Devil May Cry 4

Gameplay in Devil May Cry 4 is like previous games in the series. The player must fight through a linear sequence of levels called "missions", occasionally solving puzzles or gathering items. Performance in a mission is graded from "D", the lowest grade, to "A" then "S", "SS", and "SSS", the highest grade. Grades are based on items used, Red Orbs gathered, time taken, and the number of Style Points accumulated.

Each Style Point grade has its own tag-word. The stylish grade shows up on the side of the screen and begins at "Deadly" (D); progresses through "Carnage" (C), "Brutal" (B), and "Atomic" (A); then, advances through one last bar of grades containing the phrases "Smokin'" (S), "Smokin' Style" (SS), and lastly "Smokin' Sick Style" (SSS). Stylish combat is the focus of the game, conveyed through unbroken combos of varied attacks while avoiding damage. The player must avoid enemy attacks to continue performing combos, often by memorizing attack patterns.

Nero is a young demon hunter who lives on the isolated island of Fortuna and is also a member of the Order of the Sword: a religious sect of knights who worship the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda as a God. Dante arrives, and murders The Order's leader, the High Priest Sanctus, in front of the entire congregation. At the same time, an army of demons invades the city, putting everyone, including Nero's love interest Kyrie, in danger. Tasked with stopping Dante by Kyrie's brother Credo, the Captain of the Holy Knights, Nero's journey leads him to discover that he is in fact a descendant of Sparda himself, and Dante is not his enemy.

Under orders from Sanctus, Agnus has been siphoning the power of the long lost Devil Arm Yamato, the sword of Dante's brother Vergil, to create a demonic army and imbue high-ranking members of the Order with demonic power. To Agnus' shock, the shattered Yamato restores itself in Nero's presence and flies to Nero's aid. With The Order's plans revealed, Agnus flees to inform the newly resurrected Sanctus.

Development of Devil May Cry 4 began shortly after its predecessor was a success. A total of eighty people formed the development team. The first teaser was that of Dante on a snowy peak shown at E3 2005, while the Tokyo Game Show 2005 trailer showed Dante doing multiple moves in front of a camera, both containing elements that were not included in the finished product. Capcom only made the E3 2005 video to confirm their staff had begun work on the game.

Since they had just finished Devil May Cry 3 and Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition, the developers initially were confused in regards to what they had to do in order to innovate the gameplay mechanics they developed previously. The team wanted to introduce new gameplay elements and a new character allowed them to do this. This was the first Devil May Cry not to be released for PlayStation 2, because it was designed for the next generation of hardware. This allowed the team to try new play mechanics and expand the series' plot.

Devil May Cry 4 received favorable reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a "Platinum" rank as part of its review. It praised the difficulty balance and gameplay options.

Devil May Cry 4 received praise for its hack and slash mechanics. Xbox World Australia called it "the most solid of all of the Devil May Cry games" citing its responsive controls despite being the first game in the series to be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. PSM3 rated the game's degree of difficulty positively based on how the system ranks the player and the challenges the game offers. com praised the gameplay and "predictably slick" looks.