With only a few great games released in January, it has been an arduous task reviewing substandard titles for the last month, so it was with great pleasure when I was asked to handle our review sample of Devil May Cry 4 on the Playstation 3.

Many eons ago when my young kids were in bed, I sat with my trusty Playstation 2 playing Devil May Cry by the firelight, and man this game just took action platforming to a whole new level. The incredible speed of combat and the pulsating action assured the game cult status and a true classic right up there with God Of War. Unfortunately however with the "next gen" consoles (lets drop this term already please, they have been out for years!) you are not instantly assured a next gen gaming experience. So it would be fair to say, that before I first popped the DVD into the shiny black monolith, I was concerned that somehow the feeling of the franchise would be lost behind the enhanced eye candy. Well I can assure you before I proceed any further, that the game rings true to the series and is a marvellous game to play, both for die hard fans of the series and for casual newcomers.

The one aspect of the game which might disturb series buffs is the changing of the lead character, Dante has been replaced with Nero, and no before you ask I am not talking about PC disc burning software. Dante doesn't entirely hang up his boots (more on that later), however for the majority of the game Nero is the man. The basic story line is funny, Kyrie has been messing around with the wrong people, a fanatical religious cult. The game starts off with a beautiful haunting song, then all hell breaks lose.... I don't want to ruin the story as it is one of the best intros I have seen in a game.

Kyrie is now being held captive, and as Nero you spend most of the game chasing after Dante, in the midst of this complex triangle we are slowly fed the storyline via cut scenes, basically a follow on from the excellent storyline of Devil May Cry 2. The game has around twenty levels and each of them take between 20 minutes and an hour to complete, the environments are varied, jungles, castles, mansion, streets and even mines. Those of you who don't like backtracking might get a little frustrated as there is a substantial portion of the game involving you recapping your steps. Some of the levels are actually rather maze like with paths and streets converging in places you will have already travelled, I felt it added a certain realism to the proceedings. Opinions will vary.

Dante was always a kick ass fighter, when you wanted to inflict some serious damage, he was the man you called upon. Nero is almost as good, you still wield a pistol (The Blue Rose), and a demon blade (The Red Queen). Blue Rose fires rather slowly, especially if you are used to Dante's weapons in prior games, however Blue Rose is powered up throughout the game via an experience based system, at the end of each level you receive an  ORB which adds power to the pistol. The system is flexible as you are allowed to reassign them to other abilities at will, so you can power up one or two moves or spread them across as many as you can.

The Red Queen is a gas powered sword which responds to a rather unique "revving" principal, like an engine in a motorbike. You quickly tap the L2 trigger, which causes the blade to vibrate and by doing this continuously you cause more damage at a faster rate. It sounds more complex than it is, and its easily mastered  in a few minutes.

The best is yet to come, Nero has a Demon appendage, his arm. This Devil Bringer is activated by the circle button on the PS3 controller and is easily described as a grappling attack. You can grab and throw enemies and attach it to various parts in the environment. There are certain puzzles in the game which require you to use it, so it's not another useless ability we see many games just adding for the "cool" factor. It works, and it works well, because you now have the ability to attack from above as well as on level ground. Nero can leap into the air, while grabbing an enemy and pulling him in for a close attack.

The difficulty level is as high as it always was, which means young kids or people who suck at gaming may find the default level very challenging. No point in bitching about it because if you really are getting your ass handed to you, you can always pussy out and play it on easy level. Just never admit that in public. I know I won't. It is a wise playing style to stock up on everything you find after all the major battles, some of them are really hard. You do NOT want to be entering combat with nothing in your inventory, trust me.

As I briefly mentioned earlier in the game, Dante is playable in DMC4. Yay!, I can hear the crowd roar already. Sure, the new guy is pretty nippy, he has some cool moves and has great taste in leather, however he just isn't Dante. Aficionados of the series will immediately notice the difference in character feel when you get to control him, and for this we applaud Capcom.

Dante is faster, can react with the gun trigger just a little quicker and has his awesome side arms, Ebony and Ivory. He also has his own combat control method ! The D-Pad is used to switch between four combat styles, Sword Master, Royal Guard, Gunslinger and Trickster. These are all subtle variations on his fighting style and change the way he uses his sword and guns. I really don't want to ruin these by detailing them all, because I am sure once I have finished this review this game will be on your "to buy" list !

Devil May Cry 4 is phenomenal, let's cut straight to that, is it the game Playstation 3 owners have been crying out for a long time. There are sections of the game which remind me of Shadow Of The Colossus mixed with God Of War. Those epic huge environments which look like you have just walked into a movie. It really is that good. The combat system is excellent, it is as good as prior games in the series, especially the Devil bringer arm. It is also just as much fun as the original and best Devil May Cry. I am sure Sony are not particularly overjoyed that Microsoft have also secured the rights for their Xbox 360 and it is bound to have hurt, because I will be honest, this game will sell consoles. There seems to be no way right now to stop the mighty Microsoft, even Grand Theft Auto 4 is no longer the Sony exclusive. The Playstation 3 version however has an optional hard drive installation which helps to lower load times.

So is the Playstation 3 version really that good? Yes. It is outstandingly good, there are no frame rate issues, the texture quality is high and the visuals are striking. Capcom have always been known to work their characters into a normal real life style aging system, so you will see wrinkles under Dante's eyes as the years have taken their toll on him. He looks older and a little scruffy now, perhaps all the years of dealing with his mentally unbalanced lady are finally showing. Poor guy.

The graphics are first class, the animation quality and lip synching are stellar, they did motion capture them however, so it is nice to see that the translation into game code has worked very well. The backdrops are also fabulous with excellent lighting effects sweeping across the sea and there are moving objects in the background which increase the whole level of immersion.

The music is a pumping mixture of metal and synth rock which works well in the context of the game. It has all the attitude to kick you firmly  in the head and make you stay focused, even when your poor fingers are crying out for some respite. The way the music is introduced is also well handled, whenever you are entering a fight the energy of the backing track heightens, often moving from an orchestral soundtrack to a metal one. Dante and Nero interact well, and even though the dialogue can be rather ropey at times, there are some funny quips between the two main guys. The tension is also apparent as they battle for alpha male status.

The game however isn't perfect, there are some camera issues. Occasionally, in game when walking through a door the camera flips position, meaning you will walk right back through it again. Overall it is not a game ruining experience but I would have hoped to see something like this caught in playtesting rather than making it to the final release build of the game. Jumping can also be troublesome as it was before, especially on a few of the levels with environmental damaging blades.

Overall, Devil May Cry 4 is a killer title, extremely enjoyable to play and the graphics are beautiful. It is great to see the Playstation 3 in full on 3d mode, instead of the usual lame ass Xbox 360 ports we are saturated with. The combat system is very smooth, fun and rewarding and the dialogue and cut scenes are polished and quite often extremely amusing.

If this game sells well (which it should) then I am hoping we see DMC5 with a few of the minor annoying issues removed such as the flipping camera. If you are a Playstation 3 owner, then this needs to be on your "must get" list. Excellent!