Before Devil May Cry 4 I hadn’t played a Devil May Cry game, so I wasn’t expecting much more than a pacey hack-and-slash-button-mash, with some pretty cutscenes in-between the action - and to be honest I would have been quite happy with this, it would have been a nice break from Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. But I ended up with quite a lot more than that.

Devil May Cry 4 begins with Dante - the protagonist from the previous DMC titles - assassinating the leader of the Holy Knights. The new protagonist, Nero, is sent to look for Dante after he escapes, and his search takes use through a story with plenty of fights, twists, humour and pace - all portrayed brilliantly through the hours of cutscenes the game has to offer. Dante and Nero are incredibly good characters - especially Dante, who is voice acted superbly.

The gameplay in DMC4 is very simple and new players shouldn’t struggle with the controls. Each of your weapons is accessed instantly, so unlike other RPGs like Oblivion or Mass Effect, you won’t find yourself going though long menus every time you want to swap your gear. The system is basic enough to allow you to button mash through most fights and still do relatively well - but deep enough to allow players to create their own style and play the game as they like. Its probably the best combat system I’ve ever come across in a game - especially when you come to play as Dante who, with 6 powerful and varied weapons at his disposal, is a fantastic and fun character to play as.

Of course who you are fighting is important in a hack and slash - and DMC4 offers up a wide variety of enemies, and you’ll have to fight them all in a different way if you want to do well. During the first half of the game, you’ll see how Nero’s Devil Bringer acts differently on each different enemy you use it on - sometimes it will be a straightforward slam into the floor, other times he will grab the enemies weapon and use it against them - which really adds to the visual experience. The boss fights come at the end of most missions, and this is where DMC4 really shines - every boss is incredibly tough to fight - they’ll all do massive damage, they’re all twice your size, and you’ll have a hard time beating them the first time round.

There are some downsides the DMC4 though - and these are quite obvious as you play through the game. The low quality shadows are a point many reviewers have picked up on, and its something I have to agree on - they are just poor, especially compared to the visuals in the rest of the game. They are very jagged and blocky in most places - hopefully this is the kind of thing that can be fixed with a patch. The music during most fights is just bad, but I suppose its saving grace is that it makes the more atmospheric music during boss fights/cutscenes a lot more impressive.

Platforming is something the game only really asks you to do as Nero - because his Devil Bringer gives him the ability to reach and grab far off objects to catapult himself across rooms. While the platforming is refreshing, at times its just too hard, and you’ll end up spending a lot of time falling down holes if you rant used to platforming - and you’ll end up fighting through another room of enemies before it gives you another chance to attempt it.

A lot of the game will be spent running around without much idea of where to go - there is nothing to indicate if you’re heading in the wrong direction, so even in a linear game you can find yourself lost for up to 10 minutes at a time, or (like me) backtracking through the entire game before figuring out where you were supposed to be. A few hints as to what you are supposed to do would be nice, especially for casual gamers.

I mentioned above that some of the voice acting in DMC4 is superb - and some of it is. But some of it, particularly from the 2 villains, is poor to the extent that you will be laughing out loud at just how corny it makes the game sound.

Overall though, as you can probably tell, I really like DMC4. It was a great storyline and the rewards you get after its completion - such as the “Bloody Palace” arena - are excellent. The achievements are varied and you will need a lot of skill and time to get some of them - which, in my opinion, is one sign of a good game.

8.75/10 - What few issues it has are overshadowed by everything else being very, very good. Its not perfect, and its definitely not for everyone, but I recommend you at least try it - the demo is free on Xbox Live Marketplace.