I know Yahtzee's style is to focus on the negative, after all thats whats funny. But when combat is 90% of the game, one shouldn't be taking away gold stars because of 10 minutes of poorly designed platforming (Yahtzee should try Ninja Gaiden) and a couple of playing board style segments (which I can also admit, wasn't the best design choice). I dunno, maybe if I watch it later I'll enjoy it more.

*finds a gold star and puts it on the box* :)

NeoSpriggan:
Being a fan, and at the same time sane, i cant really help but agree on most points, the ones i dont being the ones that are a part of the series and make it fun. But the retreading of everything i already did just annoys me, the adding of a "replacement" when Dante is only 29, the fact that they took Dante's moves and tried to "mix it up a bit" by cocking them up and made him react so fast that my fingers got cramps stringing combos together. But my biggest gripe of all is its too dam EASY! Devil Hunter is what Human mode should be, its an insult to play this after DMC3, where i fought with every ounce of my being to prove my gaming caliber, only to be thrown some twats "idea" of what the next game should be. I would have settled for a half assed story with just Dante and the difficulty double on what i would call the easy mode.

And as for Nero, why did they make the dam arm of his so ridiculously effective? Every move it does knocks off insane amounts of health on otherwise fairly tough enemies. The lack of new weapons is sad too, the gloves and boots are shoddy copies of BeoWulf's ones, the weird dart throwing shoulder majigger (i cant even be bothered to remember its name) is barely useful, Pandora is cool but takes too long to transform and leaves you vulnerable.

Sorry if i annoyed anyone with this rant, i was just so disappointed in it, especially since it took so long to come out, they had more than enough time to design more levels and weapons!

Honestly dude, DMC 3 wasn't THAT much harder. Once you got past Cerberus the difficulty kind of mellows out. It stays challenging, but loses the masochistic edge. By the way their ARE higher difficulties settings...

Nero's throws do a lot of damage but many of them take several seconds to execute, leaving you wide open. I mean try doing using it while fighting a group of plant lizards and see how chewed up you get.

Lucifer (the majigger) barely useful? Were we even playing the same game? That has to be the single most unbalanced weapon in the entire series (second being the shotgun in DMC 1). Here's what you do, go to the power-up menu and buy an attack called "Pin-up". Then, find the nearest big enemy and start spamming Foward+Y/Triangle. Heck, try it on a boss ;).

I'm not completely sure where all that development time went either, I assumed it went into all of Dante's moves and all the darn cut scenes. Either way, I was pretty satisfied with everything the game had to offer with the exception of the brain-dead story, which has never been one of the series strong points.

OK, I'll start with praise for this weeks Zero Punctuation.

Yet another entertaining, yet informative review. Joke, great. Your message about 99.9% of Japanese Anime, well understood.

Now to Devil May Cry 4.

I was fortunant enough NOT to buy it, since i won a game of Team Fortres 2 against a family member, with the loser having to buy it for all of us to play. And after an hhour or so, I actually threw the controller into the wall, causing about $500 in damages.

Now, I'm not one to just do this at random, I even played through FFXII (don't ask me why), and the urge to destroy something didn't fall over me like tar and feathers. So, this just points out the absolute shitiness this game is.

Where was I, oh yes, ZP.

Keep up the fine work, for its one of the only thing which causes me to cry with laughter apart from, well, a Xbox 360 controller going through someone's wall.

Seriously. Its very true...this game is not that great, very much in accordance with this earlier article:

http://guitarheroine.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/devil-may-cry-4-is-not-that-great/

Kermi:

TheFitcher:
and parts just untrue (i.e. the end dice game lasting an hour. Plus there is a shortcut for it anyway

Please advise of shortcut. I've watched my fiancee play the final boss-run dice game twice. The first time took 15 minutes because she got lucky. The first time took over an hour because she didn't. The difficulty of each was inconsequential - it just took longer. Donig the same thing over and over, taking four times as long as it should simply because of game-generated luck.

SPOILERS:

Basically, you just use the buster to hit the die when it is showing the number you want on top, then bingo, it'll land on that number again when it stops rolling. So theoretically, you can count the spaces till the next yellow "ladder" or orb space and wait till the die turns so that it has that number on top, buster it, wait for it to land and there we are. Might take a couple of tries to get the timing down but it's really easy. You can probably use another attack, but the buster is quick so you have less chance of messing up the timing.

LOL You are amazing Yahtzee.

Kermi:

Once again Yahtzee brings up very real flaws in the game, mocks the hell out of them and I enjoy myself - despite the fact I also enjoyed playing the game in question. Yes, the opening credits video was really far too long but I do recall (after watching the third or so cutscene in a row) turning to my fiancee who was watching in rapt attentiveness her first DMC game ever and advising her "We're ten minutes in, I haven't done anything yet, and I don't care". She agreed.

She is also, incidentally, far better at the bloody game than I am.

Couldn't agree with you more. I put the disc in as soon as I got home from work...warmed up a plate of pizza rolls, came in right as the title screen cinematic/cool thing (when you're at the tile screen and you don't touch your controller for a few minutes it'll play...what's that called?)started...was entranced by that (made me even more pumped to play the game). Then, I start the game, and watch the cut-scenes at the beginning. Two incredibly long cinematics...and it was good.
Both the review and the game are great. I loved the review even though I have a preference for cinematic heavy games. The game was great for me mainly because I'm a semi-perfectionist and enjoy the struggle that is Dante must Die mode (2nd Dante fight is impossible unless you cheat-grab like the guy did on the youtube video...shameful) and have spent at least 30-40 hours on the game...most games last me 20 at most...very good buy if you enjoy skilled hack n slash (oxymoron that fits this game)...makes me look forward to Ninja Gaiden 2 even more.

Also. I love how these forums are usually non-flammable because of moderators...but still, try not to pick a fight with other users...it just leads to crap that I have to read without actually getting anything insightful out of it. And for future knowledge, saying "no offense, but you're a blatant moron/liar/bastard" kind of neutralizes the "no offense" part...you meant to offend...either be a man and admit that you're insulting them...or a better solution is to keep your mouth shut. Sorry for the tangent.

Best review yet, I thought it was incredible until you used Weapon of Choice at the end, and then I had to go watch the video on youtube 8 times. Thank you Yahtze, my day was turning out to suck up until this point. Now I'm happy and am content for the sucking to continue.

love this review

Another gem, Yahtzee

Though I'm surprised he didn't comment on the best part in the entire game. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played through it, but it involves Dante and the incredibly obnoxious board (bored) game level.

Anyone else find it frustrating that nobody in the game ever acknowledges that Nero and Dante are exact carbon copies of one another?

Once again, Yatzee hit it right on the head. I know that games are a matter of preference, but really there is no reason for anyone to defend that piece of utter crap.

The only reason I kept playing was so that I could see the bosses, which are really the only thing worthy of attention in this game. I was trilled when I saw the demon, thinking "hey thats the 1st boss, imagine the other", but then I got screwed, the "other" were as lame as an evening with the in-laws. I was trilled when I saw the "Savior", I though it would beat for sure the Colossus battle in God Of War, only to be faced with a pussy priest to kill instead. Which I did. And then he was alive again, just like what had happened minutes ago in the cutscene. I mean, why bother even fighting the guy when you just saw a freaking cutscene telling you how amazingly resilient that old fart is.

But then something weird happens, they made me redo all the levels in the reverse order. Not a beautiful set of levels either, just some crappy stupid levels that I had come to hate the first time I did them.

Not only that, but the game is the easiest thing I played since pong, but then they throw those impossible "secret" mission in your face. Those missions should have been the game, with the regular level hidden as bonus.

And the whole "I'm smug, but I'm cool" thing was ridiculous. I watch my share of Japanimation, and even the worse of them have more depth to their characters. There is no excuse to come up with that kind of protagonists, only to do it again with his "nemesis"! The whole Dante VS Nero is so cheesy, it remind me of the times I (used to) pass in front of a mirror pretending that my reflection is some though guy.

Here is a good scenario for Capcom for DMC 5:
*Nero, Swinging my big ass sword*
"You talking to me?... YOU TALKING TO ME? Then who the hell are you talk.. you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here"

By chance, I played on the 360. I was damn happy not to have lost 20 minutes installing this crap of a game. This is the only positive thing I can say about the game... The gun/sword combo are only cool for so long, seeing as you do the same crap about 2000 times, only to do them again. Trying to make amazing combos gets old fast when you went through a particular room 10 times because of poor level design.

Anyway :)

Gutterpunk:
Once again, Yatzee hit it right on the head. I know that games are a matter of preference, but really there is no reason for anyone to defend that piece of utter crap.

The only reason I kept playing was so that I could see the bosses, which are really the only thing worthy of attention in this game. I was trilled when I saw the demon, thinking "hey thats the 1st boss, imagine the other", but then I got screwed, the "other" were as lame as an evening with the in-laws. I was trilled when I saw the "Savior", I though it would beat for sure the Colossus battle in God Of War, only to be faced with a pussy priest to kill instead. Which I did. And then he was alive again, just like what had happened minutes ago in the cutscene. I mean, why bother even fighting the guy when you just saw a freaking cutscene telling you how amazingly resilient that old fart is.

But then something weird happens, they made me redo all the levels in the reverse order. Not a beautiful set of levels either, just some crappy stupid levels that I had come to hate the first time I did them.

Not only that, but the game is the easiest thing I played since pong, but then they throw those impossible "secret" mission in your face. Those missions should have been the game, with the regular level hidden as bonus.

And the whole "I'm smug, but I'm cool" thing was ridiculous. I watch my share of Japanimation, and even the worse of them have more depth to their characters. There is no excuse to come up with that kind of protagonists, only to do it again with his "nemesis"! The whole Dante VS Nero is so cheesy, it remind me of the times I (used to) pass in front of a mirror pretending that my reflection is some though guy.

Here is a good scenario for Capcom for DMC 5:
*Nero, Swinging my big ass sword*
"You talking to me?... YOU TALKING TO ME? Then who the hell are you talk.. you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here"

By chance, I played on the 360. I was damn happy not to have lost 20 minutes installing this crap of a game. This is the only positive thing I can say about the game... The gun/sword combo are only cool for so long, seeing as you do the same crap about 2000 times, only to do them again. Trying to make amazing combos gets old fast when you went through a particular room 10 times because of poor level design.

Anyway :)

Suspicious...or a typo...you claim to have spent 20 minutes installing it...yet the 360 version doesn't install itself on to the hard drive at all. Only the PS3 version installs...

DMC4 was so fucking cheesy. I do like Neros voice actor, though. He did a good job. Or at least the best job he COULD with all that crappy dialog. But seriously, it fucking SCREAMED MGS2. It's like they weren't even trying to hide it.

Yes, the fanboy hate against MGS2 was quite hilarious. Raiden was very pussy-whipped, but I don't think he was a bad character... Oh well, Great Review, I agree 100%.

that was a nice cuckel turned into a fit of laughter...ahhhh amazing

X nosgoth X:
Jiki, are you German? I don't mean anything by that, but the way you put a period behind numbers instead of saying 1st, 2nd and 3rd is something German grammar also does.

No, I'm Estonian, but I figure we have a lot of stuff common with Germans because of being under their rule for some time and stuff like that. :P

Veev:
The Amber Spyglass wan't that bad was it? A little confusing....maybe.

The recent movie mucked up the Northern Lights though something firece.

Steven Erikson is confusing, The Amber Spyglass was just a disappointment. :P And lets not even get into the books->movie thingy, they usually always suck when you ask the fans of the original series (well, for me LOTR is an exception, but only because Jackson presented us his interesting version of LOTR while other directors try pathetically to turn good books into fast mainstream movies, a great example of those are the potter movies which I absolutely loath although I'm a big Potter fan :$).

About DMC3 - I accidentally played it on hard so I barely got to level 18 with my pathetic skill (it was my first Japanese stylish-fighting game ever) and almost got an heard-attack when I figured out that I gotta fight the bosses again, only now they seemed harder. Quit the game same day. :P

Now the anime part - I'm a pretty big fan of anime, but it's basically like live-action movies - there's tons of genres, some you like, some you don't and as it happens to be I dislike a lot of genres in anime, but still love some enough to call myself an anime fan. :)

Sentient Muffin:

Gutterpunk:
(...)
By chance, I played on the 360. I was damn happy not to have lost 20 minutes installing this crap of a game. This is the only positive thing I can say about the game... The gun/sword combo are only cool for so long, seeing as you do the same crap about 2000 times, only to do them again. Trying to make amazing combos gets old fast when you went through a particular room 10 times because of poor level design.

Anyway :)

Suspicious...or a typo...you claim to have spent 20 minutes installing it...yet the 360 version doesn't install itself on to the hard drive at all. Only the PS3 version installs...

Well seeing as I said that "I was damn happy not to have lost 20 minutes installing this crap of a game", I'm not sure why you think that I did :)

ZenMonkey47:
(...)
Anyone else find it frustrating that nobody in the game ever acknowledges that Nero and Dante are exact carbon copies of one another?

Same here. The whole time during the game I though "Well maybe Nero is Dante that came back in time, or his illegitimate son or something". Not just that he has the same abilities. Being able to do the same thing as the next guy doesn't mean I have to act and steal his wardrobe. If it was the case, I'd sport Bill Gates' glasses and get my clothes at Programmers 'r'Us.

On a side note, I am all for big breasted blob of pixels, they give me something to look at while the cheesy story unfold, but why the heck was she in the castle? I never saw her there, I never saw anything she had done either. Apparently I need to learn how to use trampolines and go through walls to play, while she just go around without any other skills than having big boobs. She *works* for the bad guy, so she probably came from the secret lab in the basement, and still she had to carve her way through the said bad guys, and exit through a windows.

Maybe she did it to confuse Nero, or try to befriend him, but instead she just go away, never to be seen again. Instead of introducing a new dangerous/interesting character, they cop out and recycle an old one, which might look into staying a crazy sexy Barbie doll with white hairs instead of trying to be the blonde next door.

Hopefully they select their other employees with more care. Oh wait... no they dont... The whole organization was as dumb as the good guys are uber cool.

I've never really found the series as a whole to be that entertaining any of the numerous times I've been encouraged to try it by my friends who insist that playing the games is like drinking the sweet, sweet nectar of the gods.

The gameplay is repetitive and the games I played seem to suffer form Capcom's typical laughably bad dialogue. After about 20 minutes of juggling enemies and jumping around in circle I feel that I've seen all the game really has to offer me. Maybe I'm missing the point entirely but I've found the game to be about medium bordering on fucking annoying.

"a hallway full of balloons" thats why i love his reviews. he can put to words exactly what people are thinking only they dont know how to express it.

as i listne to his reviews in between the laughter i have more than one instiance of the light coming on and thinking YES thats the EXACT impression i got.

man thats talent you cant teach. im glad to see him get back in the game after the GDC beeping feasco and last weeks rather dull and pointless review. well done from start to finish.

njsykora:
I take exception to the His Dark Materials reference.

Fun stuff though, even though most of the issues have become 'hallmarks' of DMC since the first game.

I also disagree with the His Dark Materials reference. The Amber Spy Glass is quite good, but aside from that it wasn't a sequel that was begged and pleaded out of the creators. The Golden Compass was written with the intent to make it part of the His Dark Materials Trilogy (and it to this day remains a trilogy despite people wanting more).

Other than that, yeh I've heard bad things about this game, not going to disagree with the rest.

keep up the good work Yahtzee.

made me laugh loud enough to cause those around me to give me perplexing looks. o.0

p.s. those around me are my dogs, because im a lonely, friendless, misanthrope.

Not 1 insult at the ridiculous difficulty of the game?? wow...

myopiczeal:
Perhaps a transcript?

Oh yeah. I love you.

myopiczeal:
Perhaps a transcript?

Oh yeah. I love you.

myopiczeal:
Perhaps a transcript?

Oh yeah. I love you.

Does anyone know what the cover on the bottom right corner was when Yahtzee showed Die Hard and Amber Spyglass covers. I recognize it and its driving me crazy.

Awesome ZP this week, Yahtzee! Ah, and like lemmings, another couple people get the smite for attempting a first post without actually watching the video, gotta love it. n_n

Garfgarog:

4mf:
Except that he's a carbon copy of the same bog-standard transexual emo protagonist that's used in every single god damn japanese comic, cartoon and game. Ever.

White greasy, spikey hair. Check.
Ridiculous sword. Check.
Looks like a pre-pubescent girl. Check.
Body covered in belts for no reason. Check.
etc.

Whoops, looks like you're ignorant. Sorry about that, try harder in the future. Maybe you might be able to come off as knowing what you're talking about.

Wow, dude. If you're just going to say FAIL! and move on, maybe think about don't posting. Anime does have a few ideas that it's worn down to a nub, common ones being what 4mf mentioned. I've played through most of the DMC, so I do know that much. If you're a Japanophile, great... but try to at least have a reason for dumping on someone. We try to play nice, here at the Escapist.

love it! I want to take this review behind a dumpster and stick a baby in it

Another great review on a game which I probably will never buy.

J.theYellow:
Sequels to games that were better than previous games:
Monkey Island 2
Call of Duty 4
Ultima 4

Yeah, that's a minor quibble. Good job otherwise.

u must be joking right ?
cod4 better than cod1 ?
hahaha

Even though a fair few people have complained about his comparison of the Amber Spyglass, I can't help but agree. The first two books of His Dark Materials were amazing. I couldn't believe I'd lived my life without them, they really were two of the best books I've ever read. But the third one was a huge let down.. The main body wasn't all that bad (but by no means on par with the first two), but the ending was just atrocious. The whole story was building up to some gigantic epic ending, which it just never delieved. I was left with a very sour taste in my mouth.

Good choice of music as always!
Finally someone realizes the tediousness that comes with games like DMC.
GOD I HATE THESE GAMES!!! Sorry, I had to say that...

Awesome as always.
However, one question: Why don't we have any RTS reviews? So far we've had 14 FPSs, 3 RPGs and a lot of other weird games but not one RTS. Is there any reason in particular for this?

mykayel:

ok, so I've discovered that yahtzee and I are on a different page. DMC4 is one of the games I'm going to buy on my next salary, unlike the orange box witch is a monstrous pile of shit (I finished Ep0, Ep1 and Portal) The only thing nice in it is PORTAL that was just NICE not GREAT. As for Psychonauts...IT SUCKED BALLZ, I was never more bored in my life, and some of my favorite games include the monkey island series, silent hill 2, broken sword 1 and 2, and so on. Psychonauts was not an adventure game, it was more of a crappy platformed game with a very cliche and retarded storyline. HL2 was just plane stupid, I hated EP1 and EP0. The only good stories I've seen so far are in Anime (except for VERY few British and American TV series and movies) and the only real good games are Japanese with very few old games as exceptions, but other than that, almost every new game that is not Japaneses turns out to be not lame but just plane SHITTY!

why is it shitty? Why was HL2 just plain stupid?
give reasons = constructive critysi...crytii..err slamming.
if something is not to your taste you are free to try something else.

I still can't believe these reviews are so consistently awesome, unlike the Devil May Cry series. Though I did buy DMC4 I don't really regret it. It was still a fun game despite all the Japanimation Cliches and poor level design. It definitely had the best voice acting and story of all the games, although admittedly the bar wasn't exactly set very high in either category.