Struggling with Capcom's gorgeous fighter? You're not the only one. Help is on the way with our DMC 4 master class.
by Mike Smith
WATCH DEVIL MAY CRY 4 VIDEOS
Devil May Cry 4 is many things, but it's not easy. The series is widely considered to be up there with classics like Ninja Gaiden, Contra and Battletoads in the pantheon of seriously tough games. Even though Devil May Cry 4 makes more concessions to new players, there are still plenty of basic game concepts that aren't necessarily obvious at first blush. Never fear - these six tips should give you all you need to survive in Devil May Cry's mean streets. Except practice, and you're on your own with that.
1. Get the Right Perspective
The Devil May Cry series began life as a Resident Evil game, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the fixed camera perspective scenes. No matter which way Dante or Nero are facing, your stick movements work relative to the direction the camera is facing. This can take a little getting used to, especially when you're throwing down combos that require left stick movements towards or away from an enemy. Use the lock-on feature to keep your bearings, and don't be too rigid in your thinking.
2. Air It Out
Aerial attacks are the lifeblood of every good DMC player. While you're in the air, you're out of reach of ground-based enemies -- plus it looks cool, and there's no better reason than that. The key move to learn is the "High Roller" (R1, away from your enemy, and Triangle on the PS3, or RB, away and Y on the 360), which flips an enemy up into the air. From there, the combo world is your oyster: press Triangle/Y again to leap up and engage mid-air, shoot your guns at your helpless foe, or prepare a ground-based combo to use when they come back down.
3. Duck, Roll and Cover
That dodging move they teach you in the tutorial is easy to forget, but it's invaluable throughout the game. It's the one you do by locking onto an enemy, then pushing sideways or backwards and hitting the jump button. Although it just looks like an innocuous roll out of the way of an attack, by a miraculous twist of Devil May Cry physics you're actually invulnerable while you're doing it. So you don't even need to dodge the attack -- merely rolling when it hits you is enough.
4. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
By now, you've probably figured out that Nero and Dante's guns, while stylish, do so little damage that it seems like you might as well be using harsh language. This is indeed true, but doing damage isn't the point of Devil May Cry's guns. Instead, they're valuable methods to extend or abort combos. Try hammering away at a distant foe while you reposition yourself for a fresh attack. Or use them during a mid-air combo, which will cause both you and your enemy to hover in the air, gaining you valuable seconds.
Once you get the ability to charge your gun, it will become a little more viable for direct damage. But what's not necessarily obvious is that you can actually charge your gun while performing other attacks. It's another handy tool in Devil May Cry's arsenal: roll a conventional combo with the charge button held down, then release it to fire at a natural break in the attacks. If you're feeling froggy, you can even use the Devil Bringer to yank back your opponent and keep hitting.
5. Abort, Retry, Fail?
Play Devil May Cry enough, and you'll discover a hidden problem. Some of the more basic combos leave you vulnerable to attack, particularly during slower moves that take a while to play out. But like many fighting games, Devil May Cry lets you interrupt your combos, so once you get a feel for the slow spots, you can drop out of that combo and into something else -- start a new combo, blast away with your guns, or pull out your Devil Bringer arm, for instance. Remember, just because you've started a combo doesn't mean you need to finish it.
6. Exceeding Expectations
Vroom! Nero's motorcycle-like sword is an awesome toy, but it's deceptively useful. Why deceptive? Because revving it up all the way for an Exceed attack is tedious, and you're slow while you're doing it. What isn't obvious, though, is that like the gun you can actually charge mid-combo without interrupting your flow. This isn't easy (nothing is, in this game), but with practice, you can hit the Exceed button mid-slash and be rewarded with an instant charge. The window for success gets smaller every time you hit it, though, and it takes serious skill to land multiple Exceed charges in one combo. Better get practicing.
Posted: 4 Feb 2008
