That IGN take...

 Unbelievable.

Ark Corruption Evolved

 Sometime it be your own developers.

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition Review

 Time to wake up, you're missing all the fun!

Finally we come onto the Devil May Cry game which stood as fan's sole bastion for the many year span between 2008 and 2019; their only satiation to that thirst for DMC goodness which afflicts them all. Because no other game or Devil May Cry property was released within that gap and that's exactly the story I'm sticking to so I can wrap up this franchise retrospective within an orderly time frame- we all cool with that? Cool. Then let's talk about the second game to land during the point at which this franchise really developed it's personality. Not that the original DMC was itself a bad title, mind you- it's just one of those games that doesn't quite shake hands with the characters and stories that the franchise tells today, and after finishing 4 I can categorise that as a good thing. I quite prefer the Dante of today to the Dante of the distant past.

But before we get into specifics let's talk a little bit about the overall game, from a development process level. (We always seem to touch on that in these reviews, don't we?) So it would seem that with the release of Devil May Cry 5, Itsuno unsealed some old wounds to talk about issues that befell 4- most prominently being a lack of funding. Despite being a sequel, and thus presumably being more ambitious, Devil May Cry 4 was apparently afforded roughly the same budget as 3 was, which led to a scrapping of planned scope during the development stage. Essentially that meant the team ended up creating the first half of the game in the way that they wanted and then had to dig around reusing assets and levels to make up the second half of the game- which is probably why you end up fighting most every one of the major bosses three times throughout the game, including in the boss rush level. 

Circumstances being what they are is ephemeral to the raw matter of the game itself, however, so let's focus on the specifics of what Devil May Cry 4 actually ended up as and see the issues from there. Firstly, I feel it's important to note that this is easily the smoothest feeling Devil May Cry game I've played to date on a gameplay level. From the fluidness of the animation to the way that each character has their entire movesets scrunched up into one controller, meaning there's no more need to go digging through menus in order to swap up and re-equip the things that you want. Even Dante's styles have gone the Yakuza route and can be switched to in an instant via the face buttons. I makes the gameplay feel fluid and opens up the range of possibility in each combat encounter, but it does come with the cost of a very slight pull back on individual complexity. Some weapons don't quite feel like they're designed to be stand-alone anymore, and the styles carry over the main features they had in 3, but with a little less of the extra punch that made them solo-friendly. It's an infinitesimal drawback in the grand scheme.

In many ways I really like the condensing down of everything into one hand, as it allows the player to switch off their mind from all the styles of play they aren't currently engaging with and just flow with the moment. Those moments when you're juggling an enemy with Swordmaster and then switch to Gunslinger quickly to pepper the surroundings with a quick shotgun blast and quickly dip back before your original target can recover, are what stories are made of. Nero, on the otherhand, feels strangely static by comparison, but his moveset is just about stacked enough to be okay to a blanket degree against every possible threat. His Buster Arm in particular is a wonderfully cool little addition, allowing the player to pull enemies around the battlefield and smash them for heavy damage. Nero can even pull off special grapple set-piece attacks on bosses during their vulnerable stages, which just lends to the bombastic action of the big fights.  Honestly, it's a toss-up of whether I like this or DMC 3 more... until I remember the painful buster arm platforming sections. Definitely 3.

Devil Trigger has gone through another reworking this game around, and now has regained a scant few of the special moves we used to enjoy in our winged forms. (No flying though. DMC 2 killed that dream for good, it would seem.) This time around the regen of Devil Trigger is actually alright, not overpowered but not painfully nerfed either, it just takes a while to warm up- so you can't just pop on DT to gain a few handy hit points and pop out again, which is a fine enough middle ground. I also appreciate how there's a difference in the actual way that Dante Devil Trigger's compared to Nero. Dante has his instant switch like in previous games, allowing him to flip on mid combo, but Nero's stops him in his tracks with a little burst animation that also breaks the chain of any combo he's being punished by- neat little trick there.

Progression has been seriously switched up this time around with a brand new currency used exclusively for levelling that is now separate from the Blood Orbs still used for the item store. These new Proud Souls are awarded at the end of each level rather than as you progress (or they get tallied up if you die) and are based on the rank you get at the end of each mission, particularly your style rank total. Style is actually ludicrously easy to build up in this game too, the developers seriously toned down on the 'no consecutive moves' stipulation of the old system, making getting to SSS only a matter of finding an enemy with enough hit points to last that long. (I actually only managed to nail it once on the Snake-Dragon boss. Which is insane considering how often I'd max on Devil May Cry 3.)

That 'ease' is not exclusive to the stylings either. Devil May Cry 4 is actually quite a bit more chill paced than 3 was, but a heck of a lot more engaging than sleepy 2. 4 has it's share of annoying enemies, mind you, including one, the Blitz, which is so frustrating that on Hard difficulty the game only makes you fight it twice in the entire game. You fight every boss at least three times. They knew the Blitz is the worst creation in the franchise since... the helicopter. (Although you know... for different reasons.) One point of contention I maintain due to this direction of 'accessible ease' is the 'enemy handicap' feature that comes tied to encounters and lies totally out of the player's control. As in any Devil May Cry, if you die enough times to a single encounter the game offers the choice to turn down the difficulty, except for Devil May Cry 4 there is no choice. Die enough and the game will do it automatically without alerting you, so you only figure it out after basking in the glory of your victory in the results screen. (That's just arse system design which fundamentally misunderstands what it is that challenge gamers are looking for.) 

I particularly enjoyed the bosses of DMC 4, even if they were considerably more light weight than their previous game counterparts, (excluding 2) and the game makes us fight them way too much, they all asked for different skills and boasted some of the most consistently solid game design in the entire game. (Even if most are best hurt by jump flurry attack spam.) The Dante boss was the only real standout, boasting a totally distinct philosophy of reactive action which mirrors the players moves, he plays more like a Elden Ring boss begging you to bait him into cheese strikes. My only gripe is a universal design flaw that every boss in this game shares that I like to call the 'last gasp' system. Basically, whenever an enemy enters their last two slivers of health notches, they enter their second phase. (Yeah, that late!) And every enemy has a second phase specifically designed to draw out their final moments as long as possible. It's such a head screw to feel the rising relief of a sinking healthbar only for all progress to grind to a halt, forcing the player to devote twice the amount of time to drag the needle those last few yards across the finishing line. It isn't particularly fun, the second phases are simply frustrating, and the best moments are the times you time the enemies vulnerable stagger and your own Devil Trigger just enough to totally skip by the stupid second phase altogether. Not my favourite design idea by a long shot.

In world, Devil May Cry 4 takes a bizarrely fantasy-tilted approach that feels fundamentally distinct from the gothic castles and modern/ruinous style of previous outings. At times you almost feel like Dante has been isekai-ed to some strange fantastical realm where placid villages, snowy tundras and rainforests can be found within the same square mile of one another. This only gets reinforced by the residents, all wearing hoods and rustic quasi-religious garments, affixed to some vague praise of Sparda, because it's always about Sparda in these damn stories. Even the yawn-worthy damsel who is inexplicably the beacon of our chief protagonist's desires, Kyrie, looks like an almost dead-ringer for Princess Elise from the worst Sonic game. I'm not sure this game really looked like this franchise usually does.

But the world did feel that way. In fact, the movement from one area to the next, split between missions that funnel you though it all, felt almost Resident Evil reminiscent, which is a sensation I haven't properly felt since DMC 1. And I like it, to be clear. It's just a shame that these explorations are never as detailed as Resident Evil maps, and that due to the somewhat linear nature of mission based exploration, you really notice it in the late game where Dante's entire campaign are literally Nero missions backwards. At least it was a lot harder to get lost this time around thanks to the clear movement from one area to another, but I wish a Devil May Cry game could get away with surprising me with new environments until the end. (Maybe 5. They had a good 11 years to work on it, and absolutely nothing would have been in the way to soak up development time.)

Within that world comes out story, which I'm happy to report is the most comprehensive this franchise has ever delivered! I was almost shocked to experience it all, there was establishment of setting, characters properly introduced a decent time before their showdown moments, properly built stakes and potential consequence, and events seemed to actually unfold instead of just sporadically occuring. These seem like basic tenements of narrative but you have to understand, Devil May Cry has never enjoyed the fundamentals before! It's actually nice following along with the story and feeling the progression of acts and building of plot momentum. Now next time maybe they can focus on making the actual events themselves a little more interesting... Bah, it was serviceable enough. I enjoyed the story.

As you may have caught, Nero is our new protagonist this time around and he makes for a decent enough stand-in for Dante, who seems taciturn and a little off-colour early game, to a point I feared the writers were trying to make this older depiction of the character more in line with his painfully goofy and dull original self. As it so happens he just needs some warming up, which means we're left most of the game with Nero as our Dante and he... well, he's pretty much just Dante. A bit more punk and less certain of his own immortality, Nero acts almost exactly like young Dante with a one drawback. He is unfortunately afflicted with 'generic anime protagonist' virus, specifically the 'obsessively in love' strain.

Nero is hopelessly affixed to the affections of the franchises singularly most dull heroine ever, she's such a nothing character I hesitate to even identify Kyrie as a heroine. What the box sees in the cardboard box girl I cannot possible imagine, but the desire to protect this girl forms the backbone for most of his core motivations to such a nauseating extent that by the midgame you won't at all be surprised to hear him screaming "KYRIE!!!" every other scene like he's in Sam Raimi's Spiderman. I actually somewhat prefer Dante's bizarre play of not caring about anything or anyone that doesn't even feel like an act most of the time. He seems constantly surprised whenever someone manages to get him to care about them, and that strangely detached relationship with... well, relationships, helps identify him as this kind of other entity in the way his, occasionally churlish, brand of charisma disguises. Nero's chief most interesting features are fully in his design, with it's send ups to Vergil and Dante, and in the mystery of who he is which is addressed (He's directly identified as part of the Sparda bloodline) but never explicitly stated. I can't really blame DMC for lacking exposition, it's kind of the franchises thing at this point, but the utterly miniscule offering the DLC gave us to hint in that narrative direction felt a little like an insult. In fact, I going to assume it was an insult for the crime of being invested.

As for the supporting cast, they were all fine if largely forgettable. I found that most everyone, in writing and, sometimes, in performance were totally overshadowed by their designs. I personally don't love the heavy shades look of Lady, but it's one of her most iconic looks and I was utterly surprise to see it matched with an almost entirely absent character who lacks everything which made DMC 3 Lady unique. (Apart from in look, she's literally not even the same character.) Trish and Dante are as good as ever, it's fun to see them interact in the few moments they get to, but everyone else? I literally can't remember the city cast's names. But their designs! Solid, even great in some instances. Across the board the design work was simply top notch, and I wonder if there isn't a happy medium between great designs, cool and memorable characters and a nifty narrative that this franchise can't hit. Please? For me.

Summary

Devil May Cry 4 seems like it correctly identified what it was that made 3 such a revolution and thus solidifies those improvements to a neat fluidity. Outside of visuals there aren't a great many overall leaps forward that the game offers, and though the narrative does become admirably ambitious to an extent that DMC has not tried before, the broadening in scope does lead to a loss in narrative focus and memorability in some places. But gameplay is king in games like these, and DMC 4 neatly balances it's class of solid characters and gives each one solid and strong movesets that are easy fun to get into and tough fun to master. So far I could see myself coming back to this game the most in order to refine my abilities against it's many gauntlets. Still, in terms of 'moments in history' I think that the surge of Devil May Cry 3 may burn brighter in my heart and mind. I'm still recommending this game, it's simply great fun, but I think my arbitrary grading system can only dish out a surprising B Grade, when I was really hoping to push things to the next tier. So far Devil May Cry has demonstrated all the elements I want in one of these games individually- (aside from a seriously interesting narrative, but I think that might slot together if the others come first.) if 5 can bring them all together, then my wait for the next title might have actually been worth it! Fingers crossed...

Oblivion REBORN

 That's right, you're going to DIE here!

Obsession and regression

 Thy name is: Ubisoft

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Review

 I can't stand someone with a bigger mouth than mine!

Now at the tail end of the HD Devil May Cry Collection I have finally landed on the game best referred to as 'the moment that Devil May Cry came to life'! Devil May Cry 3 is, for many, the quintessential franchise experience that gave birth to many of the core fundamentals that subsequent games have been beholden to. That style system which encourages diversity in action and switching movesets, the immortal conflict between Dante's unending wit and Vergil's ceaseless edge, and a boss-rush finale which, I'm terrified to read, might become something of a franchise staple as the games go on. (I always have trouble with Boss rushes in games...) Seeing as how I've somewhat enjoyed by time with Devil May Cry up until now, DMC 2 even birthed some unforgettable moments for how bizarre that game was, how did the feeling of a true DMC feel to my sensibilities?

Devil May Cry 3 was the product of Hideaki Itsuno, the guy who rolled up to the mess of a product that was Devil May Cry 2 and salvaged it into something... playable. (Honestly, it's not so different from the story behind Dark Souls 2 when you look into it.) Itsuno did take the final uneven product to heart, however, and decided to dedicate himself to making a proper Devil May Cry game that would be a true successor to what Kamiya originally created. That resulted in a Devil May Cry that is largely lauded as the heart of the franchise, and after giving myself a full playthrough, and skipping the Vergil playthrough when I realised that was literally just a redistribution of the same levels with a character swap, I can definitely see the appeal. I liked Devil May Cry 1, and Devil May Cry 2 had it's own warped charm atop a pit of personal nostalgia, but Devil May Cry 3 is the first time I really came to understood why this franchise is still considered one of the heavy hitters even to this day.

The Gameplay of DMC 3 is the best the franchise has ever felt, fast, responsive and tactical- you feel totally in control with how you dodge, launch, dash, juggle and switch neatly between your two equipped melee weapons and guns. I cannot overstate how incredible the switching feels when you swap between your broadsword and backup twin blades instantaneously mid combo to seamlessly continue the chain, it totally opens up the combo system into a freeform murderfest of your own design. You can easily just mash moves and end up looking like a whirlwind of blades and magical effects, but when you get to instinctually understand each individual weapon that understanding empowers your every encounter and makes the act of beating up trash mobs simply fun. More than than it's been for any previous DMC I've played.

The way this effects the weapons of the game is worth talking about too. Every DMC grants you with new weapons as you progress through the game, and typically you'll find they're either direct improvements to swap out what you had or so situational that you probably won't take the time to switch to them anyway. Giving us the ability to pair-up weapons encourages experimentation and allowed the developers to create more unique weapons designed for chaining rather than maintaining. Such as the electric firing guitar best used for summoning CC projectiles after they've been launched out of your range, or the Icy nunchucks that do dangerous single target line-damage that will just fix your target in place and stun them to oblivion. I would go so far as to call this one feature a total revolution upon what Devil May Cry was working with before.

But that isn't all this new game adds. Devil May Cry 3's styles are like 'battle stances' that you select at any save point in the game, so they can't be freely switched too, and they provide unique playstyle tweaks by way of a dedicated 'style' button. Trickster enables a neat strafing dodge perfect for slipping aside for a counter combo, Swordmaster gives some special main weapon moves that open up Aerial chains and gives each weapon some unique ground abilities, and Gunslinger brings back DMC 2's gunfoo but in a much more viable way and somehow much more jazzy flair too. Pirouetting through the air like a spinning top firing twin pistols feels every bit as cool as it sounds to pepper the battlefield with. There are a few more styles to discover as you play through the game, but the four starters (I never played around with Royalgaurd) come with their own levelling bar that ticks up as you beat enemies meaning your styles open up even more as they game progresses on!

The way that DMC 3 handles player progression and opening up your toolset as you go along is perfectly pitched to present one of the most combat diverse action adventure titles I think I've played. Even taking modern slashers to account! And you'll really need to be familiar with all the new gifts that DMC 3 gives you because this game is easily the hardest in the first three games so far. Especially if you happen to be totally stumped when the game presents you with Yellow Mode and Golden Mode without telling you which is which. Let me do what they couldn't. The 'modes' refer to the orbs from previous games and how in those games Orbs represented limited respawn tokens you could use to rise again. DMC 3, in their definitive edition, introduced a more tradtional system where if you die you simply restart the area. But if you choose to select 'Yellow Orb', then dying either means spending a rare orb (which doesn't even resurrect you like it did in previous titles, but merely resets the entire room and all the enemies in it.) or starting the entire level from scratch. Guess what I accidentally selected!

Honestly though, I think Yellow Mode actually better suits the style of Devil May Cry 3's level layout which are presented as challenging gauntlets mixed with exploration typically topped off with a boss encounter at the end. Some of these are a real challenge to survive through on your first go around, especially since there's no reliable way to heal yourself mid-game because DMC deprives you of Devil Trigger for almost half of the game! (And even when you do get it, Devil Trigger's passive heal is nerfed to oblivion.) There are easily more bosses in Devil May Cry 3 than in the first two games combined, and unlike the infamous Helicopter Duel from DMC 2: they're all pretty burly to take down. But rewarding in that way that the best challenging games always seem to nail.

None of the boss encounters are really straightforward fights except for perhaps Vergil himself, but even then that fight is only really 'straightforward' in concept, actually duelling your evil twin is nailbaitingly rapid. A lot of the bosses have some decent mechanical thought put behind them to encourage players to think a little bit outside the box, not enough to really stump you but enough to make these fights stand out as more than just 'ordinary dude with a bigger health bar'. I know that should seem like the bare standard minimum for any action game boss fight, but remember I'd just finished DMC 2 when I started this; everything felt new again! Some fights really do give you the work around, which can be particularly frustrating as 'end of level challenges' when you're playing Yellow Orb mode and are saving your 'resurrection tokens' for a theoretical emergency that will never arrive. It's like going up against an Elden Ring Demigod but the nearest Site of Grace is just outside the entrance to the entire Legacy Dungeon. Losing can be a soul puncher. (Gold Orb players probably don't realise how good they've got it!)

The actual world space you traverse actually surprised me somewhat too, in that just like the original game the Tartarus-esque 'Devil Tower' around which this game is based is like one big connected dungeon that you'll find yourself coming very acquainted with from mission to mission as you're sent around every corner of it at least twice. Some of the later levels actually become confusing for the way they send you down a backtracking path down some room you remember clearing six levels back, only for that to turn out to be the way forward bizarrely. These mission layouts could have perhaps done with being a little more clear, because whereas you can usually rely on whatever door the mission places you in front of as being the way forward, sometimes there will be new pathways opened up you might miss, leaving you stumbling back to the beginning of the entire game wondering when the next-level cutscene will trigger. (That might have been me a few times.)

But when you do hit those cutscenes you'll find yourself in for a treat because with the advent of DMC 3: I've finally found the cheeky charm this franchise is known for- as well as a sudden appreciation for the simply insanely impressive stunt action set pieces this game boasts- wow! Dante has found both his personality and his voice this time around, and it's the snarky, irreverent, too-cool-to-care, bad boy persona that only he can get away with without coming across as cringe. Honestly even from a modern lens there's an effortless coolness to his act that just feels natural and not put on like you'll find in the thousands of pretenders that end up feeling dated almost immediately. Reuben Langdon defined a well designed but personally average character with his performance (and an alright script) and in doing so made Devil May Cry feel authentic for the first time ever. 

Until now I've sort of cringed and accepted the lightly infantile way that the franchise has tried to be cool and edgy, with Dante's dry quips back against Triss in the first game, (Stiffly juggling a bike with gunshots was kind of cool) or the 'I'm too wiped to even be part of this game' attitude he brought to DMC 2. The childish way the game's world and lore borrowed historical mythology with blind abandon, throwing things together simply because they 'sounded cool' with no more effort put in than that, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't really special either. Now it feels like it's approaching that direction, simply because I care about the characters who populate this world now. I do think the actual visual designs of the various monsters and bosses was slightly underwhelming in some areas and only alright in others, (the 'penultimate monster/ secondary antagonist' design is genuinely Terrible. I can't believe that made it to ship.) but I care about this world now. Also, I need to distinguish that my opinion on 'average' design does not touch on my feelings about the character designs. I think the main cast are simply iconic in their visuals. Dante could do with buttoning up his jacket, but him and Vergil cut brilliant images with their design and Lady has just enough interesting detail to be interesting without being overly cluttered. A+ on the character designs!

Oh and the cutscenes? They're brilliant. Simply fantastic. I challenge you to find any other franchise in game or film that presents action moments as stunningly well storyboarded as these, they're visual treats to behold! Utterly ludicrous, mind you, but cool beyond all else. Dante's acrobatics, Lady's explosive flairs and even Vergil's katana magic- all of it dazzles and delight's every time they're on screen. I enjoy these scenes so much I didn't even notice that time the game slipped into one of my least favourite clichés of having you do a boss fight, win that fight, and then lose in the cutscene. (I'm considering writing a whole blog on how insanely moronic and insulting that cliché is.) The actual cutscene of my turn-around loss was so good I didn't even complain, I just loved to see myself fall. You've got to be working some voodoo to get me that turned around!

And now that I care about the world and cutscenes all that more, I actually cared about the story of Devil May Cry this time around as well! It's still pretty average. (although with the track record the franchise has had until now I suppose that's a step forward.) Core character motivations are either laughably thin or generic, actual events are random enough that I'm fairly certain this original script layout was literally written with 'And then, and then, and then' all the way with no punctuation, and once again the game tortures it's dialogue to force out the words "Devil's may cry" in what felt like the most clunky way the franchise has done yet! (I'm pretty sure that's actually just in comparison to the rest of the game which has good dialogue. DMC 1's clunkiness just fit everything around it.) But I liked the cast, so I liked their plights, and I cared about what happened to them and enjoyed it when they succeeded. There's actually hints of a surprisingly competent narrative buried here. The three way perspective shifts between the main characters had the potential of telling a real building intrigue if they were written with a bit of deftness. I can see the story team trying a bit harder with this game, and that effort means something with me because in a franchise that clearly never valued narrative, an effort to improve is above and beyond the call of duty. Points for effort!

Summary

I think Devil May Cry 3 might be the first clear classic that I've played in the franchise. DMC 1 is still a solid game for it's time, but DMC 3 even stands up by modern standards in many of the ways it handles gameplay complexity, challenge and blossoming progression avenues. The style, substance and cool of Devil May Cry was born with this entry, and those who wonder why Dante and his team are considered video game royalty will get a solid idea after experiencing them in their prime glory here. However there's still room to grow for the games. The missions sometimes dragged in the early game, (especially in Yellow Orb mode) the late game backtracking isn't especially competently presented, the actual substance of the narrative is still dumb, (In a manner that is starting to feel like a disservice now that this franchise has a personality) and the music tracks are really bland and dated. But I wouldn't call any of these roadbump issues: 'experience killers'. Action adventure fans need to treat themselves to this game, which is another way of saying I recommend this, by the by. And as for my arbitrary review rating, I'm thinking B+ is an apt reward for the new step in quality that the Devil May Cry franchise has been treated to. After this I can't wait for what 4 has in store for me...

Are there too many Souls-likes?

Souls for days!

I finished Breakpoint

 Guess I'm a liar

Is Starfield secretly Fallout 5?

 Probably definitely not

Dawn of the adaptations

 Actually I guess we're bit past the 'Dawn' by now. Early-mid day of the adaptations? 

The Balance game

 Losing the will to grind

Starfield is only 30 frames?

 The Stars above are looking a little choppy...

Is Baldur's Gate 3 bad for gaming?

Fence Sitters beware!

What is Clockwork Revolution?

 Ain't I played this already?

The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster

 There's a LOT of Last of Us...

Stop canonising our RPGs

Where'd my choices go?

The next mod to watch: 'Fallout Nuevo Mexico'

 Viva (New)Mexico!

Assassin's Creed Red: Where this crazy train ends

 For now.

Ubisoft. Stop this.

 Trust me- you're gonna wanna keep kicking that can.

The slow and painful death of Overwatch 2.

 I hardly got to play thee. Literally, I never even downloaded the thing.