Devil May Cry 4 [PC]

Smashing enemies builds a combo gauge, which starts off at rank D and builds to rank SSS. Getting the high style rankings requires you continuously attack enemies while avoiding getting hit. At a mission's end, you're graded on the time it took to complete the mission, how many style points you build up, what percentage of orbs you managed to collect from downed enemies and busted bits of the environment, and how many items you used. Your overall performance is tagged with a grade and you're given a corresponding number of proud souls to be used for upgrades. And if you pay attention, you'll find secret rooms with special challenges that offer bonuses if completed.

Between missions and at special statues located within the stages you can power up Nero, choosing to spend orbs on recovery items or proud souls on new abilities. Nero's Red Queen has quite a few upgrades, including dash slashes, mid-air combos, and upgrades to your sword's charge-up ability. The gun, called Blue Rose, can be upgraded to several levels of charge-up shots with varying fire-related special effects. A few upgrades for the Devil Bringer's snatch range can be purchased as well. From the six missions we've played through so far in the PC version there's also a range of abilities Nero can purchase, from types of dodges and speed boosts to modifications for your Red Queen charge. If you're unhappy with your skill selections, there's an option to refund the purchase.

In case you don't want to deal with all these upgrades, there are a few settings that automatically take care of things for you. Beginners might want to set it to novice, orthodox provides a balanced mix, and varied selects more of a range of techniques. There are also different difficulty settings in case you're new to the game. Human is basically the easy mode, best for anyone unfamiliar with Devil May Cry's gameplay while Devil Hunter is there for any series veterans. The options menu gives you the ability to replay cinematic sequences from each mission, check your rankings, browse the library which includes item, monster, orb, move set, character, and weapon descriptions, and replay missions already beaten to accumulate orbs.

As far as strategies for defeating enemies go, the regular grunts can be taken down just by straightforward sword slashes, so they're pretty easy fodder for high style point combos. Wraiths show up further in, which require you grab them a few times with your Devil Bringer to disperse their ghostly aura and leave them vulnerable. Walking spirit armors have a powerful-but-easily-dodged charge move and a shield to block attacks from the front. Using the Devil Bringer pulls you behind them, at which point they're easily defeated.

And since this is Devil May Cry, expect battles against absolutely gigantic bosses that, at least when you're first learning the attack patterns, can take almost as long as the stage itself. You'll find a mammoth fire demon in the demo and a little later on you square off against an oversized toad, which we've taken footage of and uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

Despite the odd lead character switch in the early parts of the game, it's entertaining so far and seems to perform rather well. If you're going to play this, be sure to have a gamepad of some sort. Keyboard controls are there, though, in case that's what you prefer.

If you want to try out Devil May Cry 4 for yourself, grab the demo. Not only will it let you know right away whether the gameplay suits you, but it'll also let you know if you can run the game. We're running Vista 32-bit with an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU, 2 GB of RAM, and a GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB card and everything's been fairly smooth in both DX9 and DX10 modes. Devil May Cry 4 is set to ship early this July.

©2008-06-24, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved