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.

Excess Baggage

True story about Devil May Cry 3, when I first played that game I took a six months lay-off somewhere in between as I was stuck on one of the boss fight before ultimately returning to finish the game. While Fatal Frame III wouldn't be rivaling Devil May Cry 3, I have certainly started this game far too long ago and have yet to finish it even once. Part of the problem with the game is I felt the third installment had too much baggage and had problem recalling the events and character from past games referenced in part III. I felt a need to replay the previous two games in order to get the most out of part III but in doing so, I'm afraid Fatal Frame III might really rival Devil May Cry 3 as the longest game I took to finish.

Frame Frame III also had a tendency to dump the player in a scenario with little or no clue as to what to do, a recipe for disaster for someone who plays the game irregularly like myself. The light at the end of the tunnel is near, I just hope i have enough will power to make it there.

Seed of Destruction

One of the most compelling aspect of a great villain is how they went astray, if the villain doesn't have an interesting origin then he's probably not that great of a villain to begin with. As i inches closer to the end of Darkside Chronicles, i'm intrigued with character development of Krauser from a true blue american soldier to the power-crazy mercenary in Resident Evil 4. From the moment Javier's B.O.W tear into krauser's left arm in the middle of the boss fight, i begin to see the seeds of destruction being sowed to giving him his own hand of doom in RE4. I got really excited at this point [cue geek moment music] so much so that i stop playing because i already had enough of my fix for the day. When I first started, I wasn't paying much attention to krauser probably because i was too caught up with how good Claire looked and also because i knew you won't get to see how krauser ends up being presumed dead in RE4. After all, Leon didn't know that when they meet up again and the fact Krauser knew nothing about B.O.W at the start of the Javier mission didn't help either.

But unlike the Russian Umbrella stronghold chapters in Umbrella Chronicles, the Javier chapters seems to play a greater importance in the RE saga as the box art clearly describes how the timeline of the game begins with Leon and Krauser in 2002 with flashbacks to the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica. While the flashbacks ends up taking the bunk of the game's playing time that doesn't necessarily mean the Javier mission won't be of anything significant. Hopefully there are further development to the krauser character and the ultimate payoff would prove to be more satisfying than how Capcom decided to leave the Vergil character in DMC3.

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.

October Rain

October has always been a big month for me when it comes to games where i usually reward myself with a big purchase and by the definition of big, i don't just mean a new game. It's a trend i started about three years ago with the japanese version of Dante May Cry 3 which i bought at a local game store. Seeing that it was a local game store, you can probably guess it wasn't by any means cheap but i really wanted that cool handphone strap that came with it. Since Play-asia never discounted the japanese version anyways before it was eventually replaced with the special edition, i don't think it was that bad of a purchase.

Next was the PAL version of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, the standard edition for the PAL market comes with all three discs included while the US version only had two disc as the standard edition. While i won't mind the standard two-disc US version at that time, it too became scarce when i was about to purchase it so i have to settle for the PAL three-disc version. Most recently was the konamistyle edition of Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, probably my biggest purchase so far. i thought about it for some time and even hesitated a while primarily because it wasn't cheap but since it happens to be close to October, i thought what the hell.


This year, the only release in the month of October which i'm interested in is Suda51's Flower, sun and rain but sadly, no US release date has been announced yet. The only other option is the PAL version scheduled for release this October, however shipping it from HMV is not going to be cheap, what with the postage rates they charge.

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?

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.