Devil May Cry 4

A while ago Capcom handed over this beloved franchise to Ninja Theory in hopes of bringing a more western feel to the demon slaying action and revitalize the series. While it certainly had a more western feel it certainly did more damage to the franchise rather than revitalize it. It was as if Ninja Theory was deliberately trying to get less and less people to buy their product with each passing interview insulting the fan base at almost every opportunity. They even added a scene where a white wig falls on Dante’s head and he tosses it off saying “Not in a million years.” Wow, what is wrong with you Ninja Theory?

The game all in all wasn’t that bad, but it did have to odd design choices and with the horrible PR the game failed to sell well and did nothing of what Capcom was hoping for. Right when DmC Definitive Edition was announce Capcom had also announced Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition. Fans were becoming hopeful again as the face of the old school Vergil was on the screen. Many fans started speculating what role he might play in the story and what his new playstyle might be like, many fans were already sold and were hopeful that Capcom might forget DmC and continue the series as if the reboot never happened. While the future of the series is still in question, DMC4:SE is a love letter/apology to the old school fans of the series.

               
The Special Edition features a graphical upgrade, the inclusion of the Legendary Dark Knight mode which was originally exclusively on the PC, as well as 3 additional playable characters making for a grand total of 5, probably the most that this genre has ever seen. The new characters are all old school favorites. There is also an option to increase the game speed by 20 percent.

Okay lets check out Legendary Dark Kn.....HOLY MOTHER OF MOSES THAT'S ALOT OF DEMONS!!!!!!!!

Vergil makes his third playable appearance but ditches his stances that were in DmC’s Vergils Downfall and picks up his Beowulf and Force Edge which he used in DMC3 but he isn’t an exact copy and paste as he brings with him new moves and a Concentration Meter, the better you perform the higher the meter gets and with it certain moves become stronger and you gain access to Judgement Cut End which cleans rooms quicker than a high powered vacuum. Lady for the first time makes a playable appearance and she plays drastically different from the other 4 characters, while characters like Dante certainly have long range options, Lady has almost nothing but long range options and the best ones at that, she simply blows everything up, she isn’t as deep as the other characters but she is certainly fun and effective. The last playable addition is Trish who is playable for the second time in the series, At first she seems like a mix between Dante and Vergil, her moves with the Sparda sword is very reminiscent of Dante’s Rebellion, and her bare knuckles are similar to Vergil’s Beowulf and she even takes a few elements from Dante’s Pandora, however each move is slightly different from it’s original source and combined with the other elements her combo’s remain unique unto her and she still has a few new tricks up her sleeve, like when she throws Sparda she ends her bare knuckle combo with a spinning kick that would make Chun Li jealous. Dante and Nero remain exactly the same and while Capcom says they tweaked the balance and there is a code that will unlock the old mechanics, I personally did not see any difference. All and all each character feels drastically different and you’ll want to play around with all their unique moves before putting this game down.

There is sadly no real additions to the story despite having new characters to play as. Besides Dante and Nero’s campaign, the others only get an intro which is just an action intro, and an ending which doesn’t amount to much. Apparently Vergil had been to Fortuna before the events of even DMC3 but it really doesn’t mean much, he just went there to check out the Order of the Sword and literally nothing else happens besides him killing some demons. Meanwhile Lady and Trish’s campaign really only gets extended scenes of scenes we’ve seen before. It just feels like Capcom wasted an opportunity here, many fans speculate that there is a connection between Nero and Vergil and this seemed like a perfect time to show what that connection is but we are still left to our own imaginations of what that might be.

               
Perhaps Devil May Cry 4’s biggest critique in 2008 was the backtracking. Normally you’d get to the halfway point in the game and then do the same levels in reverse order. When playing as Vergil this is more evident. Before you at least switched characters so it still felt fresh because you had new moves and new strategies, however during Vergil’s campaign you play as him the WHOLE TIME! It’s almost like half way through he suddenly realized he forgot his car keys and had to turn around.

If you love Devil May Cry 4 than you owe it to yourself to pick this up. It’s only 25 bucks so think of it as picking up DLC that showed up 7 year late. The new characters alone are worth the money. If you never played it than now is the chance to see one of the finest games in the genre. If you didn’t like Devil May Cry 4 well the Special Edition won’t change your mind but I will ask……what is wrong with you? Hopefully this will sell well and Capcom will see that continuing this series is the way to go.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

                Okay first I have to do a disclaimer. This is the first Monster Hunter game I have played to great depth. My history with the series is about half way through the single player mode of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on 3DS. The reason why I didn’t do the multiplayer is because I don’t own a Wii U and thus I could only play via local and I didn’t have any friends who were playing it at the time. The reason why I stopped playing the single player is because other games I was more interested in came out and thus I put it down. Having said that I have had a thorough experience with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I have beat the single player campaign and am well on my way to my G rank multiplayer quests. So here is my review on the newest addition of Monster Hunter.

                So what is Monster Hunter…..well exactly what it sounds like, it’s a game about hunting monsters. Set in a pre-historic setting you are a rookie hunter looking to prove your worth so the guild will trust you to hunt more dangerous monsters……why do you want to hunt dangerous monsters you ask? Well your character is mute so make something up. You join this caravan where the caravan leader wants to inspect the mysteries of a jewel he found; too lazy to do anything himself he hires a brigade of characters which includes you. The other characters include a cat who can cook, a big blacksmith whose soul point is to make you better gear from the monsters you hunt, a girl who hands you quests, and another girl who can craft decorations for your armor, while you do what it is that you do best which is hunting down the monsters. All the while the caravan leader sits on his hands……some leader.

                The game will primarily have you hunting these larger than life monsters which range from giant raptors, to dragons, to sharks with legs, to giant sandworms, even something that looks like a rabbit crossed with a polar bear. The monsters here are the true stars of the show and are a marvel to look at. My personal favorite is Gore Magala, a black dragon that looks like it came out of a nightmare. Early on you will bring down monsters no problem however eventually you will have to really study the monsters attack patterns, if you don’t you will pay the price, this game is punishingly difficult. Fortunately the game allows you to die 3 times during a quest so it’s okay to make a mistake every now and then, this is good because most of the time when I met a new monster I would die at least once before I got the hang of the monster’s attacks.

Please don't eat me Gore Magala!

                Preparation is also a key here. Sometimes you will go on missions just to collect items so you can combine them with other items and together they can make better potions or traps. Most of the time however you will grind specific monsters over and over again in order to make the appropriate gear, this may sound tedious but it isn’t as bad as it sounds as most of the monsters are a blast to fight. An ill prepared party will often meet their doom; hell even if one player is under prepared it can spell doom as that player will more than likely die all 3 times and cause the mission to fail. Skilled players however may be able to get by without grinding for gear but they will miss out on a lot of the cool stuff and let’s be honest, the cool stuff is why your hunter hunts.

Like this armor? It can be yours at the low price of killing Rathalos 10 times.

                Perhaps what Monster Hunter does best is the sense of accomplishment and reward. Some of these monsters are the hardest bosses you’ll ever face in an action game making it all the more satisfying when you kill them, and to those who take their time to get the best gear will never be disappointed. You will also find that as you get better gear your skill will also increase because Monster Hunter is a continuous learning experience from beginning to end, even if you’re fighting Rathalos for the fourth time, you are more than likely still learning something new every time you fight him, and the next time you take him on he will be even easier because of your newfound knowledge. Other players will know just by looking at your high level armor that you are truly a badass among the community, because unlike other grindfests, no matter how geared you are; because the way the game was masterfully designed, you still need a high skill level in order to best the majestic beasts. Monster Hunter has found that happy medium between gear level and skill level and doesn’t rely too heavily on one or the other.

HOLY !@#$ RUN!!!!!

                 Monster Hunter can be played alone or with friends. It is highly suggested you do both. In order to unlock all the features in town you need to progress pretty far into single player. For example in single player you can unlock a vendor who can multiply items for free, this feature cannot be unlocked via multiplayer. Also in single player you can go on expeditions which in turn will unlock Guild Quests for multiplayer as well. As for why you should do multiplayer……well it’s fun to play with a friend for starters but there are also quests and monsters that cannot be accessed in singleplayer. While it is possible to solo a multiplayer quest, just bear in mind that the monsters were scaled for four people and thus have a lot more health and deal more damage as well, soloing these quests will be the hardest thing to do in the game.

                 Monster Hunter is great fun, my only criticism is it isn’t a big leap forward from what I played in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Other than new bosses and two new weapon types, literally the biggest difference is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate had underwater missions while Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has areas that require much more climbing. I am really happy with what’s here but I hope this isn’t just a series that rehashes itself over and over again like some other game franchises, “coughCallofDutycough.” I hope to see something truly amazing in Monster Hunter 5.

Destiny the Dark Below

                Destiny has been quite the talk, some people love it some people hate it. Either way I think we were all a tad disappointed with a few elements such as the inability to trade or a lack of a matchmaking system for weekly events and raids etc. Right now I’m here to talk about the Dark Below DLC and is it worth the $9.99.

                So what comes with the DLC? Well it comes with 4 story missions, 1 new strike (2 right now for Playstation players,) 1 new raid, 3 new PvP maps, and new gear which can increase your light level to 32. Now while it doesn’t sound like a whole lot when compared to other games DLC’s I can guarantee that you’ll spend a lot of time doing all of the above because Destiny is still a grindfest, a 10 dollar DLC is not going to change that.

                So the story is apparently this big all powerful Hive creature named Crota is going to awaken soon and it’s up to the Guardians (aka the players) to stop it……that’s pretty much it, if you want to know more you still need to quit the game and look up the grimoire cards at bungie.net.  The story drive here is even worse than the core Destiny experience and that is saying something. The game again fails to get the players to care about what’s going on. There isn’t even cut scenes this time round, just a woman known as Eris Morn spouting exposition similar to the ghost in the core game, though admittedly the woman they got to do the voice over does a much better job than Peter Dinklage. The story missions themselves are really more of the same except now there are hazardous areas on the floor which will damage you if you stand on them. Bungie still seems to think horde mode is the best thing ever.

Um hot?

                Speaking of Eris Morn she is also a new vendor and another person to hand out bounties. She mostly offers cosmetic changes, but there are a few upgradeable materials you will need from her for the higher level gear but she is also another faction so expect to grind for reputation. Her bounties all have to do with the Hive enemy type and thus grinding for reputation for her is even more tedious than the vanguard faction which at least has you going up against all enemy types.

Remember these guys? Yeah you'll be shooting them a lot.

                So as you can see you aren’t getting much, so you would think you could pass on this DLC and keep enjoying the core game right? Wrong! The DLC has been out for a few weeks now and it seems the weekly strikes and Nightfalls all seem to be catered to the new DLC missions, meaning unless you shell out the 10 bucks for the DLC you will not be able to do the weekly missions causing you to miss out on some rewards. This even applies to the Daily story missions though that one does allow access to the core missions more often than not but still there will be a few days where even that will be locked to vanilla players. It’s just more evidence that Bungie just wants your money.

                So as you can see the new content is really just more of the same so some may think it’s not worth 10 dollars and you can just go on ahead and enjoy the core game. However with Bungie locking content that was already available it feels like you HAVE to get the DLC at least if your one who likes doing the weekly missions. We gamers should not find this sort of practice acceptable. Many of us have already shelled out 60 dollars for Destiny and expect everything about the core game to still be accessible, and now they lock content from us unless we give them more money? When all they added was more of the same? If this is the planned future of Destiny than it will more than likely die off before the 10 year contract is even up.

I know it is only 10 dollars but due to other games with their DLC’s in the past, we as gamers expect much more. When other games such as Borderlands hands us DLC’s such as Tiny Tina’s assault on Dragon’s keep for the same price, Bungie should be downright embarrassed about their final product, but we know now that they just want our wallets and unfortunately they are getting them because Destiny is still a fun game to play and we will keep giving them cash so we can still play their entire game. I guess we should just be thankful they don’t ask for a monthly fee.

If you’re a fan of Destiny you should get it just so you aren’t locked out of the weekly events. If you were hoping the DLC would address some of Destiny’s core problems well keep dreaming. Destiny could be phenomenal and even dethrone Borderlands as the perfect blend of FPS and RPG, it just needs a few more tweaks. They clearly nailed the FPS aspect with solid gunplay and fantastic PvP but you can tell that Bungie lacks the proper knowledge and experience to add in proper RPG elements. Many of us are still hoping that Destiny can be the game it was supposed to be but the Dark Below has taken away some of that hope.