Review:

Devil May Cry 4
Capcom -- Mature -- 59.99usd
PS3-Xbox 360

If you know what Devil May Cry is, and like what it does; Devil May Cry 4 will be just for you.
If you however have never heard of DMC or just haven't played any of the previous games, this game is the best entry point for the series.
The story is completely separate from the rest of the series and works on it's own, that is by far the best point of the story, since it's basically very poor, with only a single plot twist that is only there for gameplay purposes, the whole experience is very predictable, but that is to be expected from a combo based hack and slash game.
In this game we play the role of Nero, a young knight in the Order of the Swords, who worships the Devil Warrior Sparda, which just so happens to be lead by an evil madman who seeks to take over the world by creating an army of demon knights lead by a gigantic demonic Saviour.
The story starts out with the leader of this Order is killed by a mysterious assassin that will either be instantly recognizable by fans, or be an introduction to the best character in the game, namely Dante, the previous hero in the DMC series.
I will not waste more time on the story as a whole since it's incredible basic and only serves to push the game forward, what i will however focus on is the characters because they are surprisingly meaty.
Our main hero, Nero, is a young, angry, demon-arm-wearing sword fighter that wants to do the right thing but doesn't want anyone to know, he is also in love with Kyrie, who according to the manual is his sister, but he is adopted so that makes it okay i guess.
The other playable character is Dante who is either love or hate, and I surely fall in the love section, he either features no sense of danger, or he is the absolute most nonchalant protagonist in gaming history, he will literally laugh at danger, dance with bullets and perform classic over-the-top broadway style acting with the enemies.
As for game play it's a basic system that revolves around a simply button mashing combo system, where the the better and longer the combo you perform on enemies the larger the amount of points you get that you use to upgrade your weapons, get new abilities and the likes. The combos are easy to perform and it's easy to connect one attack to another.
Nero and Dante play decidedly different, Nero has a basic setup with one sword, one gun and a devil arm that's basically a grab move, he will later on in the game receive a power-up move that makes all attacks more over the top and deadlier. He also has the ability to rev up his sword the same way you rev a motorcycle, which simply make the following couple of attacks more powerful and a lot better looking, but way too slow to charge up and feels for the most time useless. Dante on the other hand sports several weapons, several guns (including the best weapon of all time, you'll know it when you see it!) and 5 stances that perform slightly differently from one and another.
At a certain point in the story you simply switch from one character to another and then back, getting used to playing a different style of combat keeps the game refreshing but also a little bit annoying because just when you switch you have gotten a real good groove going.
The presentation of the game is both over the top and beautiful, from fantastic looking backgrounds to crazy cut scenes that although sometimes run a bit long should be seen at least once.
The sound part of the game is rather poor though, the acting in the cut scenes are fine, but the sound effects are recycled at an insane rate, you will after the first couple of mobs be tired of hearing Nero shout slamdunk and other stupid catchphrases when he throws enemies to the ground. And then there's the soundtrack, there is about 5 background tracks perhaps, and it's not muzak either, its crazy electronic metal with poor singing that borders on disastrously annoying.
The longevity of the game can be said in 2 simply words, Difficulty Levels, and loads of them too, if you enjoyed the game go ahead and play it again several more times and it gets harder and harder.
To finish this poorly written review off i will say that I mainly enjoyed the game, it has some flaws, and I don't see myself replaying it any time near.

Pros: Solid graphics, over the top crazy combat, and even crazier more over the top cut scenes.
Cons: Terrible soundtrack, boring predictable story, uneven difficulty levels.

7.8