PS4 Review: Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition

Before the DMC Reboot, there was DMC 4…

Ah, Devil May Cry 4. It’s been so long since I played the original back on the 360, it was actually my first entry into the series and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely, although there were a number of things that bugged me. Backtracking, a troublesome camera but mostly how Dante’s levels were just Nero’s leftovers, but other than that I don’t think it deserved the backlash that it got, then again I don’t agree with the DMC reboot backlash either.
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DMC 4 Special Edition brings the remasters of the series to a close, although I would imagine that Capcom might re-release the DMC HD Collection on PS4/Xbox One to make sure it’s all on one system for everyone, failing that they might just make it backwards compatible on Xbox One, although all of this is pure speculation at this point, but with Capcom’s new found love of remakes you can’t count it out.

This remaster pushes the game to 1080p and it runs at a solid 60fps. It’s impressive for a game that is 7 years old now and the best part it is that it looks stunning throughout, the cutscenes have all been redone too and really look the part. Included in the Special Edition is the ability to play as Vergil, Lady and Trish each with different opening and ending cutscenes, there’s also a Legendary Dark Knight Mode and improvement to gameplay including the ability to auto save.
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One disappointing thing I noticed is that you can actually buy your upgrades through the Playstation Store, sure it’s for a pretty small cost…but it’s still annoying that these things still exist, but I guess at this point they are here to stay. The Special Edition will set you back £20 as it’s a digital-only download outside of Japan, so unless it’s in a digital sale you won’t see it any cheaper any time soon.

Of course, you might wonder why remake DMC 4 in the first place? I was a little confused at first too, especially considering the backlash from fans. The problems from the original still suffice in the Special Edition, but they just don’t seem as bad the second time around. I guess Capcom wanted the complete DMC saga available for everyone, which is no bad thing and sure you can pick up the original for a few quid, but this Special Edition really makes up for the original’s flaws, even if it doesn’t fix them…it still looks amazing, it seems to handle better and the extra characters are just icing on the cake.

The Verdict

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition may not fix the flaws of the original game, but it does spruce it up visually to look like it belongs on the new hardware, the new content adds extra value to the package and even though it’s far from perfect, DMC 4 Special Edition is one game that you will find hard to put down.

Overall Score: 8.0