Devil May Cry 4 – Special Edition: Riding on my Devil May Cry hype, I decided to play Devil May Cry 4 this week. I have heard a lot about the other games in the series, whether they were good or horrible, but surprisingly I haven’t heard a lot about 4 before playing it. As of right now, the game is as good as DMC 3 and 5.
The first thing I noticed when I booted up the game is that there are three campaigns you can play. You can play as Nero/Dante, Lady/Trish, and Vergil. Although I am playing through Nero and Dante, I am most interested in playing as Lady and Trish since they probably are more gun oriented. Depending if the missions feel different, I might end up doing three different playthroughs.
Nero plays similarly to how he played in DMC 5, although his Devil Arm is slightly different than his Devil Breakers. With his Devil Arm, you can do a special throw attack on demons or grapple them towards you if they are far away from you. Chaining combos and then bringing back demons towards you with the Devil Arm is very satisfying. I like how they made style points and ranking matter by giving you currency at the end of missions specifically used for upgrades. Just like DMC 3, a good chunk of the demons you fight are challenging to take down as you cannot get away with button mashing. One of the demons that are annoying to fight are these reapers that look like Freddy Kreuger, since they can’t be exposed with the Devil Arm like the other reaper enemies.
The story is okay at best. The Holy Knights and the Order are the typical religious bad guys, using demon power to resurrect the Savior to ‘cleanse the world’ so His Holiness can create his Utopia. This reminds me of the plot of DOOM (2016), where they messed with demon power from Hell and it backfired. I didn’t care that much about Nero’s relationship with Kyrie as the game probably wanted me to because they didn’t spend a lot of time to develop it or show us why she matters a lot to Nero.
Compared to the other games, there is a lot of variety in the environments you play in. You traverse through a city, a mining area, a mansion in the winter, a jungle area, a research facility, and a church area. Overall, I enjoyed what I’ve played so far and can’t wait to see what’s in store when I get to play as Dante next week.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe: I was able to snag a physical copy of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe last week for $30. Considering that Nintendo games don’t usually go on sale (especially Mario games), this was a steal. I was a bit hesitant to get the game because it came included with my Wii U and I didn’t like the game that much. However, I had a better experience playing it this week than when I played it when I first got my Wii U.
At first, I had a hard time comprehending what was different this time around, but I think its because I haven’t played a 2D Mario game in a long time. When I first played the game, I had recently played the Wii version and New Super Mario Bros. 2, so I probably was burnt out. The game plays well for a 2D Mario game, and level design is creative and fun. Visually, the backgrounds and assets look outstanding since it was the first HD New Super Mario Bros. game.
For me, this is a good pick up and play game when I need to take a break from RPGs like Final Fantasy X.
J Chang Gaming 