Devil May Cry 4 - hands-on

Of course, the regular enemies are fine enough to slice and dice - and though Itsuno promises "The artificial intelligence for the enemies and the way they respond to you... we really focused on and tried hard to get right as far as this game," we didn't really find any evidence of that in the version we played (which is, we'll warn you, months away from being finished.) However, right now, we don't care - because, like us, when you start the game and begin to get the hang of the Devil Bringer, you won't be worried about how clever your foes are.

The boss battles are particularly intense. As you can see in our latestexclusive video,the battle isintense and rewarding. Using the Devil Bringer, you can hoistenemies above your head and throw them crashing to the ground; manyopponentsare so agile that just keeping up with them makes the game fun.

Of course, the regular enemies are fine enough to slice and dice - and though Itsuno promises "The artificial intelligence for the enemies and the way they respond to you... we really focused on and tried hard to get right as far as this game," we didn't really find any evidence of that in the version we played (which is, we'll warn you, months away from being finished.) However, right now, we don't care - because, like us, when you start the game and begin to get the hang of the Devil Bringer, you won't be worried about how clever your foes are.

The boss battles are particularly intense. As you can see in our latestexclusive video,the battle isintense and rewarding. Using the Devil Bringer, you can hoistenemies above your head and throw them crashing to the ground; manyopponentsare so agile that just keeping up with them makes the game fun.

Even more enjoyable is the battle against Berial (sic), a massive demonic centaur-beast with a huge sword, protected by gouts of lava. After some petty insults, he launches an all-out attack on Nero, and plowing through his defenses was most enjoyable. The Devil Bringer is so powerful that you can actually use it to grab and toss an enemy that's taller than the buildings he's rampaging through, and we have to respect that kind of power. This boss battle was challenging - so challenging it took us a few tries. So challenging, in fact, that Itsuno and the game's producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi polled the journalists around the dinner table later that night as to exactly how many tries it had taken each of us to take defeat Berial, and our thoughts on the challenge. As we intimated at the time, it's the kind of boss fight where defeat only drives you to try again, determined to win.

Even more enjoyable is the battle against Berial (sic), a massive demonic centaur-beast with a huge sword, protected by gouts of lava. After some petty insults, he launches an all-out attack on Nero, and plowing through his defenses was most enjoyable. The Devil Bringer is so powerful that you can actually use it to grab and toss an enemy that's taller than the buildings he's rampaging through, and we have to respect that kind of power. This boss battle was challenging - so challenging it took us a few tries. So challenging, in fact, that Itsuno and the game's producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi polled the journalists around the dinner table later that night as to exactly how many tries it had taken each of us to take defeat Berial, and our thoughts on the challenge. As we intimated at the time, it's the kind of boss fight where defeat only drives you to try again, determined to win.