First DMC4 review - PSN Network Support, HDD Install, Scores :85% and More

Gaffer user Dave1988 have posted a summary of the first DMC4 review from German Gamepro. Below is a quick run down of the review :

Graphics:
+Characters
+Beautiful animations and effects
- flickering shadows and edges
- sometimes too bright

Sound:
+ A good mixture of Rock and Classical music
+ directional/ambient effect
+ Good (English) synchro
- often repeating tracks

[Real gamer 4 life]

that great i cant wait for this game,i am going to get this game for my ps3 and play loading free, then when i am done i will uninstall it. and plus i have played the first and second part for the ps2 so i am already confortble with the ps3 controller. I am really excited for dmc4.

[jiggyjay]

So is the PS3 a console or a PC? whats the deal with a 4.8 gb free for installation! Sounds more like a PC to me! Another innovation stolen from M$ good job Sony! I know your not making any money in the gaming division but at least pay those engineers of yours to think!

edit- you will still end up having load times. I'm pretty sure they are doing this so they can speed it up! that's the power of 2x Blu Ray reader for you!

[marinelife9]

Load free gaming FTW!

[Lex Luthor]

I'd rather have loading times than a massive 4.8gb of my hard drive taken.

Edit: Yes i have the 20Gb ps3. Nearly all the space is taken up with music and photos, i have around 3.6Gb left. Plus the fact that installation of DMC4 is mandatory and must be done, it means i'm screwed if i buy the ps3 version. Why should i upgrade my HDD just to be able to play a game.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

thats such a sissy thing to say.

your funny.

you know you can delete it, right?

funny, funny stuff.

and i`m pretty sure you mean "borrowed" not "taken" right?

[rofldings]

@lex

Let me guess, you have a puny 20gb hdd?

[AllroundGamer]

ehm you know it is only 13gb of usable space? damn nextgen :) i have the "20gb" too and had often to delete demos, which wasn't yet the problem on my 60gb PS3 :p

[BulletToothtony]

a lot of trilogies (matrix, indiana jones, lotr) on my hdd most of my mp3 collection, all games installed, crapload of pics and themes and i still have 156gb left,

good thing about the ps3 is that when you finally fill up that big ol 60gb $ 140 will buy you an 250gb hdd at tiger direct, not truly needed but just convinient, i never quite filled up my 60gb i just don't want to worry about the 10 years i'm planning on using my ps3, 1 down and 9 to go!!

cheap hdds ftw

[UnblessedSoul]

So all the PSN support is leaderboards no character downloads?

[Bonsai1214]

if you've bothered playing the last game, you'd know that extra character skins are unlockables, or you can cheat to get them. there's no need to pay extra money for things that should be included in the game.

[Spike47]

this game looks like a 9.

but who knows I have'nt played it yet so i can't judge.

[mighty_douche]

...its hack and slash at its simplist so i wouldnt expect many 9+'s. Im gonna hold out for the demo, i like to try things myself rather than take someone else's opinion as gospel.

[mintaro]

wow an 8.5 is a great score, kudos to the devs

[heyheyhey]

85= not bad, i wasn't expecting the game too get more than that- im going to get it for sure

[J@D]

Not bad... still buy it up anyway.

[Cartesian3D]

often repeating tracks? .. they can make a 1 LINE code to solve that..
1- hi

2-randomize; b:=0;

3-while t=0 do

a:=10*random

(this code!) if a=b then go to line 3 lol

run track(a)

b:=a

end while

... I know its not funny atall.. sorry .. I have a"principles of electric machines and power elerctronics" exam the day after tommorow..

btw good score.. and nice to support HDD.. I hate Loading times..

[mighty_douche]

dude extra code wont solve the problem, more tracks will.

[Cartesian3D]

u mean if it has 10 hours of single player.. they must put 10 Hours of mp3tracks on disc.. do u know 360 still using DVD9 ?

more than 1 GB just for music :P .. it isnt possible..

if so .. then the code will be :

for i:= 1 to 4353 then

run track(i);

[Alcohog]

Wow you are slow.

[Cartesian3D]

I didnt get your point.. what do u mean ? :P my english sux..

Im slow in what?

[InMyOpinion]

They could compress the sound and design a dynamic soundtrack. Most action games have those nowadays.

[Keowrath]

If the music is that much of a problem you could always turn the sound down and listen to your own. Some games have an option to turn Music level or Sound effect level down so if you still want to hear the gunplay/sword slashes but your own choice of music then you have the choice. Whether DMC4 supports that or not remains to be seen but I really don't feel this being a big issue.

[DJ]

I know me and my friend Javier are getting the Collectors Edition, though not many other people seem to be aware that it's coming out so soon. Capcom better start marketing! =]

[Meus Renaissance]

Does anyone else get jaggies whilst watching the Final DMC4 trailer from the PlayStation store?

[mighty_douche]

Not that im aware of, but i havent really looked for them. Why? are you?

[Lex Luthor]

So PSN support is just leaderboards? How lame.
Even Pac-man has that.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

what the f**k is your problem?

did you get the RROD?

it sucks i know.

[captainpwn]

All because of the last gen 360, this game no longer made the AAA status. Of course, the 360 version will score around 80 most likely BECAUSE of the long load times, which is due to:

- The non mandatory hard drive and no install feature like the PS3 version
- The PLAYSTATION 3 SIXAXIS controller was made for DMC, not 360 controllers.
- SIXAXIS motion sensing functionality is ONLY found on PS3.
- It was originally made with PS3 in mind, meaning a better experience on PLAYSTATION 3.

[InMyOpinion]

If the PS3 version is better, as you claim it will be, then it will get a higher score as well, won't it?

I guess you owned the original Xbox and not the PS2 since power seems so important to you.

[Rice]

Good score, i wasnt really expecting a high score for this game.

[HarryEtTubMan]

We'll leave it to God of War 3 to get the 9.5+ scores.... it's going to.

[Says you]

considering PC was already invented before the software was even invented and MS didn't even invent the pc only the software you moron have you seen there logo on a pc no! that says they made it and PS3 is a console unlike the crappy system that breaks alot is a downgraded system that is trying to be more like the console that actually work!! so how can they steal the idea when the console is more of a console than a pc you idiot!.

[sajj316]

8.5 is a buy. Complaining about installing it to the HD? Why not! Install, play, finish, uninstall. If this means some to no load time, I'm all for it.

Is this install option available for the 360?

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

but dont know for sure.

[InMyOpinion]

The 360 has faster read speeds, no need for installations. It's a games console, not a PC.

[CrazzyMan]

Short technical analysis:
1x blu ray read speed= 36 mbps
the playstation has 2x blu ray read speed so: 72 mbps

1x dvd read speed= 11,08 mbps
the xbox has a read speed of 16x for sinle layered dvds and 8x for double layered dvds so:
single layered=16x11,08= 117,28 mbps
double layered=8x11,08= 88,64 mbps

The speed advantage is neglectable.

=============================

2x Blu-ray Drive (72Mbps(9MB/s))
Single Layer (2x CLV) - Constant Linear Velocity (Same speed across entire disk)
Double Layer - Couldn't find any data but no games have been released on a double layer yet.

Entire Blu-ray Disk is read at 9MB/s.

12x DVD-Rom Drive SL (9.25MB/S-15.85MB/s(AVG ~8x(10.57MB/s) DL (4.36MB/s-10.57MB/s(AVG ~6x(7.93MB/s)
SL(DVD-5) 12x Max (5-12x Full CAV) - Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)
DL(DVD-9) 8x Max (3.3-8x Full CAV) - Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)

SL DVD > SL Blu-ray
DL DVD < SL Blu-ray

Majority of 360 games are on DVD-9.

[DJ]

Xbox 360's DVD drive is actually 12x, not 16x. So it's reading its games at 8x speed since they're all dual-layer. Then again, CrazyMann posted both 16x and 12x speeds, so...

Yeah, it's wierd how much FUD is spread by the Anti-Playstation camp. A lot of it actually originates from Microsoft. For the longest time, they had the entire media duped into thinking it had twice the RAM of PS3, was 3 times more powerful, and had 6x the data read speed for their disc drive.

[athlon770]

considering the MS crowd likes to say the 360 is so easy to design a game for because it is basically a PC. So I guess your entire comment for calling the PS3 a PC is because of the install to hard drive. Interesting.

[InMyOpinion]

@CrazzyMan - I just wrote the comment to make you go all 'copy & paste' on me lol! How come you have to install the games if the read speed is as good as your numbers say?

The PS3 was supposed to have graphics 10 times better than the 360 as well. 200 frames per second, all games in 4d at 1080p. You can burp up as many numbers as you want - for me seeing is believing. Sony fanboys should take notice since you seem to believe in more lies than brainwashed cult followers. Oh wait...nevermind.

The 360 is more compatible when porting code from a PC to consoles. That's why it's more likely the 360 version will be the better one, if any. The PS3 has gotten the backside features of a PC, like installing games.

At least it's on the 360 Capcom will get their money back. Cheers!

[CrazzyMan]

How come, how come,
do you understand, that average READ speed of HDD is around 30-40MB/s?
It`s FAR more, then 2-3MB/s.

You judge PS3 about it`s FIRST year games? Though, Uncharted is MOST beautiful HD game on consoles.
4d - is real time CHANGING textures, not those, which LOAD 2-3 min. like in ME - http://youtube.com/watch?v=... - LOL.
Lair runs in 1080p, but that game was RUSHED and not well optimized.

Sony underestimated CELL learning curve, that`s why, it will take some time, before PS3 will be undoubtable leader. FFXIII will shut up many haters.

And yes, x360 is great alteranative for PC, but as console, it is inferior to PS3.
It`s easy to PORT game from PC, BUT PS3 meant to show it`s power by EXCLUSIVE developement.

Anyway, just remeber, PS2 had only 4mb vram.
Enjoy.

[Eamon]

Rock + Classical Music
=
EMO MUSIC (Roflz)

WHICH MAKES DEVIL MAY CRY SERIES FOR THE WIN.

I have the DMC3 tune on my phone. (me not weird =3)

[Luca Blight]

We all know what version you're getting because you only have 1 choice!

[Eamon]

the 360 will have faster loading times BECAUSE
its DVD drive reads faster therefore files being opened will be transferred to main memory (RAM) faster than PS3's blu-Ray drive.

Maybe the reason why the PS3 version gets the option to install because it has really long loading times from the disc?

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

OK, Capcom.

Can you give me a release date for RE5.

LOL@U

[unlimited]

Microsoft wouldn't allow HDD install because they cant offer to all the the 360 owners because half of them dont have a hardrive ..lol..or just puny 20GB Sku.... I know for sure the 360 will have longer loading times..

[actas123]

Its the Blue Ray reader we are talking about here, I think u got it mixed up w/ the newly available BR 2x WRITER.. Blue ray reader reads as fast as a dvd reader, there is no difference.

[Darkiewonder]

To get this game from Gamestop when it's out.

Make him get both the 360 and ps3 version just for the hell of it.

[Luca Blight]

people complaining about a quick HDD install to lower loading times? That's even lamer than PS3 trolls complaining about having to pay for XBOX Live. Some people really need to get a life.

EDIT: I wonder who "disagree"d with me...hmmmm...do trolls (Lex) really have the option?

[unlimited]

Paying 50 dollars for crappy online services and microsoft attempt to get people to pay for it by not letting them download demo after one week is BS..

I have 60GB PS3 and im fine with it..NO loading time for me..

[Eamon]

If the 360 had the choice to install to HDD then I would take it since I have an elite. I hate loading times even if its for a few seconds >=(

[BigKev45]

DMC is played out, YO!

[cjp4eva]

I dont know, im a big fan of Devil may cry games but part 3 didnt cut it for me for some reason it kinda got repetitive and i just stoped playing when i got to the flying whale thing.

[kewlkat007]

from Sony fanboys, Petitions this and petitions that, buying no more capcom game rants, could they be getting some love all the sudden. So this game finally makes the light of day and appears to be good.

I can either give my PS3 some love or my 360. I will wait to see which one has better controls.

Hack n slashers I can play with both controllers. Feels good to have a choice. I'll wait for the reviews, since I'm more interested in the game mechanics, not so much the graphics between them both.

[DarkSniper]

Devil May Cry has achieved many accomplishments throughout it's tenure on the PlayStation 2. Dark Sniper forsees this trend to continue with Devil May Cry 4 receiving exclusive content for the PLAYSTATION 3® version.

With the hardware structure of the XBOX 360, Dark Sniper fully expects the XBOX 360 port of this game to suffer through extensive, long and strenuous loading times with frequent glitches and poor framerate to boot. Thus making the PS3 version of Devil May Cry the de-facto copy to receive to satisfy the Devil May Cry enthusiast.

$niper

[InMyOpinion]

17.7 million...

Jenzo wonders what platform that will show Capcom most love?

The fact that Capcom develops their games on PC structure actually governs the 360's architecture more than the PS3's. Porting the code to the 360 is a much smoother affair. And in the end we all know what version will sell the most copies and give money back on Capcoms investment.

[Luca Blight]

but I have to say that it seems pretty logical that Capcom would (and should) include HDD support for the PS3 version because the HDD comes standard in all SKUs. Still, the 360 could very well come out with the better version but we'll have to wait and see.

[dork0783]

JUST SHUT UP WITH YOUR NONSENSE! YEAH YEAH YEAH WE KNOw YOUR COOL BECAUSE U HAVE A PS3 BIG DEAL.BOTH VERSIONS WILL BE THE SAME NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT IT.

[solidt12]

I already have my copy pre-ordered. This is going to be a good break from all the First Person Shooters.

[THE_JUDGE]

to expect with this game. It could be very tired and old or it could be fantastic. I may do what I hate doing, rent before I buy. The demo could help.

[Afterburn]

eh.

[zonetrooper5]

Guys both DarkSniper and Zhuk are excellent members in the forum and they do this act to p!ss you guys off lol. Also, C++ code. =)

//
// Program to convert temperature from Celsius degree
// units into Fahrenheit degree units:
// Fahrenheit = Celsius 8 (212 - 32)/100 + 32
//
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main( int nNumberofArgs, char* pszArfs[])
{
// enter the temperture in Celsius
int celsius;
cout << "Enter the temperature in Celsius:";
cin >> celsius;

// calculate conversion factor for Celsius
// to Fahrenheit
int factor;
factor = 212 - 32;

// use conversation factor to convert Celsius
// into Fahrenheit values
int fahrenheit;
fahrenheit = factor * celsius/100 + 32;

// output the results (followed by a NewLine)
cout << "Fahrenheit value is:";
cout << fahrenheit << endl;

// wait until user is ready before terminating program
// to allow the user to see the program results
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}

[Blademask]

So you mean I have to get home, put the game in, hit install, take a shower, Come back and play the game without loading?

Sweet :)

Uncharted has spoiled me as far as no loading times in game, and I want to get used to it. Good Job Capcom.

[undacovabrothe]

They didnt say how long it took I doubt it takes that long because I installed the UT3 files around the same size and it took me no more than 3minutes. Well worth it, when i played dmc3 the most annoying issue was the loading going in and out doors loading every time. Anyway good job Capcom following other companies leads in making load free environments. Hopefully next year no game will have to load.

[ceedubya9]

Love this series, but I don't really expect it to get much more than an 85% across the board once all reviews are in. It doesn't seem like the PSN stuff is really worth mentioning at this point, as I'm sure that the 360 version will have similar features through Live. A few games latley have been using the PS3 hardrive in the manner. I hope it doesn't get to the point in which all games will require it. Before you know it, that thing will be full. The good thing is that the PS3 offers an easy solution to upgrade the harddrive so its not too big of an issue. I'm actually getting the 360 version of this game, but it was really a toss up in deciding which one to get.

[Keowrath]

DMC4, can't wait. Been a long term fan of the franchise (although I kinda try to forget DMC2 and if you played it, you'll know what I mean.) 3 was cool but not quite up to the level of 1. Hoping no.4 takes us back to the roots.

The trailers look amazing and if they're anything to go on this game will be epic for any fan of the series. Huge boss fights, ludicrous combos and nice looking graphics. This will be a day 1 purchase for me.

Like DJ, I'll be going for the PS3 special edition. Bring it on!

[gunnerforlife]

first day buy:d

[KidMakeshift]

I'm glad that at least one review magazine mentions the awful shadowing in next-gen games. It's a rarity not to find that awful flittering shadowing in games. It's so painful to see games like Heavenly Sword, UT3 that have up close in game cutscenes with this jagged mess all over the characters faces.

[DJ]

Those flickering shadow issues were solved by Guerilla Games, and they've been sharing that technology with all 1st party and 2nd party developers within Sony Worldwide Studios. Now, hopefully Sony will be able to work past the legal crap and give/sell this technology to third-party developers.

Gran Turismo, Uncharted, and a few other titles so far have benefited from Guerilla's extensive research into lighting and shadowing. In fact, Guerilla gets some big thanks during Uncharted's end credits, and when you see how clean the shadowing is in the game (compared to what it was like at E3) you'll start to thank them too. =]

Edit: Screen Tearing is probably going to be a permanent problem, mainly because it happens when the GPU can't render the frames fast enough. Developers faced with lagging GPU performance (for whatever reasons) are faced with a tough decision: either let the game experience lower framerates whenever GPU performance makes a slight drop, or simply allow for screen tearing so that the framerate is always at ___ Frames Per Second.

Personally, I prefer Screen Tearing over Framerate Drops, though the existence of both still irks me.

[KidMakeshift]

The 360 is just as guilty in regards of next-gen shadowing.

Tearing is another problem with next-gen

[DJ]

The PS3's Blu-ray drive has a faster data rate than the 360's DVD drive, mainly because dual-layer DVDs are read at half-speed, but also because DVDs and CDs are read at a Variable Bit Rate. The "12x" speed is just theoretical; because of the 600MB of security code blocked off on the outer edges of every 360 title, not a single game on that console is ever read at "12x" speed. In fact, nearly every title is read at below "6x" speed most of the time.

Also, Cell is simply faster at distributing the data read off of a disc drive into RAM, though this also depends on whether the developers uses the SPUs and/or HDD.

[INehalemEXI]

I couldn't say for sure yet but DMC4 looks like something I would give a 9.0 at least. Its one of my types of games , ya know.

[jackdoe]

Pretty much what I expected. DMC 4 is for all intents and purposes, last gen DMC with this gen paint of coat. Still getting it though. And Kobayashi wasn't kidding about trying to make the two versions equal. Fvcking accomplishments in the PS3 version? Wow. Never saw that one coming, but it is nice to see Capcom took the time to institute an online feature. HDD install is optional so people don't have to install it. Without the install, the load times aren't that bad.

[forget_123]

i read all the msg here... that zhuk guy whatever says something more stupid than i can imagine.

he said the total load time of install game to ps3 hdd will be more than xbox few sec every lvl added up....

when you look at it , read it directly it sounds like making sense, but man.... people really dont use brain these days.

i dont know how much minutes it takes to install dmc4 on ps3 but ya lets say an hour ok ? long enough ? ok good. u can go install it, take a shower eat your dinner whatever there are things that u have to do beside gaming all the time right? like you can even install it then go sleep or take a nap. then come back to play no loading till the end of game.

on the other hand xbox load few sec ok ? who knows some big lvl might take few more extra sec ? or something wrong with ur xbox or the data is at outside ring of the disc that loads bit longer .

ok whatever. the main point is.. when you playing the game, it loads and u have to wait "while gaming" , you are suddenly paused few second while you spending your time "which suppose to PLAY, not to wait few sec once in a while" ..

as a gamer, i hate loading , very very much especially when i enter a room, i found out i go the wrong way , go out the room/area , back and forth that a lot of "few seconds" .. i had many experience of feeling bad of loading that "few seconds" while i got to go in few second too....

Usually, i personally play game when i know the following hours i can play non stop, and i dont even want to wait for any second if it is able to be avoid.

the time of installation is a totally different concept compare to wait that many of the "few seconds" IN GAME.

which one i prefer ? i take the pre-install for sure. because its once and for all.

Dont tell me you enjoy waiting few seconds loading of different rooms/area , it sounds like a weirdo enjoy smelling the food but do not eat them.

Well, just what i though. you still play your way :) have fun.

[DemiseofPandas]

I'm gonna miss slashing and shooting the loading screen.... Not!

[kunark]

I SURE WISH I COULD GET A CHANCE TO SEE WHY ZHUKS SO BAD ALL I SEE HAS BE REPORTED AS SPAM

[PlayStation360]

Every time I come here and read comments. I see Zhuk wrote something... I look and.."comment has been reported as SPAM -" I'm like... WTF!! WHAT DID HE WRITE!? lol Then I scroll down a little bit. There is Zhuk again... I read... "comment has been reported as SPAM -". WHAAA! AGAIN! :P

[kunark]

cause id like to get a few laughs or get steemed or atleast a taste of whet he says cause i have no opion atm cause of HAS BEEN REPORTED AS SPAM!

[ElementX]

85 is a decent score, not a good score, unless you're thinking most PS3 titles.

[Lex Luthor]

From the looks of things, the install is mandatory and takes around 25 mins. If your out of space on your Ps3, your screwed. No way am i deleting my media just to play a game.

WTF!!!

Edit: BTW does anyone know how long 360 DMC4 load time are? If its around 3 secs, i'll get the 360 version. Also the the reviewer said that the 360 version looks better(more AA and better shaodwing).

[DJ]

It's Optional. Load times off the disc are said to be identical for both versions (in the neighborhood of 10~15 seconds, which is alright).

I have the space to spare, so I'm definitely installing. Too bad they don't have that option for the 360 version though.

[Mercutio]

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO INSTALL IT YOU DON'T HAVE TO