REVIEW : DEVIL MAY CRY 4 (PC)

Which side are you on?

Devil May Cry 4 is the most recent installment to the Devil May Cry series of Capcom. It was released on 2008 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. And to the PC too! Thank God. I don't have the consoles, so the only game that I played in the series is DMC3 - Dante's Awakening and this newest installment. DMC3 is so cool, despite the not-so-great graphics of the game when it crossed-platform to the PC. I found myself crossing my fingers the day after I finished DMC3, wishing that the next installment would be more awesome, and would be released to the PC too, because I know I'll never get the consoles.

I was so happy when I learned that DMC4 is also released on the PC, but I don't know any computer cafes that offered this game, and my 4-year old desktop cannot handle the game (talk about a Pentium 4, 2.66GHz, 512RAM, 256MB graphics card, and an awesome 19GB hard disk. come on!).

Last December 2009, I finally got my laptop! Dad, I'm forever indebted with you. A Lenovo IdeaPad Y450, x86 Based, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU P7450 @ 2.13GHz, GeForce G210M, and to top it all off, it comes along with a 32-bit Windows 7 OS!

Enough about the laptop. A week after I got my laptop, I bought the game. It cost P1695.00 at Data Blitz (almost $40). During my bus trip on my way home, I opened it. I got so excited with just reading the User Manual that comes along with it. It's freakin' cool!

Then I spend all the days of the Christmas break playing it. I beat the game several times on different modes, except the Hell and Hell mode - a mode where a single hit from a foe will kill you. Yep, Red Stars are not functional in this mode. Only the Holy Gold Orb works. ^^

THE STORY

The story takes place after the events of the first Devil May Cry and before the events of Devil May Cry 2 (which I really have no idea what happened on those times). We start with Nero (damn cool, right) running through a deserted street (deserted by humans, I mean) and fighting (mind you, he's unarmed) a horde of demons called Scarecrows  (which aren't scary in any way) and showing off his ass while Kyrie, his sweetheart, sings on the church of the Order of The Sword, a cult that worships Sparda (yes, the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda) as God. I mean, where else can you find a cult that worships a demon as a god? Well, those who have played the series know that Sparda is among the nicest demon ever - or he was, since he's dead.

Nero made it to the church just before Kyrie ended her song with a super high note. He wears a headset, just like me, but not as cool as him of course. When Kyrie approached his seat, he gave her a present. How sweet. Then during the preaching of Sanctum, the leader of the cult, Nero tried to get out of the church because he's falling asleep. That's when the action started.

Someone broke in the church. The entrance is not too flashy. This guy entered the church through the glass dome and landed at the table in front of Sanctum. Not too flashy, eh? He then brandished his gun and I know you already know what happened next. He shot Sanctum. He shot the freakin' priest in front of everyone!

Guess who is this guy. Right. Dante. The Dante. ^^

So is Dante on the bad side now? Play the game if you want to know. I assure you, its worth your time.

THE GAME

Ain't afraid of ya.

For those of you who do not know, this is a hack-and-slash game. What does it mean? Well, you hack enemies, and you slash them. Pretty simple, eh? This game was criticized as a button masher game, you know, you just press a button like there's no tomorrow just to beat the game. Well, probably it can be applied at the Human Mode - the easiest difficulty. Beating the harder modes requires the player to be stylish. Yeah, stylish.

Like the previous installments, you use devil arms and guns to fight. Nero's arm is also used for more style. Nero's equipments are the Red Queen - a sword that can be charged up to three times so that flames erupt when you wield the sword, the Blue Rose - a gun which can also be charged and is very very useful in boss fights, and his right arm, the Devil Bringer, which snatches enemies closer to you and enable you to "Buster", an action where you grab an enemy and do a cool attack to it, which is cooler when you use it on bosses. And that's all. Oops, there is also the Yamato. Yes, the Yamato. Vergil's.

Dante possesses the Rebellion, the Ebony and Ivory, and the Coyote-A, a shotgun. As you progress through the game, you will acquire more arms - Gilgamesh, Lucifer, and Pandora.

Awesome.

In the PC Version, these are the following difficulties, arranged from the easiest to the hardest: Human, Devil Hunter, Son of Sparda, Dante Must Die, Legendary Dark Knight, Heaven and Hell, and Hell and Hell. In the first four modes, the enemies are getting stronger and stronger. On the Legendary Dark Knight mode (not available on the PS3/Xbox 360 version), whenever you encounter enemies, they outnumber you 100 to 1. No, that's too much, maybe 20 to 1. And of course you have to beat them all. This is how your style is measured. Button mashing isn't enough in this mode. On Heaven and Hell Mode, everything can be killed with one hit. Yes, even bosses. Even you. :D On the Hell and Hell mode, you're dead when you're hit once. And the enemies? Son of Sparda level. Damn difficult.

The Bloody Palace also returns with a vengeance. With only 101 levels, it's no match compared to the 9999 levels of DMC3. Or so they say. Enemies are so much harder to deal with, and the bosses are invited in the party too. In the last lever, you'll fight. . . well, it's a secret. :D One tip though, you need to be extremely stylish to beat the palace.

So what does it takes to be stylish? Well, it's simple. You continuously press the I button, which is the default key for using your devil arm, to deal with enemies. You see your character slash the enemies which becomes repetitive. That's not stylish. You have lots of abilities. You can use your sword to hurl enemies to the air. You can do an awesome combo. You can hit enemies the way you hit a baseball. You can also fly! Well, not really. You can charge at floating enemies with your sword. You're also up in the air of course, but when your sword hit, you fall down. Duh. This is stylish. Taking advantage of these abilities will help you conquer the world . . . of Devil May Cry 4, at the very least.

THE VERDICT

The graphics is stunning. The gameplay is awesome. The plot is simple yet possesses human elements. The soundtrack is cool. The characters, so damn cool. The cut scenes, memorable. It's one of my most favorite games ever. It will be your bad if you won't be able to play this. :D I give it 9.5/10.