The music is what a player would expect from a Devil May Cry game. There is the hardcore track that plays during combat and the more melodic tunes that accessorize the rest of the environments. While the hardcore track certainly fits the combat, it does get extremely repetitive since there is only one track that plays every single time. Having a variety of combat music probably would have been an easy remedy.

The sound effects are solid, making sure the player feels every swing of a sword, every shot from a gun, and every scream from a collapsing demon. Ambient effects that accompany the many levels do nothing short of increase immersion and, while these things certainly aren't extraordinary, to say the quality is anything less than excellent would be a gross understatement.

Devil May Cry 4 is also a very cutscene-heavy experience, but not aggravatingly so. Yes, at times it does feel like the player merely moves the character from one cutscene to the next, but unlike many games where this formula becomes increasingly annoying, Devi May Cry 4 finds a way to make it enticing. The direction and animation of these scenes are definitely above par when compared to what other games consider quality, as there is definitely more going on underneath. For example, the voice acting, while expected to be poor, isn't bad. It isn't the greatest dialogue ever spoken and it certainly won't win any awards, but it isn't distracting either, which makes it an effective part of the storytelling. Sure, there are moments that may have the player chuckling a bit or scratching their head in confusion, but no worse than the acting in games like Command & Conquer 3, and that story was told through high-budget live-action scenes.

In the end, Devil May Cry 4 is everything a veteran of the series has come to expect. It is full of fast-paced, combo-heavy, sword-slashing gameplay and has many familiar faces of the previous titles. Its story, while not being complicated or particularly mysterious, remains fun and interesting enough to see you through to the end, which is saying something because it isn't what many would consider to be a short game. What Capcom has produced isn't the pinnacle of console-to-PC quality, but it isn't anything to be laughed at either. And, while there is a lesson to be learned from ignoring one of the most-used PC peripherals of all-time, Devil May Cry 4 is definitely what a video game should be, fun.

By Derek Hidey
CCC Freelance Writer