I've been playing Devil May Cry 4 for about nine hours now, which is substantially more then I played Devil May Cry 3. (note: I started this post a few weeks ago, and have since completed DMC4, which should put into perspective how much more I enjoyed it then its predecessor)
I think part of the problem is that I played DMC3 in the shadow of Ninja Gaiden, which is a vastly superior game in every way that counts. Sure, they both feature highly skilled swordsmen dispatching demons at an alarming rate, but where I feel Ninja Gaiden is actually about killing the aforementioned badass demons in any way possible, DMC3 felt more like a collection of listless denizens of the nether, lining up give you as high a combo as humanly possible, while not putting up much of a fight. Oh yes, and if you should falter at any point while you're endlessly hacking away at the bad guy, you'll get hit and die, pretty much instantly. Ninja Gaiden, on the other hand, offered you a fighting chance. the combat system in that game is easily likened to an elaborate game of chess. both you and your opponent are easily capable of dispatching one another, provided either are careless. Both parties dodging, blocking, and looking for an opening. In comparison, DMC3 just felt like all style, no substance.
Skip ahead a few years and now I'm firing up DMC4 on my 360, the game is utterly gorgeous, the combat feels like a ton of fun and while it's by no means a strategic endevor a-la Ninja Gaiden, it's certainly a tremendous amount of fun as a strict beat-em-up.
I had a great time playing DMC4 despite a few factors:
1. Backtracking: the game's level structure is interesting, you spend the first half of the game going though 10 levels as Nero, the new emo-rific protagonist (honestly, I don't have enough experience with this series to care who the hero is, just so long as he hits things very hard), then you play backwards through those same levels as Dante, the egotistical prick from the first three games. Hell, you even fight the same damn bosses again. No thanks.
2. Cut Scenes: Yes, i realize that complaining about cut scenes in a Japanese game is like complaining about smoke in a Tokyo restaurant (you knew what you were getting when you walked in the door), but dear god, I felt like every thirty seconds the game was taking the wheel and going for a joyride without me. Couple that with the over the top maneuvers your characters perform during said scenes which make the regular gameplay look downright flaccid in comparison.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Better Late The Never: Stranglehold
So yeah,I've been out of the loop for a while, lots of crazy personal stuff including a shiny new job have put this blog on the back burner for a but, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been playing games rather non-stop.
I've recently worked my way through Stranglehold, the video game sequel to the John Woo 'Heroic Bloodshed' classic, Hard Boiled. 'Worked' is a literal term at times, as the game has an oddly schizophrenic difficulty level that threatened to bitchslap my sanity into oblivion, but by that point i was firmly entrenched and wasn't going to give in until Inspector Tequila got his revenge, or got out alive, or whatever it was that he was getting. As you could probably tell, I wasn't particularly enamored by the plot of this one. The thing that really got me engrossed in the life of Chow's gunslinging alcohol-fueled cop was the perfect John Woo-ness of the game. Sure, other games have come along before this one, waving the flag of Woo with reckless abandon (i'm looking at you, Max Payne, F.E.A.R., and even those shitty Matrix games) but this one, for whatever reason, just gets it so right.
In many games featuring Matrix-dubbed 'bullet time,' the slow motion advantage over your opponents is really its own reward. You're expected to use it because it looks cool and it makes the game easier, but that's really the only incentive. Stranglehold takes things a bit further, rewarding you in spades for making use of its various Wootastic moves. You gain style points for killing the bad guys using 'Tequila Time,' (really, why not call it 'woo-time?') more for doing so while diving, more for doing so while sliding down a banister, even more for doing so while rolling on a cart or swinging off a chandelier, and more for offing many baddies in a row while doing so. Style points do a few things for you. First and foremost, they charge the meter for your special moves (Which they decided to unsurprisingly dub, 'Tequila Bombs'), the more stylish the kills, the faster the meter fills. Second, they serve as the game's currency for buying unlockables, of which there are many. If that was somehow not enough incentive for you, the damage taken and dealt are subject to change based on how much style you're exhibiting at any given time.
I'm not sure I would recommend this game for a purchase though, since it's fairly brief and the multiplayer is pretty much forgettable. But for those few sweet hours, Stranglehold takes the Tony Hawk Rule (everything you do looks cool), jacks it to 11, then gives you a cookie every time you do it.
I've recently worked my way through Stranglehold, the video game sequel to the John Woo 'Heroic Bloodshed' classic, Hard Boiled. 'Worked' is a literal term at times, as the game has an oddly schizophrenic difficulty level that threatened to bitchslap my sanity into oblivion, but by that point i was firmly entrenched and wasn't going to give in until Inspector Tequila got his revenge, or got out alive, or whatever it was that he was getting. As you could probably tell, I wasn't particularly enamored by the plot of this one. The thing that really got me engrossed in the life of Chow's gunslinging alcohol-fueled cop was the perfect John Woo-ness of the game. Sure, other games have come along before this one, waving the flag of Woo with reckless abandon (i'm looking at you, Max Payne, F.E.A.R., and even those shitty Matrix games) but this one, for whatever reason, just gets it so right.
In many games featuring Matrix-dubbed 'bullet time,' the slow motion advantage over your opponents is really its own reward. You're expected to use it because it looks cool and it makes the game easier, but that's really the only incentive. Stranglehold takes things a bit further, rewarding you in spades for making use of its various Wootastic moves. You gain style points for killing the bad guys using 'Tequila Time,' (really, why not call it 'woo-time?') more for doing so while diving, more for doing so while sliding down a banister, even more for doing so while rolling on a cart or swinging off a chandelier, and more for offing many baddies in a row while doing so. Style points do a few things for you. First and foremost, they charge the meter for your special moves (Which they decided to unsurprisingly dub, 'Tequila Bombs'), the more stylish the kills, the faster the meter fills. Second, they serve as the game's currency for buying unlockables, of which there are many. If that was somehow not enough incentive for you, the damage taken and dealt are subject to change based on how much style you're exhibiting at any given time.
I'm not sure I would recommend this game for a purchase though, since it's fairly brief and the multiplayer is pretty much forgettable. But for those few sweet hours, Stranglehold takes the Tony Hawk Rule (everything you do looks cool), jacks it to 11, then gives you a cookie every time you do it.
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