I Need More Controller

Devil May Cry is never far from gamers' minds despite not having a proper sequel for more than 5 years. It's a cult series for sure and cult followers expect more. Like retail copy more, I get that because I'm one of those too. DMC4 SE will be released strictly through digital distribution on current hardware. Looking back at DMC3 SE, it's unreasonable to think that Capcom would do more than distribute this on the digital medium.

This reissue looks largely the same as DMC3 SE in terms of content except it took 7 years to arrive. DMC3 SE only had a Greatest Hits cover despite being a year apart. I remember importing the japanese edition of DMC3 SE just for the new cover art. I dusted off the game to play recently after a bit of Bayonetta fatigue and the game still holds up remarkably well. Of course, it claimed the life of another dualshock2 controller but these imitation stuff never do last anyway.

Devil-Bringer Back to Where It Came

Next to go on my ps3 hard disk was actually the very first game I install when I got the system, Devil May Cry 4. Sentiments aside there is really no reason to keep this game data on my ps3 as there are no patch or dlc for the game so re-installing the game in the future should be fairly quick.

I initially plan on just viewing the cutscene through the story theater and be done with it but being the sap that I am, there is no way I will be able to do that without feeling guilty. So I thought I should have a quick playthrough the game without worrying about ranking and just clear another one of the six difficulty modes in the game. A friend of mine absolutely loathe this game when he first played it for reasons I couldn't see why but I begin to have similar feeling after rushing through the game. Maybe my heart just wasn't in it this time as I was expecting enemies to be shuffled around and other surprises in the son of sparda hard mode. From what I can remember everything feels the same as before and after Bayonetta, playing as Nero just feels woefully one-dimension. In the end I just couldn't wait to devil bringer this game back to where it came - my collection where it will remain for a long time to come.

Over the Hills for Trophies

Finishing Silent Hill Homecoming today seems a little less significant considering the game doesn't offer any trophy incentives. While trophy-less games like MGS4 and DMC4 compensate by recognising your in-game achievements with their own in-game ranking system Homecoming doesn't even track your gameplay statistics at the end of the game. A major blunder on Double Helix part considering every past game in the series had their feature even the Climax-developed installments.

Right now I only have four games on my trophy list but I intend to achieve Platinum on everyone of those games. The catch is not to over-do it and make trophy-hunting the primary aim of re-playing those game, I have a friend who grind many hours through Infamous on his way to his first Platinum trophy only to sell the game immediately afterwards because he was so sick of hunting for the final trophy. I certainly do not wish for the same to happen to me with my games but tendency to go all out on a trophy hunt is always there.

Bewitched Again

Finishing Bayonetta a few weeks back i immediately feel the urge to play it again, not because the entire campaign was too short (10-12 hours) but because i had such a horrible time with my first play-through that i knew i would enjoy it more the next time around. Weird huh? Not so if you are familiar with action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry.

You see Bayonetta has a rigid save system where it only allows you to save the game at the end of the level so not knowing how long the level is and when exactly you can save can be a very scary feeling. Not to entirely bash the game, i suspect the game auto-saves your progress at designated checkpoints because there's always an auto-save checkpoint on my ps3 save file utility. But not wanting to risk losing any of my valuable progress, i have never tried not finishing a level and saving my progress at the end before exiting the game. So here i am, trying to better my score on every level while uncovering the secret mission portals and notes which i may have missed earlier. Not entirely different with what happened with Devil May Cry 4 so maybe that's why i knew once i finished Bayonetta for the first time, there can only be good times ahead.

Reality Bites

I used to think No More Heroes was a pretty easy game so much so that i didn't give it a second thought whether or not i could actually finish it on Bitter mode. Finishing the Bitter mode however has managed to send my (gamer) ego come crashing back to reality and nearly reduce me to tears. Ok maybe not that but i easily spent over 5 hours to dispose of both Bad Girl and Jeanne as both boss fight require a heavy dose of patience especially if you tend to be very careful. I have certainly come to appreciate the game and the intricacy boss fights a lot more, something that would have been lost on an easier mode as you can basically button-mash your way through them.

I remember when finishing DMC4 on Hard mode i got message screen with a rather cheeky remark about how you are not just a casual gamer after all. These days i try to get the most out of my games so playing it first on a cheap easy mode is another way of prolonging the life of these games. Action games tend to have a pretty short playing time so looks like it's the ribbon of disgrace for now in Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Bloody Mess

While waiting for my copy of Siren: New Translation to arrive, i decided to sharp my demon-slaying skills by playing Devil May Cry 4 again. Upon unlocking the Bloody Palace on my last play, i never got around to even trying it one bit because I have heard you can literally play that mode for hours, working your way down each floor of the tower. Considering i only manage to make it to level 17 on my first try as Nero, I suspect i have a lot of grounds to cover if i even hope to finish it one day. Truth to be told, i never actually try the bloody palace in Devil May Cry 3 where it first made its debut. It can get tiring pretty fast with the hoards of enemies the game throws at you as you progress through the floors. The sheer number of demons on one floor can get pretty impressive and it got me thinking that the legendary dark knight mode included on the latter PC version could work on the console versions too.

I remember when the PC version first came out, i just finish the game for the first time on my Playstation 3. I enthusiastically posted on the official capcom forum whether that was any chance DMC4 could see a re-release on the PS3 with all the new PC additions similar to what they did with DMC3: Special Edition. Alas, my request was quickly shot down with the belief that the current consoles are not able to handle the legendary dark knight mode as it was made to harness the PC superior processing power. Somehow as a true-blue console gamer, i find it hard to accept that the definitive version of a game from my favourite video game developer residing on the PC platform.

Pandora Box

On my second run through Devil May Cry 4, i don't think i have ever been so thorough before in trying to accomplish every task the game throws at me. As you probably know, i have a habit of leaving things unfinished during my first play-through a game so i will eventually go back to it again assuming this is game that i would want to replay again.

It all started with my friend who told me i didn't know what he went through until i tried the DEVIL mode, having finished the game rather easily on HUMAN mode. When all i wanna to do was to finish the game again to view the extended ending, i certainly didn't expect to be playing the game this thoroughly. Little by little i come to realise i barely scratch the surface of the game when i first played it. In trying to acquire the blue orbs from my unfinished secret missions, i had to learn up every intricate move in Dante and Nero fighting style as the game is so highly customistable that you could actually finish the game without having to learn the fighting style or weapon that you don't fancy. Though some of the tactics are highly questionable such as engaging the Pandora missile pod to fly over a stream of laser beams you are supposed to jump and avoid, i don't think it necessary counts as cheating as the game never really tells how you are suppose to accomplish your goals. I come to learn and appreciated Dante's Pandora box and Gilgamesh and even Nero's hold with the devil bringer.

Devil May Cry 4 carried over the scoring system from DMC3 which you actually save all your high scores on one common scoreboard, making it easy to compare your previous runs. In the end, i probably enjoyed replaying DMC4 now than i did when i first played it, which is rare when it comes to most games. Production Studio 1 who are responsible for both DMC3&4 has managed to achieve what kamiya set out to do with the first Devil May Cry. A game that not everyone will like but for those who do, like will be a bit of an understatement.

High for Five

Good news, Play-asia has already started taking pre-orders for the upcoming Resident Evil 5 due for release on 13th March 2009 and it looks like they are bringing in the collector's edition too.

Now the past few collector edition has mostly been Gamestop/EBgames exclusive so naturally were very difficult to obtain especially if you don't live in the states. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma were the most notable examples though some were still able to buy it off eBay but not without paying an arm and leg for it. Since i already missed the Collector Edition for MGS4 and DMC4 (and Sigma while we are at it), there is no way i'm not getting this one ! As you know i'm an absolute RE nut and so that's why i think i'll pass on the upcoming konamistyle edition of Castlevania: Order of Eccelsia in order to save for this one.

Nero minded

I finished DMC4 last weekend and since i didn't have any game scores that i would normally would post, i didn't bother to blog about it. I was pretty determined to finish the game before 8th of July, the official release date of the PC version as i would have the satisfaction of knowing that i have at least beaten a certain legion of gamers to completing the game.

Yes, i was pretty sore about DMC4 coming to the PC platform, perhaps even more so than the XBOX360 because i have never regarded the platform as a viable gaming platform. In my mind, PC gamers are just a bunch of cheap skate gamers would can't be bother to purchase a game console and instead turn to their multi-tasking PC to get their gaming fix. I would know because i happened to be one in the past !

This DMC4 release is a little different because Capcom happened to be handling the development themselves instead of outsourcing it and they have also taken the effort to throw in some extra modes as incentives for console gamers.

Nice move Capcom but you are not getting my money this time....

Emotional Wreck

Poor old Dante, after getting upstaged by his cooler twin Vergil in Devil May Cry 3 his thunder has been stolen again in Devil May Cry 4. Sure, fans were worried when Capcom first reveal the new protagonist Nero especially since you would be playing him for roughly half the game but all reservations about new kid Nero were quickly put to rest once gamers got to play him.

Nero reminds me of the young Dante in Devil May Cry 3 but apart from being a wise-cracking devil hunter in the face of danger, he was also far more emotional a character than Dante ever was. That was part of the appeal of the character for me, through the course of the entire game you will bear witness a wide range of Nero's raw emotions albeit they sometimes border on the cheesy side. In fact, Nero style of fighting was so fun that i kinda wish i could go back to playing him halfway through the game when you get to play Dante.

that can't be a good sign now can it?

Lucky Devil

Last week it was my friend who got lucky, this week it's my turn! Well not exactly, let's just say my prayers has been answered and no, i'm not talking about my Playstation3 though it's a pretty big blessing itself. As you probably know, i started playing Devil May Cry 4 not too long ago and seeing that i missed out on the pre-order disc that came with the game upon release, i started looking up local forums in hopes of buying it separately from a seller, since i already have the game. Not much luck, the few sellers i approached who were selling the game with the preorder disc both already sold off their copies much to my surprise seeing that they were selling it at pretty premium price for a pre-owned game.

Today i happened to see the pre-order disc behind the shelf of one of the game stores and decided to try my luck to see if they were willing to sell the bonus disc without purchasing the game. Surprise, surprise they had no problems selling me the bonus disc without the game! Though i had to pay a little bit more than what i was prepared to offer those sellers, i can't complain about having a brand new copy of this to add to my collection. If only i managed to score one of those swanky Dante disc, i heard the ratio of Nero to Dante pictured on the disc is pretty high (9:1) and there are apparently only a small number of these Dante discs out there.

Devil's Temptation

My region 3 version of MGS4 SE came in today and I'm torn between watching the bonus blu-ray disc or holding off until finishing the game first, as recommended by the inlay sleeve found inside the blu-ray case. I tend to be a sucker for these making-of specials and this bonus disc happens to be extra special because it clocks in a running time of over 130 minutes long and also it's presented on a blu-ray disc, giving you the best possible presentation. The packaging is as good as it gets i suppose for a region 3 release but i would have preferred it if they included a special box art for the game like the japanese release.

Just the other week, my friend managed to score a copy of this for slightly less than what i paid, and the fact that he agreed to buy the game from me earlier certainly doesn't make me feel any better about it. Oh well, i suppose i can figure out what to do with the additional copy while playing through Devil May Cry 4 before deciding which copy of the game to play. Assuming that i don't give in to the temptation and end up playing this before finishing Devil May Cry 4 first...

Lost for words

In the wake of Capcom's disappointing showing of quality Wii software during Captivate 08, i have started looking at possible PS3 titles that might interested me instead.

While MGS4 and DMC4 are sure to keep me occupied once i get my hardware, the truth is there are other titles that i would rather play first before moving on to those. Top on my list would be Lost Planet, a Capcom action adventure game that was ported from the XBOX360. The port received its' fair share of flak for not taking advantage of the delay and PS3 hardware in improving the visual and experience but despite all that, i would still very much want to play that game. I remember Onimusha being the first game i ever played on my PS2 and to me, Lost Planet is very much the Onimusha of PS3. Both games were produced by the father of Megaman, keiji inafune and featured the likeness of an asian celebrity, in this case lee byung hun.

Also playing a new game is always more rewarding than sequel, though sequels have their own charms as well. But unfortunately with the MGS4 release only days away and my hardware arriving bundled together with the game, it looks like i may very well have to play MGS4 first to keep up with my friends.


Looks like my encounter with the lovely Luka will just have to wait...

Cover story

Never judge a book by it's cover...unfortunately, when it comes to games where every bit of minor detail are scrutinised by zealous fans most of the time, even the box art is not spared. I admit i'm often swayed by how attractive the cover looks before deciding on which version to get as demonstrated by Biohazard 4 on the PS2. Metal Gear Solid series has had some of the best box art largely contributed by the artistic strengths of series designer yoji shinkawa.

However as technological advancements allow for more realistic graphics, having an artistic cover may not always attracted attention from casual buyers especially those who are unfamiliar with the series. It's no secret i'm not a fan of the recent Metal Gear covers starting with Snake Eater, i once contemplated of getting the Japanese version which featured Boss and Naked Snake instead of the CGI snake on the US cover. The latest Metal Gear 4 chapter is by far the worst, and now with the prospect of me getting the normal US 80GB bundle looks i'm going to be stuck with CGI old snake after all.

I really wasn't considering the Limited Edition Guns of the Patriots, far too often have i missed the limited edition release of games for this generation and it look like this trend was going to continue for some time, well at least till Resident Evil 5. I mean i already missed out on the limited edition of Devil May Cry 4, what's more if i missed out on Metal Gear Solid 4 right? Finally it dawned on me, if i didn't like the cover of the US version which i'm going to be stuck with, why don't i just get the limited edition which featured an artwork cover?

Set Free the Devil

While i was out this weekend catching the new Death Note movie, I happened to find Death Trance on DVD which was quite a pleasant surprise seeing that i was looking for this title for quite a while now. L Change the World may not have anything to do with video games and is actually not even worth mentioning but Death Trance is an entirely different story. The film is directorial debut of one Yuji Shimomura of U'den flameworks and action coordinator of Versus and Devil May Cry 3 & 4. The director of the action movie often gets credit for how good action sequence looked so it's very often that the action coordinator /director gets overlooked, except maybe in the case of Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip collaborations. While Ryuhei Kitamura is a talented director himself, his work for Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes were often criticised as the action were too far-fetched and didn't fit in the context of Metal Gear or the Solid Snake character. Yuji and u'den flameworks on the other hand, seems like the perfect fit with Devil May Cry as they often combine gunplay, swordplay and martial arts in their sequence, the very stuff that the Devil May Cry series are made of.

U'den flameworks brought cutscenes in action games to a whole new level when they worked on Devil May Cry 3 though the earlier Devil May Cry games had its own strengths in storytelling as well. In Devil May Cry 3, watching the action unfolds in the cutscenes was just about as exciting as playing the game itself, a large part due to yuji and U'den flameworks dazzling camerework and motion-captured stunts. Yuji came back to work Devil May Cry 4 and i can't wait to see what action set-pieces he has in store for part 4.

Death Trance is set in a fantasy world, much like Versus and tells the tale of mythical samurai and outlaws searching for a fabled coffin that holds dark secrets. I joked with my friend that since i couldn't play Devil May Cry 4 yet, this movie will have to do for now...don't think he was amused by that remark.

Devil Beside You

As you can see, my Devil May Cry 4 has arrived, woohoo! Too bad i won't be able to play it till i get my Playstation3 though there is always the option of playing the soon-to-be released PC version but i already gave up on pc gaming a long time ago. Since i am unable to comment on how the game plays i thought i give my thoughts on the blu-ray packaging since this is my first blu-ray disc and there have been mixed opinions about the packaging ever since they unveiled it. The slighty shorter cases compared with DVD certainly looks sleek but they are no way as sexy as Sony's UMD for PSP which i admit i collect to a certain extent because of how sexy the UMD cases and disc looked, even with the rampant piracy issue circulating over the internet.

I am a little disappointed that Devil May Cry 4 japanese version has the exact same cover as the other versions but it's been that way for the series since the first installment so i guess i shouldn't complain. I wrestled over the issue of whether to order the US version or the Japan version but ultimately i settled on the Japan version because there was a limited edition tin case for the American release so buying the standard version seems like a poor resort. Also over in Japan, a budget label has already been introduced for Playstation3 so i reckon Devil May Cry 4 will very soon be re-released on budget label given it's brisk early sales. All you collectors of first edition games should take note, as Ninja Gaiden Sigma has already been reissued on Best Buy label.

CERO to zero

I have a, some might say rather odd preference for japanese imports when it comes to games, given the fact that i hardly know any japanese at all despite attempting to learn the language twice. I guess it started way back when i got my Gameboy while i was with my dad on assignment in Japan and the japanese games came in cute little boxes (with better cover art too) compared with the rather clumsy US boxes. Even during the 32-bit era, one of my early favourite games Biohazard had the full uncut intro on the japanese release which sadly never made it to western shores after so many iterations including the most recent Deadly Silence on the Nintendo DS. Onimusha also lost a crucial scene and frankly, some of its' atmosphere when it was localised for the Western market. That was then this is now, things has certainly changed since CERO (Computer Entertainment Rating Organization) took charge of the age rating for the video games distributed in Japan. Biohazard 4 was one of the first games to suffer some cuts under CERO as the decapitation scenes were deemed too violent and had to be censored from the japanese version. In a reverse of fortunes, Resident Evil 4 was passed through without any of these cuts in the US, making the japanese version slighty inferior. I also recently had a unpleasant surprise when i played the US version of Dracula X Chronicles on my PSP upon finishing the japanese version earlier and discovered that some footage off the openning CG intro was cut! No doubt the work of CERO again, the shot of blood trickling off the coffin of Dracula onto his forehead was missing from the japanese version.

Play-Asia just had another Easter clearance sale where everything in-stock was going for 20% less and here i was facing the dilemma of whether to order the US, Asian or japanese version of Devil May Cry 4. All three were discounted and only a few dollars set them apart, after much thought i ended up ordering the japanese import as i heard you get a slighty different intro music on the openning cutscene of the japanese version. Some things never change i suppose....