Devil May Cry 4

Welcome to the loneliest blog in the world. If you are reading this, I thank you for making this site a little less lonely (but at the same time resent you for removing the truth in the site's title).

So I picked up Devil May Cry 4 yesterday (as the blog title just might suggest) and am loving it. New character Nero = awesome. Is he Dante? No. But Dante couldn't be in most of the game due to his full schedule of murdering cult assassins. A lot of reviews have pointed out the game is too similar to its predecessors (I'm looking at you, Xplay), and while this is pretty much true, I don't see why it's a bad thing. It's sort of the "why fix what isn't broken" logic I guess. It's not that DMC4 is at all a rehash, as Nero brings a lot of cool new abilities to the table, but at its core components, the game still follows the steps that DMC and DMC3 (DMC2 was a failure and will not be acknowledged) set.

Basically if you didn't like the previous entries (excluding 2) you won't like this one. But if you are a Devil May Cry fan, the game is fantastic. But Xplay brought up the question of whether or not games need to diversify themselves more from their predecessors in this generation. Personally, I think that no one wants to buy a rehashed game, but at the same time, people buy sequels to games for a reason: they want an experience similar to the first. I think Devil May Cry 4 has done a pretty good job of playing safe and delivering want fans want. It's a much more cinematic adventure (something that, in my opinion, bodes well for the series) with a new character that handles a bit different than Dante, due to the Devil Bringer moveset. Dante is still available at later levels too, so veteran fans won't be disappointed either. I think a lot of games are pushing for innovation these days, and while I'm a fan of games trying something new and pushing the boundaries, majority of games released can't seem to do it right.

The biggest example is the Wii. How many games have really taken advantage of what everyone hoped for when the Wii was announced? I'm still waiting for an awesome first person sword/gun game that really takes advantage of what the Wii could do (fuck you Red Steel). The best game on the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, barely uses the motion controls. Too many third party developers are using the same generic "shake the wiimote to [insert pointless action]" and calling it "innovating gameplay." That's not innovating. I could think of something more innovating than that:

The game is called "Extreme Rapist: Just Say No!" The premise? Don't get raped. Shake the wiimote to shake your finger left and right signaling to the rapist "No!" and that you mean business. If the rapist doesn't give up, point the wiimote towards the screen to cover your ass and run. It's genius.








In the end, Devil May Cry 4 is a great game, regardless of whether or not it reinvents the series. It diversifies itself from previous entries, but not to the extent where it alienates its former audience. It might be nice to see the next entry into the series go in a new direction, but DMC4 shouldn't be penalized for remaining true to what makes the game a blast to play. In my opinion the formula still feels fresh and is a blast to play, so why change it?