Crazy - seven years back for the first of these bad boys. Doesn’t time fly when you’re kickin’ butt, eh? I’ve always loved this genre of game; Prince of Persia, Devil May Cry, God of War and Heavenly Sword standing out as recent additions to the category. I’m sure there are plenty out there that’d harp on about which came first and who was stealing whose ideas first, but ultimately this doesn’t count for a damn as they all end up playing differently and latching on to different aspects of gameplay. Prince of Persia was, well, a prince that loved acrobatics and fluid combos, and so I can appreciate the idea of any game since must have certain mechanics that relate. However, when comparing something like God of War that relies on gore over running up walls – surely that’s different?

Well, here’s Devil May Cry, which was the first sword and gun combo title topped with a quick-talking gung-ho Cloud-like star called Dante. The player could perform fast-paced combos, suspending the enemy in the air with a hail of bullets from his dual wielding revolvers while listening to a rocking-out soundtrack. It’s not surprising that the series has been met with resounding success (bar 2 – shudder). so hopefully if you’re reading this you’ve already experienced the previous titles as playing this version might have you a little confused. Trust me, the storyline’s confusing enough in a Japanese arcade kind of way at any rate.

Rather than play Dante as you normally would, you’ll be playing as the new star of the game, Nero. Nero comes with his own set of moves to get him through the game, from using one gun instead of the guns akimbo you’ll be accustomed to and his main difference, a huge grabbing claw of a hand that lets him latch onto things and throw enemies. Straight off you can probably tell why they’ve made the changes, allowing them to scope out in new gameplay styles and as far as Nero goes, it really works out. So much so, that later, when you get to swap back to Dante it’ll be quite the seasonal adjustment.

The general gist of the storyline is that Nero’s rushing to go and meet his woman at the church where she’s singing, slapping up a few demons while he’s on the way. He makes it time to exchange a few broody looks with her before getting up to leave. As he does so a gun toting ‘stranger’ (Dante -cough-) comes sailing down from the roof to plant a bullet between the eyes of the priest. As he then proceeds to wipe out the remainder of the forces, you’re ordered to delay him until reinforcements come – your start and tutorial in the world of Devil May Cry 4.

Something you’ll no doubt be happy to see is an array of items to buy and skills to upgrade. Believe you me, there are plenty to get, not only within matching your playing style but with a variety of secondary abilities and weapon upgrades you’ll never go for getting them all, experimenting with your fighting style before investing in these skill upgrades is the way forward. Additionally, the game goes for orbs as before that’ll help you buy items, gain health or recharge your Devily goodness.

What impacts me about the game straight off is just how good it looks now, making full use of the new engine. Sure, there’s the odd bit of shading that looks a little dodgy, but you can definitely say the game looks next-gen, which after so many titles recently is great to see. I’d enjoy it even more if the classic DMC camera angles had been abolished. There are some points in the game where I’d actually got used to pulling my hair out by the roots thanks to the camera either pointing exactly where I didn’t want it to, or swapping from one fixed point to another. This may not seem like much, but after you’ve been having such a great time playing through the game it’s points like this that can make you forget all the fun you’ve just been having.

This is one of the two main gripes for me that dragged the game down, with the other being how much the game repeats itself. Get used to the idea of not only facing a mid-game boss, as you end up fighting the majority of them not once or even twice; no, you can go for the whole hog and face that sucker three times before you complete the game. Yeah, it is as frustrating as it sounds. This is largely due to the idea of spending your entire time reaching a boss as Nero, only to come all the way back again through the same level as Dante later on. The variation doesn’t provide enough of a swap between environments to cut up the tediousness of doing it all over again, but the gameplay’s just about good enough to carry you through for the entirety of the game.

One minor addition to the negative points might be that there are so many options and combat styles that it can make fighting certain opponents a tad clunky. If the point is to diversify then solving this problem with sticking with the one style’s kinda cheating. Again though, so long as you’re not panicking and button mashing your way through, particularly as the dodging system is a little difficult to get used to, you should be fine.

OK, I realise that when I got down to it there were a few things I had to mention there. Could I pass comment on Dante performing an aerial Fandango or a certain woman’s unmanageable boob bounce? Well, yes, but they’re all part of the Devil May Cry package; you’d be disappointed if they hadn’t included them eh?

It’s going to keep you coming back, be it for its refreshing sections of choral music or fighting bosses on an epic scale. Even if it may not impact you as the previous in the series, you can still join in laughing with me at Matt’s misfortune of having to play Conflict: Denied Ops whilst I was given this to take a run through (you utter, utter git – Matt).