The Devil May Cry...

But I sure won't. Earlier today the Devil May Cry 4 demo was released onto the Playstation Network (PSN) and XBox Live, and as a rabid Devil May Cry fan I immediately downloaded it. The demo is fairly short, but more than makes up for it with the amount of content and polish it provides.

The demo comes in two flavors; the first starts the player off slowly, throwing only a couple of minor enemies at you while teaching you how to play, though they do get tougher and more numerous as the demo continues. This section is limited only by a ten minute timer, thus forcing the player to choose between exploring or dinking around with the combat system, which in true Devil May Cry fashion is very fun. The second choice starts the player far into the demo where they must fight off three Frosts, icy lizard type enemies with a variety of ice powers who are resistant enough to your attacks that you have to balance offense and defense carefully. After dispatching these three foes the player continues forward into a small cutscene that introduces the boss of the demo, a massive four-legged fire demon named Berial.

The fight with Berial takes place in a small town of wooden houses that catch fire as Berial approaches or are torn asunder by the demons massive blade as he tries to strike you. Berial is fairly non-aggressive during the fight, following the player very slowly, which forces the player to take the offensive. Unfortunately for the player, Nero (the protagonist of the demo) has far fewer options for dodging Berial's attacks than the old protagonist, Dante. I'm an avid DMC fan, having beaten all of the games in the series on Dante Must Die! mode (yes even the second one, which was terrible and nothing like the other two), and although I was still adjusting to Nero's differences from Dante I barely managed to beat the fight on my first try. I don't want to say any more, because one of the funnest parts of playing Devil May Cry games is learning what tricks the bosses have up their sleeves, but I do have to say that Berial has one attack (you'll know which one when you see it) that is amazing.

The demo is fast-paced, action packed, and manages to include instructions for newcomers to the series while also showing off what you can expect to see later in the game. All in all I must tip my hat to Capcom, this has been one of the best demos I've played in a year and I eagerly wait for the games release on February 4th.

-Cory Ragsdale