Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Review

No reason to cry.

“Value” is a word tossed around a lot these days, especially when it comes to older games that have been remastered for the current generation of consoles. Such is the case with Capcom’s Special Edition of the seven-year-old Devil May Cry 4.

The new version has the visual upgrade you’d expect: crisp 1080p picture running at a smooth 60fps. There are new features like Turbo and Legendary Dark Knight Mode, plus more costumes and for the first time the ability to play the campaign as Trish which means gamers have a total of five characters to choose from: Dante, Nero, Vergil, Lady, and the aforementioned Trish. The original from 2008 garnered some of the best reviews for the franchise. So is this new edition with all those extras priced at $24.99 a value?

Absolutely. If you’re a fan of the series, you know that DMC4 is a highlight. If you never played any of them this is a time to start. So that’s the easy answer. Read one for more deets!

If you’re new to Devil May Cry, the easiest way to describe the series’ appeal is to imagine the over-the-top colorful style of Capcom’s Street Fighter games except with a world you can move around in. DMC takes that sense of zaniness and tosses it into a single-player story. Each level is basically a way to deal multiple combos and earn high rankings in order to finish said level and continue it to the next round. That’s an important distinction because if you’re expecting a compelling narrative or even intricate level design you’ll get bored quick.

In fact, one of the legit issues critics had with DMC4 was that about halfway through you end up doing a lot of backtracking. This means fighting the same bosses battles over which is for sure annoying. (If you’re playing on easy, it’s not really a deal breaker though.) Once you get better you’ll want to try the higher levels since the real fun of DMC is the challenge. I’m just saying to be aware that the level design does get less than inspired over time.

Dante, the white-haired dude on the cover of most Devil May Cry posters is the game’s de facto hero, he of the red leather trench coat who has a big gun and an even bigger sword. Similar to how Solid Snake took a backseat to Raiden in MGS2: Sons of Liberty, DMC4 introduced a just-as-polarizing new character named Nero. The good great news is that the Special Edition let’s you play anyone but Nero if you so choose. Instead of his storyline, you can now play solo as Vergil or partake in the joint tale with Lady and Trish.

Each one has controls that can be tweaked. As you might suspect, if you are new, you should stick with the Nero/Dante pairing. I had played DMC4 before so I went with Lady and Trish. As far as story is concerned, the character choice is not a big deal since the cut-scenes are mostly the same, save for different endings.

Lady’s gameplay mechanics incorporates guns and has a cool Kalina Ann rocket launcher, while Trish’s entire combat relies on more Marvel vs. Capcom-like moves than actual weapons. Both were surprisingly fun. On the flipside, Vergil has the ability to teleport which can be cool and, if used wisely, quite effective.

What of the extra modes? Turbo (as in Street Fighter II Turbo!) increases the game speed by 20%. Legendary Dark Knight Mode (previously on PC) is for, as the name implies, experts only. Areas are literally filled with baddies in an overwhelming supply. A challenge to say the least.

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition like last year’s Bayonetta 2 is for hardcore action gamers. It rewards practice and patience. The level design can get repetitive, but the levels aren't really why anyone plays a Devil May Cry game. At $24.99, this is a steal for anyone who loves action games or the Devil May Cry series.