Archive for category D

Devil May Cry 4 Reviews

Posted by Gary in D, PS3, PS3 software on February 4th, 2008

I would try and give a balanced breakdown of the DMC4 reviews but I can’t. I’m too blinded by my DMC love to do that! So check out IGN’s DMC4 Review and 1up.com’s DMC4 Review.

There are some interesting bits about the PS3 and 360 comparisons but this is the most important bit of info about DMC4 for me:

Personally, I found four of the levels to be a piece of cake, but Dante Must Die mode is much harder in this game than it ever was in DMC3, and will probably result in numerous controllers being shattered in frustration. Seriously, this mode will kick you when you’re down and laugh at you mercilessly. The fact that there is another level beyond it that is much harder just mystifies me, and it will take incredible skill and possibly superhuman reflexes to beat it.

I hope this comes on Thursday!!

The PS3 version has sold around 140,000 copies on day one of it going on sale in Japan.

First Day Japanese Sales of DMC4

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Devil May Cry 4 Demo Impressions

Posted by Gary in D, PLAYSTATION Store, PS3, PS3 software on January 25th, 2008

Being a hardened Devil May Cry fan, I downloaded the demo from the Japanese Store as soon as I got home from work yesterday afternoon and I wasn’t disappointed!!

You have the choice of two missions: Exterminator which is a level set in Fortuna, where you face the usual type of DMC demon scum within a 10 minute time limit, and Executioner, where you battle the Frosts and face off against the awesome looking Berial!

It’s not really two missions though. If you’re fast enough/good enough to beat the Exterminator mission before the time runs out, you will go straight on to the Executioner mission.

You play as Nero, who looks like a very youthful Dante. Nero obviously doesn’t have the same move set as Dante but he kicks arse in a similar spectacular fashion. The main difference is his Devil Bringer techniques which are pretty awesome.

You can grab enemies by pressing circle and slamming them into the ground, which is a very powerful move known as the Buster. You can also grab enemies that are outside the range of your sword and bring them to you using the Devil Bringer technique Snatch. Just lock on to them and press Circle.

The cool thing about that is you can do some great looking combos by switching to your swords or guns, to kick the crap out of them. You can even pull enemies up to you while you’re in mid air to deal out some mile high arse kicking!

You can also use Nero’s Devil Bringer technique, Hell Bound, to make big leaps across gaps you would not be able to get across. It looks cool and is a nice addition to the gameplay.

Nero’s sword techniques are similar to Dante’s. Holding R1 to lock on to an enemy and pressing Triangle will launch Nero into a Streak attack, which will flatten any enemies caught by it. Hold R1 and pressing triangle, while pushing the left stick away from an enemy will launch them into the air (High Roller), where you can continue your combo.

You can avoid attacks by holding L1 and pressing X. You will roll in whatever direction you press the left stick. Handy for when you face the Frosts.

DMC4 plays like a DMC game should. If you’re a fan of either DMC or DMC3/SE then you will feel right at home with DMC4. The combat is awesome fun, everything looks great, the visuals are excellent with a lovely smooth framerate. Some people had problems with Berial’s entrance but it was fine for me.

The sound and music is classic DMC fare, so if you didn’t like it in the previous games you won’t like it now.

My biggest gripe is that it was too easy. I didn’t get hit until I faced the Frosts and that was only because I used the sword rather than grabbing them, which is the better technique to dispose of the Frosts.

The reviews all seem to point to DMC4 being easier than DMC3 which is strange because DMC3 wasn’t hard. It looks as though they are catering for a new audience so have lowered the difficulty by a couple of notches. I hope Must Die Mode is more challenging though.

It looks as though DMC4 will live up to my expectations (lowered difficulty aside) and it’s got the makings of being just as fantastic as Devil May Cry and I can’t wait to get my hands on the full game on Feb 8th (hopefully the 7th )!

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DMC4 Demo to Hit Japan PS Store Thu?

Posted by Gary in D, PS3, PS3 software on January 22nd, 2008

I really really hope so:

That’s the news we get from Capcom, formally letting the internet know that the demo will hit on Thurday 24th. Now whether this is going to be released on Xbox Live in Japan we can’t say, but it will certainly hit Japan’s Playstation Store.

I was going to avoid the demo to keep the game fresh but there’s no way I can resist a demo at this stage!

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Eurogamer’s Dynasty Warriors 6 Review

Posted by Gary in D, PS3, PS3 software on January 14th, 2008

I love my mindless button bashing DW games so I’ve been a bit envious that Japanese (and importers) have been able to play Dynasty Warriors 6 while I have to wait until March 7th to get my hands on it.

Reading Eurogamer’s review has only got me more excited for it:

The most obvious difference is (duh) the visual improvement. Now that it’s in high definition, a series of swooshing camera effects and spangly new animations bring the game more dramatically to life than ever before. Duels with enemy officers see surrounding troops blur into the background, Musou attacks are accompanied by a kaleidoscopic symphony of colour, and character animations are modelled on motion-captured martial artists, making them more convincing, more acrobatic, and generally just more insane. The most commonly levelled criticism of the series – bad guys emerging out of the mist – remains to some extent, except there’s no mist. But that’s because there’s more bad guys (by three or four times, apparently) and in any case, they behave more intelligently than in previous games.

To the trained, Dynasty Warriors-hardened eye, however, things are very different. There are all sorts of tweaks and new features that will only matter to people who have immersed themselves in the series so far. Now you can climb ladders, swim through water, ride boats, and smash through gates to reach strongholds that play a slightly more important role than before (and can be captured after you’ve eliminated any officers present). Some of the battlefields are populated with fearsome animals and certain characters are equipped with different weapons. And your character levels up in the midst of battles, though it’s only at the end of battles that you get to assign points in order to progress along a multi-branching skill tree.

Being able to swim and climb ladders will open up the environment a lot more giving it a more epic feel. It’s interesting that your character can level up during battle and you can assign experience points to improve different attributes.

Still no mention of being able to fully control the camera.