Preview
Platform:
PlayStation 3Developer:
Capcom Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Capcom USA, Inc.Previewed by
Justin Fassino on 2007-07-13
Devil May Cry 4 made its first appearance at E3 2005 in trailer form. Since then, very little new information has come to light regarding what the game looks like or how it plays. The biggest news about the title was that it would go multi-platform. But that all changed at this year's E3 (even if it was somewhat anticlimactic) as
Capcom had
Dante Nero's newest demon ass-kicking action game playable.
The first thing you should notice are the visuals: Nero has a very crisp model. The lighting is quite good throughout the environment; light will filter in through barred windows on the floor and provide a great gothic atmosphere, at least in the beginning of the demo. On the flip side, you'll keep noticing the visuals as you play, and this is not a positive. Now, it may have been the way the demo was optimized, but textures would blur in and out of focus seemingly at random, and different materials looked a lot better than others (the concrete looked great; the snow, not so much). Luckily, the character models, arguably the most important part of an action title, were serviceable.
The demo contained a couple different enemies. The first was what looked like a sewn-together bag of flesh with blades replacing the limbs. These guys didn't put up much of a fight, especially against Nero's huge sword, but they did get some hits in. The other enemies in the demo were featured in a brief snow section; they were humanoid creatures made of ice crystals, complete with frozen pinnacles emerging from their arms and back. A large boss that resembled a demonic, flaming centaur capped off the experience.
The demo itself introduced you to the basic abilities available to Nero and took you through a few different areas, including the aforementioned gothic castle-like structure and snow areas. There was also some sort of factory facility on the shore of an ocean thrown in.
If you've played any of the previous
Devil May Cry games, you should know what to expect here.
DMC4 is essentially the formula you've grown to love painted in next-gen visuals. The main difference is that you're not playing as Dante - at least, not for a good part of the game. Instead, you play as Nero, a guy who looks a heck of a lot like Dante. Nero has a glowing claw-like appendage that can do things any ordinary arm could never dream of, like grappling faraway objects and bringing them closer, or bringing Dante closer to them (think
Zelda's hookshot). Nero also has a trusty pistol, which he can charge up for more powerful attacks.
Frankly, there wasn't anything surprising here, just another heaping helping of
Devil May Cry. The game still has that tongue-in-cheek dark humor going for it, and you'll be able to pick it up for the Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year.
