PS3 Debacle, Dante’s Inferno Impressions, and Final Fantasy Myth
So it looks like the PS3 is pretty much finished because of Sony’s asinine idea to couple an unproven media player with an anti-3rd party developer console at an astronomical price that nobody can afford in these recession days ($399? Wow……) Both the Xbox and the Wii cost $199 which is a hell of a deal for two consoles with a strong library of excellent games. Sony blew it before when Apple hijacked the music business. Looks like they blew it again.
I saw the Dante’s Inferno video game preview and I was……disappointed. I know that after the success of Dead Space, EA thinks it can make all types of crap but don’t we already have a superior and proven video game loosely based on Durante degli Alighieri’s masterpiece? Devil May Cry is exactly the type of game Dante would have been loving to play if his extra dead ass were still alive and gaming in hell. Not only is the DMC series funny but you get to blast and slash your way straight to hell and back in every game of the series. This EA bullshit game is going to suck I just know it because they have Dante decked out in stupid ass looking armor slamming crosses on the heads of demons……Ok, ok, EA let’s get something straight. The Divine Comedy is not about some ultra armored dude being all serious and purging the world of evil with metal crosses. If anyone cops this game over DMC then lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate mutherfuckaz!
Besides Final Fantasy VII all the other FF games ain’t shit. Seriously though, FF stopped being cool a long time ago. I just play the rest of them because it is something you do. If you don’t play FF, there is no way you can have a decent conversation with other people. Square Enix knows that which is why they are going to do what they should have down in the first place and make the Final Fantasy universe into one big myth. Dissidia is the fighting game that will finally provide an origin to this crystal and chocobo filled mess. Chaos versus Kosmos in a battle royale to the death between all of the main FF heroes and villains is going to be quite interesting. I won’t touch it with a 6 foot pole, but I am happy that Final Fantasy will finally take the big step towards a myth which will make playing FF 13 all the more sweeter. What do you think about the Final Fantasy series? How excited are you about Dissidia?
The New Prince of Persia: Impressions
While the new Prince of Persia looks beautiful, there are some glaring problems that probably won’t be addressed. First, I am worried about the Prince’s attitude. In the previous games, he was surly, arrogant, noble, kind, and overall very complex. He wasn’t trying to save the world, but he was trying to save his own skin and Persia. In this new game he is trying to save the world for…..what? Plus he doesn’t say anything cool or do any flashy, acrobatic moves like before. Lame……
I think Elika gets in the way of the adventure and you actually care about her less…..In Ico, it was your job to save the helpless Yorda allowing you to become closer to your charge. Elika obviously doesn’t need the Prince to go adventuring since she can fly and do all types of cool stuff the Prince can’t. She outshines the Prince so much this game should be called Elika: Arabian Nights.
No time powers….ok fine but they replace it with a woman? And you can’t even control what she does, she just automatically saves you. What if I don’t want to be saved? Also, you can’t use Elika’s powers to magically affect any of the monsters. She just blasts them with some magical dust…..One of the best parts about the previous PoPs was that you could rewind any mistakes you made and it looked cool to see it in slow motion. No other game around lets you do that even now.
And finally, they missed out some great opportunities to make Prince of Persia more like One Thousand and One Nights. Here are just a few ideas off the top of my head that they could have implemented into the new game:
- A genie system where your secondary character (A genie or some other demon) grants you wishes similar to the time powers (rip it from original PoP series or Full Metal Alchemist)
- A home base that is a castle you can customize (rip it from the Sims)
- As you grow in strength, your genie/demon can grant you better wishes
- A genie related sidequest to obtain riches and customize your wardrobe (rip it from Fable)
- The option to choose a harem (rip it from Fable)
- The opportunity to impress the sultan in order to win his daughter (more Fable)
- Fights on the high seas (like Sinbad and God of War)
- More fights against legendary monsters (rip it from Sinbad, Fable, PoP, God of War)
- A main villain that is actually a man and not a god (this separates it from God of War)
I could go on for days, but you guys get the point. I am not sure what the developers at Ubisoft were thinking when they made this new Prince of Persia game but how could they run out of fun ideas? It is like they never even bothered reading One Thousand and One Nights but decided to rip off Ico, Okami, and Shadows of Colossus. Ico is the best of those games but even Ico fails to stand up to games like Fable and God of War. Okami and Shadows both had decent ideas but they weren’t fun.
After reading the interview in Playstation magazine, it is obvious to see that the developers at Ubisoft have some type of grudge against God of War, a vastly superior game. Their criticisms focused on Kratos specifically. While I agree that Kratos is all rage sans any complexity (especially in GoW II) I think that the game makes up for his lack of depth with high fantasy, brutality, and fun ideas. I loved destroying all the Greek heroes in GoW II especially the fight against the Colossus. PoP II comes close to that formula and adds some emotional depth, but Prince of Persia needs way more brutality and cooler looking monsters (some of the monsters in the new Prince of Persia are a step in the right direction but they are stll way behind even the mundane minions in God of War)
It is funny that the Devil May Cry team even realized they needed way more brutality and cooler enemies but the developers of Prince of Persia decided against that (why?) Instead they decided to make this game more like Assassin’s Creed which was slow and boring. They spent too much time making the environments expansive and beautiful, but nobody cares about that in an action game. People want non-stop, brutally cool lookin action. We want to feel like a bad ass and not some pussy who needs to be saved by some flying bitch. And Fable has taught us that being a hero, slaughtering your foes, seducing the babes, and stacking up the riches are a large part of what “fantasy” is all about. Too bad the guys at Prince of Persia don’t understand that.
Game Tactics: How To Force Your Girl To Like Games
When I first started playing Final Fantasy Tactics in high school, I had a girlfriend with a very cute face and large breasts. I used to make her watch me play Final Fantasy Tactics which was probably like Chinese water torture for her because Tactics is a strategy game that moves at a snails pace. How did I make this very cute chick stomach the sight of me ACTIVELY paying no attention to her whatsoever? Because I named my female samurai after her and used her a lot when she was there (later on I let this same samurai die during an epic battle) If you want your girl to stop complaining about Halo, Madden, Xenosaga, or any other game you are playing, create a character in the game using her name. force that bitch to play games with you, or buy her a video game she would be interested in,
Before your chick starts even opening her mouth about your gaming habit, say “hey baby, come here, I’ll teach you how to play this game.” Don’t worry, you aren’t doing this to actually play games with her forever or some dovey shit like that. You are basically going to teach her a lesson. You are going to kick her ass in this game so bad that she is going to recognize your dominance over her and all gamingdom. Because secretly women think they can beat dudes at video games. It is like a woman’s secret fantasy to kick your ass at video games because chicks think that gaming is silly and childish plus they want revenge for all the times we ignore them while getting our game on. So you have to show her just how cool, just how totally video game buff you are by kicking the shit out of her while she struggles with the controls! The next best thing is to invite your chump friend over and kick HIS ass right in front of her. That will make her think you are a video game god and that your gaming time is special in order for you to be her dominant man. She’ll stop complaining and harassing you over night!
Another way to shut her up is to take her video game shopping. I took one of my ex-girls to Den Den Town and bought her Fahrenheit, otherwise known as The Indigo Prophecy. She really sucked at playing it but she let me finish it off for her while she watched it (it is great when chicks can’t play video games because you get to play for her if she messes up) She really enjoyed Fahrenheit because it had a great mystery/suspense story. Chicks dig killer stories and scary games. Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil are all game series that you can use to introduce your chick to gaming. Don’t introduce your chick to fantasy games unless she is a video game veteran. Final Fantasy and Star Ocean are way to fantastic for the average chick whose brain can’t process that type of creativity. When you are cool and manly enough to make extra game time specifically for your girl, she won’t care how much you ignore her while you play Fallout 3. She’ll be too busy cooking up some nice food in the kitchen thinking about how awesome you are.
Make sure that you are very careful when you force your girl to like games because your methods could backfire on you. One of my ex girls was so good at Street Fighter II that she beat the fuck out of me every match we played. I didn’t even win one match…..Basically I was pissed so the next day I took her to Blockbuster and rented Tekken 3 along with Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. When we returned to my apartment, I proceeded to kick her ass in both of these games for at least 3 hours straight. I had to do that in order to display my dominance over her. If you are going to destroy your girl in games, make sure you pick Virtua Fighter because even if you know the moves, you have no chance of winning against a veteran. Street Fighter, Tekken, the horrible Dragonball Sparking games, and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 allow button mashers and turtles to win games, but a quick skim of the Virtua Fighter handbook and knowledge of the controls will help you kick the shit out of any novice. So be a man, force your girl to like games, and shut her silly ass up for good.
Dead Space
Prior to playing Dead Space, I didn’t know anything about this game other than a few screen shots. I didn’t have any interest in it until I found out that the main character’s name is Isaac Clarke, an obvious nod to one of the kings of modern sci-fi Isaac Asimov (the dude wrote I, Robot) So I picked it up for PS3 because Xbox 360 is so 2007–I’m a conceited bastard like that. Anyhoo, Dead Space is the scariest fucking game I have ever played. It’s way scarier than Silent Hill 4, Bioshock, and Resident Evil 3-4, which are some pretty frightening games. Dead Space revolutionizes survival horror by combining new gameplay mechanics, relentless swarms of enemies, the coolest weapon evar, and a commitment to never let you relax for more than a second.
Let’s face it, space fucking sucks. I would hate to be in zero gravity for more than a few hours. Dead Space makes you hate zero gravity because you should when you got sharp shooting aliens on your ass. When you enter zero gravity with or without oxygen, you know it is time to haul ass. I had fun jumping from one wall to the next trying to get a decent shot on some alien scum or just running away like a coward. The only problem is that you can’t aim at any aliens while floating around. I can’t wait for Dead Space 2 so I can look ridiculously cool blasting alien skulls like a space cowboy.
Resident Evil 4 introduced swarms of enemies all attacking at once. Dead Space takes it even further because enemies can come for your ass at anytime and anyplace. I don’t care if you want to use that save point, there’s an enemy in there and I know you can hear it. I don’t care if you are in zero gravity and an enemy flies out of nowhere on top of your head mauling you to death. And when you thought you esaped some enemies, a dozen more pop out hidden in ventilation shafts. And if there aren’t enough enemies around, that disgusting alien freak will make some in the most gruesome and terrifying way imaginable right before your eyes. I’ve never seen anything so evil in a game to the point where I am like a deer staring at them headlights.
I like the fact that most of the weapons in Dead Space are useless. Why? Because you only need the coolest weapon evar imagined—a gun that can shoot a buzz saw style shuriken to slice and dice enemies like ginsu. Nothing…seriously nothing is cooler than this gun. Even when enemies were long dead, I would still be sawing them to bits just to relieve some stress. I know that Painkiller has a gun that can shoot shurikens and lightning and that is great and all, but does it have a gun that can shoot shurikens AND use that shit like a buzzsaw? You can even freeze enemies and chop them up in mid air! Watch their slimy body parts float around in space. Yeah I did that…….
Dead Space, no matter how fun and revolutionary it is, has serious problems similar to the fucked up problems that made Star Wars: The Force Unleashed all messed up despite how much fun it was. The story left a lot more to be desired. I don’t think they did a good job mixing all of the sci-fi elements they borrowed from other novels, movies, and games. For example, the monolith from 2001: Space Odyssey and the crawlers from Aliens just don’t mix no matter how cool it is to see in a game. How are these aliens being produced? You get an explanation but then the final boss fight totally nullifies what you previously learned. So you feel like you are getting pulled in a million different potentially cool directions by a horribly written story. The plot definitely has a nice brisk pace (because they jacked it from Bioshock), but it is bogged down by too many fetch quests. Instead of having you run around fixing and finding shit, they could have you fix just one area and spend the rest of the game exploring dark secrets and the motivations of interesting characters.
The camera also gets in your way quite often, especialy in zero gravity. It is cool that you have total control of it, but it sucks to get constantly mauled by aliens because you can’t see them. I know it adds to the atmosphere of the game but they should at least give the player a slight chance to see what’s going on. Resident Evil 4 and even Ninja Gaiden allow you to center the camera behind you so I don’t see why Dead Space wouldn’t have that option.
I liked most of the characters but some were just superfluous while others should have gotten way more action. There is a certain character that you end up speaking too often that should have been cut from the game because he doesn’t contribute anything extra that you don’t know from the audio and video logs. The creators of Dead Space try to shove this guy down your throat while the player is like “alright I got it already, he’s a dick!” Also certain plot twists in the game are shocking only because they make absolutely no sense. Why ruin a potentially good character just because you want a plot twist? In Bioshock the plot twist worked because everything about the character changes. In Dead Space, nothing changes at all and you are left scratching your head like “why did she/he do that?”
Dead Space is the second best game of the year besides MGS4. I can’t say that it is better than Resident Evil 4 or even Bioshock. It is definitely a scarier game that’s for certain but scares aren’t the only reason people play games. If they were, the original Silent Hill team would still be making sequels. Gameplay and a focused storyline are way more important. Dead Space is like the Silent Hill of this new tech era. Many companies are going to create sci-fi action/horror games from now on. Let’s just hope that Dead Space 2 improves on a pretty good formula to stay competitive in the future. What do you think about Dead Space? Do you hate it or love it and why?
Xenosaga in Retrospect
According to the “Xenogears Perfect Works” book, Episode 5 (Xenogears by Square Enix) began in the year 9999 T.C. (Transcend Christ). Xenosaga’s episodes 1-3 concerns ages prior, specifically part of the 7th Millennium, the years between 4743 through 4767 T.C. So what happened between 4767 and 9999? I guess we will never find out because the Xenosaga series pretty much tanked financially. Thus, the series will remain unfinished (which is probably a good thing….) Monolith, the company who created Xenosaga, may have some of the most creative CG geniuses, they obviously don’t have many talented writers or philosophers. A word to the wise: when you are dealing withcomplex philosophical and psychological material, you need to find a way to make it coherent. Sometimes you need to do more copying and less creating. Monolith probably tried hard (and failed), but Xenosaga fails to deliver a satisfying experience because nothing makes any sense.
Xenosaga’s episode titles are jacked straight from Nietzsche’s philosophy and most famous works. The Will to Power, Beyond Good and Evil, and Thus Spake Zarathustra are episode’s 1-3 respectively. Unfortunately, Nietzsche is probably turning in his grave because the series barely scratches the surface of his philosophy (unlike Xenogears which had Square on Monolith’s or Mr. Takahashi’s ass to deliver a quality game) Nietzsche pretty much said that God is dead, morals suck, reason sucks, and the will to power keeps humans alive and prospering. Xenosaga (especially episode 3) is about….nonsense. Most of the main characters live, fight, and die for nothing which is supposed to be ”salvation” If space has already been explored and science rules, what was the point of waxing philosophic about life so hard? Mankind as we know it would have already ceased to exist way before any Gnosis or Zohar.
In the book Thus Spake Zarathustra, Zarathustra is a prophet who teaches the people about the coming of the “superman” as well as the truth about life. I think that Zarathustra should have been the narrator or main character of the game in order to explain why mankind is on the brink of extinction. Instead, Zarathustra is a very corny, lame, cheap as fuck boss in episode 3. Also characters like Margulis, Pellegri, Dr. Mizrahi, Kevin, Vergil, Voyager (somewhat), Kanaan, and even Albedo (instead of Jr.) were far more interesting than the whole retarded storyline. Besides Jin, KOS-MOS (until disc 2), and Ziggy the rest of the main characters were just too “holy”, cute, and supernatural for a space odyssey. I mean Star Wars is pretty much the limit of how far you can go with mumbo jumbo religious tripe and George Lucas might have gone too far with the prequel trilogies. And is it just me or is chaos the most vapid character in your party? Even KOS-MOS with her calculating, mechanical voice has more emotion and charisma than him.
Why is the main character a woman…..and a very annoying one at that? Shion Uzuki is probably the worst video game heroine evar. She’s weak, unreliable, untrustworthy, dumb, and in love with the wrong type of guy or the weakest guy she can find. In fact she is just like most women, which is fine but not for a video game goddammit. You put that type of character on the sidelines far from the action. Nietzsche pretty much viewed women as “dangerous playthings” at best. Other than their role as mothers, he pretty much thought women were a diversion, and I definitely agree. Instead of focusing on the men who really get the job done, Xenosaga wastes time focusing on a female lead who blunders from folly to folly like most women…..but who wants to play a game based on the reality of most chicks? No wonder it didn’t sell any units…..
Is there anything left to say about Xenosaga after I just tore it a new one? Not one episode in the series comes even close to the masterpiece that is Xenogears. You only had 2 females in your party and they were badass in a good way. The main character, Fei, was a beast and his mecha was almost as cool as Unit 01 from Evangelion. Citan is ten times better than Jin. And Bart was like the anime version of Han Solo. The story was way more focused on Fei and his life instead of all the philosophy crap because Xenogears paid way more homage to Nietzsche, Carl Jung, sci-fi movies, and even Evil Dead. So if you are interested in Xenosaga, don’t even bother. Just play Xenogears for PS1 and save your time and money.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is pure fan service mixed with some pretty weak game play that will make your hair turn white with frustration. Make sure that you read an F.A.Q. when you play this game and prepare to die quite often. The story is about Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. Dude is sent to hunt down the last remaining Jedi Knights who survived the slaughtering at the Jedi temple and the Emperor’s infamous code 66. This game bridges the gap between episode 3 and 4 so it is kind of an unfair must buy. And buy it I did at the import store in Den Den Town. I thoroughly enjoyed the game but I felt the game play was terrible.
There once was a game called Oni for PS2. The main character was a Ghost in the Shell, Major Kusanagi type broad. I thought I would enjoy the game but there were too many controls to remember. People don’t file taxes for fun do they? Will neither do they have fun playing Oni or this Star Wars abortion. When a game has not one but two target lock on buttons that do two totally different things, you know you shouldn’t even touch it. How much sense does it make to have to lock on with one button just to lock on again with……another button? Why not just use one button? And why not just allow the player to switch between force powers on the fly instead of mapping 1 power to 1 button? That way you don’t need two lock on buttons. A logical conclusion right? Not to Lucasarts…..
The biggest game play problem is that the main character doesn’t feel like a sith apprentice or even a jedi. Jedi’s don’t double jump and dash…..They jump high in the air or they run real fast for one movie (The Phantom Menace) I also missed the force choke, the jedi mind trick, and different lightsaber fighting styles. In fact, the lightsaber is pretty weak in this game. The various crystals and force upgrades do very little to make lightsaber battles interesting. The force powers are impressive though. I enjoyed throwing stormtroppers and aliens around like rag dolls into bottomless pits and the abyss. It never gets old making me wonder why they didn’t just focus on force lightning and force grip only. The rest of the force powers are useless so they could have easily spent more time working on lightsaber customization and better force powers.
Some famous Star Wars characters that really should have appeared in this game are nowhere to be seen. Instead, you are forced to care about very minor characters with little back story. The biggest let down was that you don’t get to play the whole game as Darth Vadar. I would have enjoyed the game so much more if I got to use the sith lord. The main character is actually pretty cool though. He reminds me of Raziel from Legacy of Kain. He is a pretty complex character that deserves better than this game actually delivers.
If you love Star Wars, buy the game. If you don’t skip it. You will definitely have a good time playing Unleashed but don’t expect too much. I didn’t expect for the game to be that good so I wasn’t upset when the controls were clunky and the camera drunk. If I had a penny for how many times I died from another random blaster shot or rocket I’d be Youtube rich. I thought jedis could deflect those…….What do you think about the Force Unleashed? How did you handle the frustrating game play?
Persona 4 ペルソナ
I never had any luck with Shin Megami Tensei games. I played Nocturne, Digital Devil part 1, Raidou, and even that horrible game for Xbox. When my friend started praising Persona 3, I wondered if he had ever played a Megaten game. I was skeptical and afraid. I didn’t want to waste my money again on a game with superior marketing but inferior graphics and game-play. But the hype men kept getting louder and louder. I wanted to shut them up once and for all. And I was curious. I decided to skip Persona 3 and head straight to Persona 4. Surely Atlus had finally resolved the problems I have with their games. I was wrong.
On the surface, Persona 4 is a fun game that benefits from brilliant marketing. Even though I hate Jpop, the Persona 4 soundtrack was a pleasant surprise. I like when Japanese females rap and sing in Engrish (not English) because it sounds cute. Even though I heard the same songs over and over again, I never got tired of them. Shihoko Hirata nails the opening theme, which is my personal favorite. The Persona 4 soundtrack is worth purchasing if you want to listen to decent Jpop.
What happened to the rest of the game? The plot is focused on a small town murder mystery that no one seems to care about. After you save your first 3 friends from the “TV killer” (really…..) the plot starts to get silly. New characters are rushed in and out without any back-story or significant dialogue. Thus, they aren’t logically linked to the murders. Random clues and leads are discovered and then forgotten immediately. I lost interest in the story because the plot wasn’t focused.
I decided to have fun with the mini games instead. The Grand Theft Auto sandbox game-play was very entertaining. I liked building relationships with my friends, attending school, and working part time jobs. Allowing your character to level up without having to grind was pure genius. The sandbox environment and the mini games should be the main focus of Persona 5.
Persona 4’s battle system is archaic. Why, oh my god why, do you have to lose the entire battle if your main character dies? Why is the Persona series still turn based? Why can’t I choose my Persona skills? Why is the main character’s Persona the weakest? Why are most Personas useless? At least you can see the enemies on the screen and avoid them. If I couldn’t run away from the countless annoying enemies who give me very little experience, I would have sold the game a week earlier.
And finally the graphics look worst than Final Fantasy VII. That is PS1 level dude! Jesus Christ, isn’t this a PS2 game? The art is cool and slick, but the animation sucks. The dungeons are generic, repeating versions of the exact same rooms. The town isn’t so bad, but there are only like 5 places you can go.
I was right and my friend was wrong. He never played a Megaten game but I have. I should have known that all the glaring problems would reappear even in 2008. I advise you to avoid Persona 4 and any other Shin Megami Tensei game unless you are into crappy games with a shiny marketing polish. What do you think of Persona 4? Do hate it or love it and why?
Metal Gear Solid 4 メタルギアソリッド
After playing Metal Gear Solid 4 I was speechless. I was so blown away by the game’s message, presentation, and dialogue that I almost forgot that I just beat the first and last real game for the PS3. There I said it. Yeah I saw the FFXIII trailer but I wasn’t excited. It looks like more Advent Children too much stylish action stuff. If I ever make a game it is going to be called Stylish Action Gets You Killed. Just give me a shotgun so I can blow the damned things head off and continue the story.
But getting back to Metal Gear Solid 4, I am not going to say anything you haven’t heard already. It is the best game out right now and probably for the rest of the year. The story line resembles the migrain that was Metal Gear Solid 2, but that story line grew on me because it is how things happen in real life . You can bust your ass for hours and hours but fail to really accomplish anything on your own. In the end, you might just have to whup some poor dude’s ass for the sake of vengence or because something horrible might happen to you if you don’t.
I like how Kojima pounds home the fact that Snake is no hero. He is just a guy fighting for himself pretty much. He might have goals that coincide with those of the other characters, but in the end, he wants to accomplish missions for himself. It’s not that he wants personal glory or riches. He fights to understand who he really is.
The game controls were tight and responsive as always. I felt that there were way too many guns, but I am glad they give you the option to shoot your way out similar to the Hitman series. The camo system is still the best in the genre and goes beyond what you expect for a sneaking suit. Any game with a suit that can blend in with any surrounding like a chameleon….is Metal Gear Solid 4 only.
In fact MGS4 has several other unique game play options. The solid eye blends the night vision, binoculars, and standard radar into one gizmo. Only the thermo setting was missing, but that would have probably been overkill. You also get to use the MK II, Otacon’s small robot. You can use MK II to fetch ammo, stun guards, and survey the area.
If you want to nitpick, and I will, the only problem with the game is the graphics. I was expecting Bioshock and Mass Effect quality graphics and while MGS4 looks great, I felt it was just a cut and paste of MGS3 onto the PS3. Kojima said that he was displeased with the graphics and I can see why. The graphics aren’t terrible, but they aren’t next gen which is what everyone wants.
Play MGS4 at your own risk though. The nostalgia is pretty brutal especially considering that most games suck nowadays. I felt that end of MGS4 is like the end of real games. Maybe this is the last real game I will be able to enjoy from start to finish. And that is way too sad to think about right now…..
Devil May Cry 4: Nero
This game’s story sucks. Sorry, I just had to start there. Wait, no I’m not finished. In the next one they better explain Nero’s purpose in the series other than being an excuse to putting a Kratos like character in Devil May Cry. Who is he, Sparda reborn? If he is, that’s lame. Anyway, lets get into this.
As my compatriot stated in his review of DMC4 , I played Nero to his Dante . This youtube clip breaks down Nero’s game play very clearly. He’s a real easy character to get a handle on. But the clip doesn’t get one thing across to you, and that’s how great it is to play with upstart Nero. Yeah, you get to manhandle the bosses left and right in this game with your ultra cheesy devil arm, but you better believe doing so is not only visually amazing, but damned fun. Even though he’s more one dimensional with his fighting moves than Dante, you can really beat the crap outta everything around you in hilarious style. Unlike Japan Man, I like the fact that you were forced to deal with enemies and bosses differently when it came to both characters, although in that same breath I felt that same fact was used just to short change the players on more content. And since that last sentence hinted on issues I had with this game, we might as well continue in that direction.
I hate all of the side missions, even the easy ones. Why? Many reasons my dear readers of this post. You see, the side missions have a way of bringing mechanical flaws in the game to light, like how the devil arm will force you to overshoot your mark. Nothing like using it to pull you up to a boss for an aerial combo that misses because even though it put you closer, your still out of range to attack. Ah, how I love swinging at air so a boss or hyped up minion can knock the shit outta me. Also in mission # 2 where you gotta do 5 aerial busters in a row without touching the ground, hit detection problems arise while you’re trying to grab those bastards. Magically when you pull them up again they’ll be out of range for the slam. Oh yeah secret mission # 5, sky scrapper. That one ’s horrible. Bad enough I hate platform jumping, but how am I supposed to avoid the platform jump thing and a gate, and land on it if I can’t even see it yet? I swear I did that one like 30 times before I got it.
In the end Playing Devil May Cry 4 was as satisfying as you would expect it to be, even if its flawed. As in the previous Installments in this series (yes, even part 2) Devil May Cry 4 is full of fast pace action, stunning visuals, and entertaining characters. If you want the game to be challenging, just play it on hard. It was definetely worth the 54$ (we bought the limited edition used, minus the extra disk) we spent on it.
Devil May Cry 4: Dante
I have purchased and played all the Devil May Cry games in the series. I couldn’t even imagine playing another character besides Dante. In fact, Devil May Cry is the only action game that allows me to destroy monsters the way I like. Unlike Ninja Gaiden’s stiff and restricted protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, I have free reign over Dante. I was disappointed when I realized I would have to play with lame clone Nero for Devil May Cry 4. Luckily, Darkmane and I have a history of tackling games together. He agreed to play Nero and write his review based on playing him. I want to thank Darkmane for taking the pressure off of me and allowing me to do what I do best: slaughter demons with my favorite trash talking bastard demon hunter Dante.
Dante’s combat tactics remain pretty much unchanged from the rest of the Devil May Cry series. He can still bust off his duel pistols Ebony and Ivory and blast foes with his shotgun. Dante’s default sword, Rebellion, is also there with pretty much the same moves like Stinger (my favorite!).
The style system introduced in Devil May Cry 3 is also one of my favorite additions to the Devil May Cry series. Dante has four styles to choose from; gunslinger, sword master, royal guard, and trickster can all be used on the fly from the moment you start playing him in DMC 4. DMC 3 only allowed you to equip one style at a time, which makes this game ten times more bad ass.
Playing as Dante in Devil May Cry 4 is like using Mario after pulling off the extra life trick on world 3-1….you just can’t lose. After I maxed out the trickster style which allows me to both teleport (similar to Dragonball Z) and dodge faster, I basically ran around beating on demons like they stole something. Just when I thought using Dante couldn’t get any easier, they give you over powered weapons like Pandora’s Box, a briefcase that can turn into like 5 different weapons (there are probably more, but I didn’t unlock them yet…) Using Dante was such a breeze that I kind of lost interest in the game while fighting the last master. Luckily, I had my fun with Dante and was able to let Darkmane finish everything with Nero.
There were problems with using Dante though…pretty significant problems. First, the bosses were made for Nero. The devil trigger Nero uses can take down most of the bosses with no problem, while I had to haul ass, dodge, and wear them down with Dante. I think Capcom should have given Dante a devil trigger like ability that influences the actual game play instead of just some more hyped up weapons.
Second, Dante’s episodes were all backtracking reruns of Nero’s exploits. He doesn’t go anywhere new or explore any new leads, which I thought was both ridiculous and a missed opportunity. Why couldn’t Dante be fighting a larger threat while just helping Nero along the way? How could Capcom regulate their top action hero to back up duty? Can anyone say “Raiden”?
The third and final problem is that my play time with Dante was waaaay too short. I must have only been gaming for 4 hours and then it was over. Nero gets way more face time even though his storyline was pretty garbage in my opinon. At least Nero isn’t Sasuke emo because that would have really made me angry.
Devil May Cry 4 is a great game though. The graphics and visuals are amazing and the gameply is tight like vice grips. I wish I could have had some more time with Dante, but c’est la vie. Maybe Capcom will hype Nero and Dante up some more for Devil May Cry 5 making it a win win for everyone.
-
Japan Man Photos
More Photos
