Zero Punctuation tears up Devil May Cry 4

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 5th 2008 at 9:00PM }

Did you feel that Devil May Cry 4 was so busy with its own style that it neglected to actually let you play -- well, so did Yahtzee. This week Zero Punctuation takes on DMC 4, the game which pulled a Metal Gear Solid 2 on us and introduced a character who was kind of like our original hero, but totally not. Don't be upset with Yahtzee's rage DMC fanboys, take solace in the knowledge that your beloved franchise has already shipped 2 million copies.

This week's less NSFW than usual review of Devil May Cry 4 can be found after the break.

Tags: capcom, devil-may-cry-4, devilmaycry4, dmc4, escapist, theescapist, yahtzee, zero-punctuation, zeropunctuation

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

HighFiveJesus @ Mar 5th 2008 9:04PM

Kingdom Hearts 2 is guilty of this as well. (the whole new character for a very long time)

jcd @ Mar 5th 2008 9:14PM

1.21 gigawatts!!

jcd @ Mar 5th 2008 9:16PM

also, awesome nod to audiosurf

I'll go play that tune now!

jcd @ Mar 5th 2008 9:41PM

and so I suck, 30k below the third place in mono and even lower with pusher.

ScottyGEE32 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:15PM

All his points are spot on with my thoughts aswell...
However, it didn't stop me from enjoying the game a lot.

The thing about gummy bears is what made this review so awesome

Mr Khan @ Mar 5th 2008 9:20PM

I was down in St. Petersburg
When i saw it was time for a change
Killed the Tsar and his ministers
Anastasia, screamed in vain

Pleased to meet you,
won't you guess my name?

Laggy @ Mar 6th 2008 4:24AM

I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name

Poisoned Al @ Mar 5th 2008 9:22PM

"Train sets anger mighty Godzilla!"

The BPM Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine @ Mar 5th 2008 9:26PM

Thanks for the Audiosurf advice, Yahtzee.

"How's the yaoi tonight?"
BAD. ALWAYS BAD.
(No offense to yaoi fans... It's just not my thing, ya dig?)

Tiptup300 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:28PM

It wasn't quite as funny as useful. Great ending though.

Marry me Mario @ Mar 5th 2008 9:35PM

The 1st DMC I played the hell out of...but the rest, just to similar and I lost interest.

mundox @ Mar 5th 2008 9:38PM

I cry every night 'cause I can't buy this game yet...

Mills and Boom @ Mar 5th 2008 10:02PM

I cry every night because I played it.

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 9:41PM

I believe everyone thought of MGS2 when they first saw Nero.

Well Nero isn't a bad character but when you get to play as Dante you realize Nero is a pussy.

I also have to say that there are some Anime stereotypes AK.A Anime Rules: http://www.yugiohtheabridgedseries.com/forum/9/1043/#c34265
In the game but they choose the best.

The Dice minigame had potential, for example it could’ve been a sweet multiplayer mode for the game but instead it feels forced and by the end is really tedious. I mean you are about to finish the game when you get to that, seriously wth?

But to be honest I never had a problem with the jumping sections even with the fixed camera and it is a great game, I finished in Human because after I got beat up in Devil Hunter mode in DMC3 I really don’t feel like doing that again. Now the only problem is that I don’t feel like finishing the game again in other difficulty, I finished the game with the real ending and there is nothing else to do with the game. Is really weird normally Capcom games have more replay value.

ScottyGEE32 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:43PM

I was lucky in my dice playthrough on the second time (at the end)
I got yellow each time :)

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 9:46PM

I have seen people do that but in my case I have to sit 30 minutes before finishing the level.

Do you hit it with something in special?

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 9:48PM

Thinking about it the xbox live needs a multiplayer board game.Something like Monopoly,Life or Marathon would be awesome.

ChooChooCharlie @ Mar 5th 2008 10:04PM

Yes. That is genius.

Monopoly or Life would an instant Arcade purchase for me.

Platinum_Skeet @ Mar 5th 2008 10:47PM

As long as the matches have a time limit. Monopoly always lasts too long... I think life would be better....

Arttemis @ Mar 5th 2008 10:49PM

The dice games are incredibly simple - as long as you look at whichever number is on top when you strike it. Having played the game for a couple weeks straight, I found myself chanting the pattern (which I know isn't correct anymore) but it was something like 423615 - so all you have to do is repeat that over and over while keeping your eye on the die and you'll nail it each time.

Remember, blue spots give money and health, white gives nothing, and red spawns enemies.

ScallionN @ Mar 6th 2008 12:44AM

Not to sound like a geek, but
#21:"- Law of Tactical Unreliability- Tactical geniuses aren’t..." is only true if you've never seen Legend of Galactic Heroes, which is all about badass military tacticians and SPACE POLITICS, which is like normal politics, only even dirtier, and in space.

modified @ Mar 6th 2008 1:40AM

mr. esc

go get culdcept saga

PointyThings @ Mar 6th 2008 1:51AM

OBJECTION!
Cowboy Bebop only follows like, 5 of those rules.

waynski1457 @ Mar 6th 2008 8:32AM

@pointy: maybe thats why its so awesome!

i do love me some good anime tho, even ones that follow 99 of those rules.

Ronshatmycarl @ Mar 5th 2008 9:43PM

Yea the last bit about the spider, wasp, and gummy bears actually does pretty much sound like the basis for this game.

Somebody better go help the DMC dev team they really need us.

Mills and Boom @ Mar 5th 2008 10:01PM

Didn't DMC4 pop up in all these lists PS3 fans used to casually post at every given opportunity to demonstrate "thar will be games"?

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 10:04PM

You are being a fanboy and that is definitively flame bait but yeah.

DMC4 is a great game but the lack of replay value is just bad.

Geist @ Mar 5th 2008 11:32PM

You act as if Yahtzee is calling it a bad game. He calls everything a bad game (except for Psychonauts, and rightly so). He doesn't like a few parts of the game, but enjoys the combat, which is arguably like 90% of the game. That's what I took from it, anyway.

Mills and Boom @ Mar 6th 2008 4:43AM

Not liking 90% of a game is pretty much not liking a game.

I was trying, in my own little way, to make the 360 and PS3 titties stop posting list of games that everyone knows will be mediocre. The lists get on my tits.

DangerMouse @ Mar 5th 2008 10:04PM

I had enough of DMC1 after 3 hours into it. What a shitty ass game. That was more than i could bear and it kept me away from the series like the plague.

ChooChooCharlie @ Mar 5th 2008 10:08PM

I kind of had the same feeling with the first one. Until I reached the end. To me, the end made up for everything.

Ben! @ Mar 5th 2008 11:11PM

You're wrong. The first one was awesome.

bm @ Mar 6th 2008 5:14AM

The first DMC sucked a fucking dick. People complained about camera problems in Resident Evil? In DMC, after dying on the first spiderscorpionthing boss like 15 times because of the random fucking camera switches RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of trying to dodge his fireballs (WITH camera relative controls, which at least RE had the decency not to fuck you over you with), I couldn't be bothered to continue much further than an hour or two. That whole game was tiring and repetitive anyway, I think people only liked it because it was at least semi-original at the time.

Mal F4cti0n @ Mar 5th 2008 10:07PM

Ummmm, sequels suck with maybe the exception of the back to the future series? I would disagree on that one. I also didn't think showing the latest die hard was a good choice. I thought the fourth one was damn good.

Haven't played any DMC. A bad story centered around a game concept that has been the same since the first release 10 or however many years age does not appeal to me.

I don't understand how games like this get such good scores. Maybe it is the nostalgia that it evokes in gamers whose job is to review video games? I wonder if they would ever play thru it again. A game must, to me, have replay value to be good. Halo 3 has it, CoD4 has it, Gears of War has it, Mass Effect does not, Bioshock does not, etc.... I guess I like the MP aspect of games.

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 10:13PM

Sorry pal but I strongly disagree with you.

All those games you mention have only one thing in common.

Multiplayer modes.

For me multiplayer modes unless they are perfectly crafted ruin the game for example GEOW MP Mode was a disgrace but that’s the fault of the xbox community for being all pussies. Seriously 12 maps and people chose the same 4 over and over.

It’s sad because GEOW single player mode was brilliant.

Now I like all the games you mentioned and believe all of them deserved high scores, well Halo 3 multiplayer was kind of bad. Why Bungie don’t remove the friendly fire already?

Oh yeah and you should at least rent DMC4.Don’t take ZP too seriously is just entertainment.

caramelzappa @ Mar 5th 2008 11:03PM

I don't think multiplayer counts when you're comparing it to a single player games replay value. Sure, I played Gears of War every day, the same maps over and over, but that was because it was multiplayer. I wouldn't play the campaign over more than twice. (The second was for insane mode) Bioshock to me had amazing replay value though. I played through that campaign 4 times, and I might do it again sometime. To me there was just so much to experiment with and explore that the game left me thirsty for more and I had to play it again.

@Mr. Esc: If you're reffering to GEOW as gears of war I couldn't disagree with you more. Yea, there were a few maps that were played a lot more than others, but that was because they were the maps people found the most fun. At least you could choose exactly what map you wanted, unlike the "genius" matchmaking system from Halo 3. If you wanted to play a different map than the one most were playing, why didn't you search for it or just host it?

Chris @ Mar 5th 2008 10:08PM

what's up with all these people commenting on their own comments?

Chris @ Mar 5th 2008 10:08PM

that really ticks me off.

DangerMouse @ Mar 5th 2008 10:16PM

Goddamn cats are everywhere!

jcd @ Mar 5th 2008 10:24PM

No edit button

carg0 @ Mar 5th 2008 10:37PM

that was truly inspiring. it's about as perfect a review for such a bad game as you can get.

though if you wanted to sum up DMC4 in one word for time's sake i'd go with "embarrassing".

Arttemis @ Mar 5th 2008 11:21PM

Alright...
Since you consider this review perfect after giving the gameplay a "gold star" and saying, "If you seriously don't find something entertaining about launching an enemy into the air and keeping him afloat from the cushion of bullets, then it's time to reassess your standards" I must assume you concur with those points.

If the gameplay is so great, which I agree it was, how could you criticize this game as being embarrassing and bad? I love the combat mechanics and new elements they introduced. Was it a perfect game? No, I didn't particularly like the repeated puzzle(s) or how Dante took such a back seat roll with limited levels and weapons - but I still love the combat mechanics... which is why people play DMC games, right?

carg0 @ Mar 6th 2008 3:48AM

"I must assume you concur with those points."

uh, no you assumed wrong. the "combat" is nice...for about 1min and tedious to the point of irrelevent once you realize this is all the game has going for it.

whiny, effeminate-male characters who engage enemies with ridiculously, repetitious attacks all to the tune of an insipid story (if there even was one), static camera and painfully bad techno music is something most gamers over the age of 12 have moved on from. you did notice the big "4" in the title right? do we have so little expectations for this franchise anymore?

bottom line: this would've been a great title...several years ago with the number "2" placed after it. Capcom should really be ashamed of themselves for letting this franchise rot. if you're still a kid, though, and you've never had a chance to play DMC 1-3, then sure i can acquiesce.

GaryM @ Mar 5th 2008 11:04PM

Yahtzee clears his throat; the internet hails him as a genius.

DangerMouse @ Mar 5th 2008 11:07PM

Maybe he's saying what all reviewers want to say but are afraid of getting fired.

Ninegauger @ Mar 5th 2008 11:05PM

Haha... pour gummi bears on the winner, that's pretty good.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Mar 5th 2008 11:46PM

Heres my take on DMC 4...its good IF you want to play a PS2 game on a 360 or PS3. I loved the first DMC but swiftly lost interest and ignored the sequel. Im thinking about buying the much loved 3. Once in awhile i feel the need to play a game thats rife with archaic design (fight all the bosses again before the last, back tracking, reused enemies...etc)just out of fondness for bygone days. Ive really enjoyed the cutscenes even though I do dislike anime cliches, but im on my second play through now and i wish there was MORE fighting to be done. The game is incredibly easy on human and devil hunter modes but it has reminded me of my big hard on for capcom and all their goofy ways. (oh christ, i think im a capcom fanboy!...oh wait thats a good thing.)DMC 4 is an outstanding PS2 game at the end of the day. Im also sure Nero has Nelos arm grafted to him and is possesed by Verg. This is not a spoiler btw just a guess since the game tells the audience NOTHING.