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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: Feb. 5, 2008
Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, Windows
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site
0:00 Another day, another
Devil May Cry game. If it's anything like No. 3, I'll be happy.
0:01 A woman walks through an orange marble conservatory. Lightning in the distance as a guy in a red coat (Dante?) watches. A winged thing descends. A floating snake slinks by. Dante and the girl look at each other. Quick jump cuts show Dante in action, getting kicked in the face, grabbing enemies, riding them like scooters, shooting them, getting eaten, kicking them into the air, pile driving them into the ground, etc. "The story goes that Sparda served as the feudal lord of the city long ago. The people of the city take these stories as truth and worship him as a god." Scenes of citizens fleeing from monsters. Dante kicking falling blocks of granite. The girl floats in a blue stasis field. "She has nothing to do with this... Let her go!" Etc. etc. Contemplative music over slow-mo action scenes. Dante leaps and reaches out for something. He screams out as the title appears. I feel like I've seen the whole of the story already?
0:04 The title screen shows which of my Xbox Live friends are playing the game and how much they've completed. Is this supposed to unleash my competitive fires?
0:06 I can choose "Human" or "Devil Hunter" difficulties. I'm not exactly "new" to the series, but I've only played for an hour, so "Human" it is. I choose to turn on "Automatic," whatever that means.
0:07 "CAPCOM Presents"... a dusty alley in a slummy city. Dante (?) runs through with a cast on his arm. Credits roll over a shot of the woman from before woman in a cathedral. She looks serene... at peace. The music swells as the woman begins to sing. I can barely make out the words. "Hear the devils cry... always turn your back on him," possibly. A bunch of clawed monsters stand in Dante's way. He takes them out with a jump kick and some slashing. The woman notices a seat in the pews is empty... is it Dante's? Is he trying to get to church? Beautiful, slow-mo animation on Dante and the singer. The juxtaposition of beauty and carnage is pretty moving. This is much more elegant than the
DMC3 opening.
0:10 The carnage done, Dante resumes running. The singer finishes with a final high note. Applause. Dante is in his seat... he looks exhausted. They smile at each other. Awww. A shot of the sun over the city. More loading.
0:11 Still a cut scene: "2,000 years ago, the Dark Knight Sparda turned against his demon brethren and took up his sword for the sake of mankind." Spoiler alert! Also, isn't Batman the Dark Knight? The preacher warns against the fusing of the human and demon realms. The singer sits next to Dante, who starts listening to his headphones. She picks up a present in his bag. The hooded assemblage kneels to pray. The singer just called the guy Nero. So it isn't Dante? He gets up to go: "All this preaching's putting me to sleep." Suddenly, the
real Dante (I can only assume... he also has a red coat) bursts in through a skylight and blows the preacher's head off at point-blank range before anyone can react. He turns slowly to show his blood-spattered face to the crowd. Whoa!