Nero is forced to question his beliefs as the game progresses, with a series of events that see you take control of Dante part way through the adventure. To further complicate matters the Order of the Sword worship Sparda, Dante’s father. The story follows the exploits of Nero, a knight who serves in the mysterious Order of the Sword whose leader is murdered by the protagonist of the previous three games, Dante. Compared to that sharp, highly focused thrill ride, Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition can seem a little bloated and overwhelming. On the other hand, however, the franchise has already been successfully rebooted for modern players via Ninja Theory’s 2013 brawler DmC: Devil May Cry, which itself has been re-released with a Definitive Edition earlier this year on current-gen platforms.
This enhanced edition of the fourth title in the series keeps the excellent combo-based and enthrallingly deep gameplay intact whilst updating the visuals to make it truly the best version of any of the original games. This is a much-loved franchise, characterised by its frenetic, stylised gameplay, which is both satisfying to play and exciting to watch – not least because lead protagonist Dante remains one of gaming’s most suave and compelling characters.
Sure, Capcom’s slick hack-n-slasher was favourably received when it first arrived on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2008. There’s far too much needless backtracking, and while the boss battles are hugely impressive at first almost all of them ending up getting repeated multiple times.The arrival of a Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition on Playstation 4 and Xbox One is welcome, though somewhat perplexing. But inevitably the flaws of the original are still present here. The special edition runs at 60 frames per second and at 1080p, which helps to compensate for the ageing visuals, and there are some minor tweaks to the combat and difficulty balancing. The art design helps make up for this though, with some highly imaginative architecture and bizarre enemy designs. Movement is silky smooth but despite breakable foreground objects the backdrops still seem very sterile, almost as if you’re moving in front of them on a green screen – which has always been a problem in Bayonetta too.
There’s also his ‘Devil Bringer’ arm which can be used to grab and throw enemies, as well as latch onto magic skulls and swing around the scenery. His mix of gun and sword combat is similar but Nero’s abilities have a different focus, with a sword he can rev like a motorbike throttle. A year after Devil May Cry 4 saw the launch of Bayonetta by Hideki Kamiya, the director of the first Devil May Cry, and since then it’s Platinum’s Umbran witch that has dominated this nameless sub-genre of fast-paced, highly technical third person brawler.Īlthough you do still get to play as series regular Dante (in his original white-haired look, not the unlikeable waif of DmC) most of the game is spent as new character Nero. In fact until the controversial DmC reboot, which also recently got its own remake, this was the last Devil May Cry to be made. So while Devil May Cry 3 is widely regarded as the best of the series, and Devil May Cry 1 is more historically important, it’s only the last gen entries that are getting a second chance in the limelight.ĭevil May Cry 4 is by no means a bad game, even if by this point the franchise was beginning to feel a little tired. It’s much cheaper and easier to create a remake of a recent game than an older one which is why even the most lauded PS one games rarely get remastered, even while more forgettable last gen games are quickly repackaged and remade. The reason the games chosen to be remade often seem so random comes down to simple economics.