Devil May Cry 4 Preview

Sony may be back on its feet sooner than expected. No, it has nothing to do with a sales surge or the fact that Ken Kutaragi left the company. With a feeble launch, Sony is now up to its neck in a massive feedback from mostly disgruntled customers. Luckily for them, titles announced long since the PS3 launch, are now finally drawing to a close and will soon emerge, much to the relief of many users who are still gasping for more software. The summer is about to bring more solid titles on the scene, like the recently previewed action beat-'em-up, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. With that, even more PS3 games are on the way such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Grand Theft Auto IV, Resident Evil 5 and, of course, Devil May Cry 4. Without any attempts to make the game exclusive to a single platform, Capcom vouched to bring DMC 4 to the PS3, X360 and PC.

You play as Nero, a young Holy Knight in the Order of the Sword. Nero rarely hesitates when something has to be done the bad way and due to his solitary nature he often ventures by himself, without paying much heed to others. The defining characteristics of Nero make him an ideal choice for all the dirty work required by the Order of the Sword. Steady fans of the series, who are still attached to the famous demon catcher, Dante (the central character earlier in the series), should be glad to know that he'll be playable in DMC 4.

To those of you who don't know, the Order of the Sword is a society in which all members worship the great Dark Knight Sparda. In a defiant rejection of his lineage, Sparda battled against his own kind for the benefit of humanity. This is where the Holy Knights come in - they're basically a diligent group, struggling to hunt down and eliminate demons who oppose them. As fate would have it, Dante, unveils his true intention and suddenly begins to execute key members of the group.

As far as we can tell, the gameplay is, for the most part, similar to what we've seen in earlier iterations. There are plenty of baddies to fight, but also a wider selection of moves and weapons to toy around with. Amongst a range of items at his disposal, Nero wields an exceptionally powerful weapon called Red Queen, a useful aid specifically designed by the Order of the Sword. The Red Queen causes massive damage all around and also has power to influence other entities. Nero eventually discovered a way to upgrade the weapon, so it can never be used by the untrained. When overrun by monsters, demons and the like, Nero now exercises a variety of new moves that were incorporated for his mystically powered arm; known as the Devil Bringer. The ability to grab remote enemies and bring them closer for a decent thrash, has opened more opportunities in terms of combos. If he chooses so, Nero can sometimes grab enemies and toss them into each other, which is definitely a welcomed move when fighting multiple foes at once.

The list of combos goes on. Using the Devil Bringer may not have to involve strictly offensive moves. When Nero gets his mitts on a magical item, named the Evil Legacy, he'll be able execute another cool new move, called Hellbound. With this ability, Nero may get hold of items and objects that would've been unreachable otherwise. Using the Evil Legacy also allows for the so-called Grim Grip, which the character uses to rappel from one highlighted portal area to another or to propel across a landscape.

DMC 4 mostly features a strict path, but Capcom did make a few alterations by allowing gamers to make a choice in certain instances. Namely, players will be given a chance to decide if they want to take one path and charge into the fray or take a different path and go for a stealthier approach, ambushing their enemies.

What most DMC devotees will want to know is how and when will Dante enter the picture. So far, Capcom is keeping all plot details under wraps. Still, it's obvious that players get control over Dante at a certain point later on in the game. We have to wait a bit more to see how all this plays out.

Not all things are peachy mind you. The game could still become a flop, regardless of earlier success the popularity of the franchise. Capcom has enough time to tweak important aspects such as, camera movement and controls. Most of the weird camera activity made some of the previous installments a real nightmare to play, particularly on the PC version. Of course, Capcom's infamous inability to optimize the controls for the keyboard may, once again, cause aggravation amongst players.

On a more positive note, the graphics seem refined, polished and quite suitable for a next-generation game. Traditionally, Capcom's most praiseworthy asset, present in a majority of their titles, is the unique design and, above all, marvelous-looking character and environment art. The talented group of artists and designers have, appreciatively, done a decent job yet again. Shaping Devil May Cry 4 is clearly a result of fine artwork and such things are always the backbone of any decent fantasy-based game.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, with games like Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma in the pipeline, there may yet be hope for next-generation gaming.

Look for DMC 4 on store shelves some time during October 2007 (if all goes well).