Nero went through originally, including fighting the same bosses. While it’s nice that Dante’s fighting style differs from Nero’s, there is really only new content in the first half of the missions.

The game has very old school game design – it’s broken up into the 20 missions which are basically stages. If you die on a mission you can either use a continue that you’ve bought, start back from a checkpoint, or quit the game altogether – there’s no saving and loading from a mission. You can save in a mission but when you load your game again you’ll just be at the mission select screen, meaning you’ll have to play through the mission regardless. Even the checkpoints themselves are very far between – and you get penalized for using them. I guess this makes Devil May Cry 4 more of an action game than an adventure game, as you’re not really exploring much and saving your progress whenever you like as much as you are simply trying to beat a level so you can save and stop playing. Of course, previous titles in the series all follow this same exact mechanic, so if you’ve played them and enjoyed them this much of a concern.

Make no mistake – this game is meant more for hardcore gamers that grew up with action games like Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania on the original NES. It isn’t as forgiving as contemporary action/adventure games with its limited saving, frustrating platforming elements, and relentless challenge. This is not to mention you even get graded on how you played through a mission, deflating your ego as you pass a hard stage and you’re graded with a C. Hardcore gamers will appreciate this game though, as the gameplay itself has interesting mechanics that offer a level of depth greater than general action adventure games, regardless of its archaic general game design.

Devil May Cry 4′s bosses are of typical Japanese game design: big, patterned, and with weak points.

Gameplay Mechanics

Combat
The main element of fun to be had in the Devil May Cry games is its stylish combat system. I would go so far as to say that the combat system in the Devil May Cry games is the closest one can get to taking a “fighting game” and turning it into a good action game with multiple enemies. This is because the combat system not only works, but it rewards you for comboing.

Combos in the game simply revolve around attacking your enemies with varied attacks while not getting hit yourself. As you vary up your attacks when you fight, your “combo” meter builds and you get ranked. Combos can revolve around anything you do to damage enemies, such as simple three button combos to air combos from launchers and gunshots. As you continue to vary up your combo, you get a letter grade. Landing a couple successful hits on your enemies without taking damage yourself will start you with a D rated combo. As you continue to mix up your attacks while not taking damage, your combo score will rise towards a C, then B, and so on while capping out at a SSS combo. This combat system is what gives Devil May Cry its unique fighting style – there’s a whole list of various moves you can use for each weapon to fight your enemies.

Nero and Dante play very differently, and fans of the game are generally split in terms of who they enjoy playing more as. The problem is, of course, that you are forced to play half of the game as one and half the game as the other, making it quite jarring to feel like you’re mastering one character but then forced to play as the other.

I prefer Nero myself, as his Devil Bringer and Rev Engine add completely new elements to the fighting. Nero sports a sword and a gun like Dante, but he also has a Rev Engine for his sword. This Rev Engine can be “revved up” by pulling the Left Trigger at the exact moment his sword swing connects with an enemy. When that happens, his sword revs up and glows orange, allowing the next hit to be faster and do more damage. Consequently, you can combo through enemies with completely “revved up” sword swings if your timing is good enough that you can rev on every sword hit. That’s a pretty hardcore combat element right there.

Nero’s Devil Bringer not only pulls enemies right in, it can act like a grappling hook for heavier enemies, pulling Nero to the enemy.

Nero’s devil arm, the Devil Bringer, is unique because not only is it more powerful than his sword, it also has very lengthy reach. One or two uppercuts with the Devil Bringer is practically enough to kill an enemy. The fun thing about the Devil Bringer though is its reach – especially when used as part of a combo. In most of Nero’s combos, he’ll knock the enemy away as he’s swinging. But throw the Devil Bringing reach move into the combo, and he’ll pull the enemy right back to in front of him, whether he’s on the ground or in the air doing a combo. The reach move makes long and continuous combos a lot easier and new players to the game can definitely appreciate it.

While Nero has the most useful weapon with his Devil Bringer arm, Dante gets plenty of varied weapons that are fun in their own way.

Dante plays similarly to his incarnations with previous Devil May Cry games, but with more fluid switching options. In previous games, Dante could switch to different guns and fighting styles only when pausing the game. But in Devil May Cry 4, Dante can switch weapons and fighting styles in the middle of fighting by simply pushing the D-pad corresponding to which fighting style he wants to change into or pulling the L-trigger to switch to the next weapon. The ability to change to different weapons and combat styles on the fly make it easier for Dante to score higher, varied, combo attacks.

Both Nero and Dante have access to something called a “Devil Trigger,” allowing them to turn into a Demon for a short period of time for faster and more powerful attacks and combos. The Devil Trigger gauge is a second bar that fills up as you inflict damage on enemies.

Currency
There are two forms of currency in the game: red orbs and proud souls. Red orbs are the main monetary currency in the game, left behind by defeated enemies or found after smashing objects. The red orbs allow the player to purchase various items from the store, which include items like continues, ones that increase max health, health-regeneration, etc. Whenever you buy an item at the store, it goes up in cost so in a sense, you are penalized for buying it. However, the cost for an item eventually caps off.

Proud souls are earned as a result of how well the player beats a mission. The mission score is calculated through three criteria: the amount of time used to beat the level, number of red orbs found on the level, and finally, how stylish the player was in defeating enemies. Points are deducted from your score for continuing, using checkpoints, using items, etc. It’s pretty harsh. The higher your mission score, the more proud souls you earn. Proud souls are used to buy new combat abilities such as air launchers, defense moves, etc.

Optional stuff
Devil May Cry 4, like the previous games in the series, generally has one secret mission in each level. When you find the secret mission, you are often given a specific criterion to beat it. If you beat it, you are given a fragment of a blue orb, something similar to a Heart Container piece from Zelda. Collect four fragments of a blue orb and increase your health bar by one notch. Secret missions are generally pretty difficult.

The Bloody Palace is Devil May Cry 4′s optional survival mode that has been in the series since the second game. It’s a 101 level survival mode, time based where you have to go all the way through each of the 101 levels to beat it. There is no saving, and very little health, making the trek quite difficult but its inclusion is obviously welcome for the more hardcore players.

Your combo grade is reflected with a word corresponding to the letter of the grade. In this case Dante is earning a rank A combo – A for Atomic!

Achievement System
The Achievement System in Devil May Cry 4 is two thumbs up for me. It is about as hardcore as the game itself – making the Achievements something you have to work hard to earn as opposed to being just handed out to you. Beating it on the easiest difficulty will get you less than 100 Achievement points! There are Achievements for beating the game on each difficulty setting, as well as beating each mission on each difficulty with an S ranking. This pretty much means you have to be quite awesome on every single mission of every single difficulty in the game – no small feat. There are also Achievements for clearing all of the optional stuff like the secret missions and the Bloody Palace.

The Achievement System in this game is set up such that you really have to do every single thing in the game to get all 1000 points. While I may not be able to ever get all 1000 points in this game because I’m not skilled enough, I respect how these Achievements are set up and it will end up getting the player to spend probably 40-50 hours playing this game, no small feat for an action game. Once I saw a guy with the full 1000 in this game and had to give him props. Hopefully I can get them all someday too!

The ladies from past Devil May Cry games appear in Devil May Cry 4, but it is disappointing how they have no role in the story except for eye candy.

Final Thoughts
Devil May Cry 4 is definitely old school. It has the limited design and frustrations of older games, and whether that’s good or bad is debatable. Games these days are all about regenerating health bars, checkpoints every minute, and handholding. Devil May Cry 4 has none of that, allowing the player to really see how well he stands as a gamer. While I have no problems with Devil May Cry 4′s “hardcore” approach, there are certain things that I felt should have been improved for the game since it’s already on its fourth iteration.

Devil May Cry 4 really just feels like one of its older PS2 predecessors but with HD graphics. I’m disappointed that not only does the game have fixed camera angles, several parts throughout the game require jumping and timing that become even more difficult due to the way the camera is handled in the game. There were several times where I was shouting out of annoyance for not making a jump and being forced to clear through a room of respawned enemies again every time I fall. I also didn’t like that the second half of the missions simply used the same content as the first half – even the same bosses. The game also feels very broken up; it doesn’t flow like an adventure game. It’s basically 20 missions with 10 or so rooms per mission – enter a room, the doors are sealed, and four enemies spawn for you to kill. This whole “lock the doors, spawn monsters, move to next room, repeat” is very poor and unimaginative game design and I wish the designers thought of a more unified way of going through the game.

Devil May Cry 4 gets a B- in my book, the first “letdown” in a long time for a game I’ve bought. I had higher aspirations for it, thinking it would be as fun as I remembered playing it on the PS2 but sadly, times have changed. With better examples of gameplay design in similar games like Resident Evil 4 and Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry 4 lives in the past with frustrating game design decisions that are only saved by a uniquely enjoyable fighting system and “cool” characters. The game isn’t for everyone and I’d recommend waiting for Ninja Gaiden 2 if you’re looking for a Japanese 3rd person action game with more adventure.

Be Sociable, Share!

•