No Title~ lol

Sry guys....for not really updating my blog for sometime......
The truth is, I was kinda busy...
well, good news to my "readers", hahaha.....
I am back....so, I will be updating quite often.....
so DUN EVEN BOTHER TO READ MY BLOG!!!!!
*I mean, please read my blog...although its kinda boring*

Anyways, to everyone out there....I wanna make a shout out...
I love HAM!!!......................

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Hahaha! Just kidding....I just wanna say, good luck to everyone in life....especially to my friends and classmates......the second term exam is a killer and we all noe that.... so study smart....we oni have one more day....so try to endure it....=)

Eagle Eye Review

The synopsis for Eagle Eye looks something like this: “Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) returns home after the mysterious death of his successful twin brother. He and a single mother, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), find out that they have been framed as terrorists, and they are threatened into becoming members of a cell tasked to assassinate a politician.” Not a bad premise for a post-summer action flick.

THE GOOD

There is a lot of backlash going on around Shia LaBeouf and for the life of me I can’t understand why. All Shia LaBeouf has done is pretty much nail each role he’s been in about as well as they could be done. Yes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a let down, but his character was a bad character to start with and he did as much as could be done to salvage it. In Eagle Eye, he once again pulls off the whole “average guy who gets caught up in an action situation”, and pulls it off well. He never suddenly feels like an action hero which many other actors in these rolls often fall into and he made the whole situation believable to me.

The action sequences in Eagle Eye were surprisingly KICK ASS. I expected a quasi political/techno thriller, but some of the action chases, be they on foot or in cars were truly heart pounding and executed with a lot of visual excitement. The car chases in particular were really well done with a few elements that I’ve never seen used in a car chase before.

The whole plot device of this mysterious voice on the phone (heard in all the trailers) screwing with and at the same time “helping” Shia through the movie was cool and pretty damn interesting to… up to a point, but I’ll go into that more later.

THE BAD

Some of the little devices and escapes they used in the film were a bit too much and crossed the boarder between “creative” and “ridiculous”, between “exciting” and “eye rolling”. The most unfortunate part about that is that a few of these over the top moments would happen in the middle of an otherwise cool and well done action sequence that would almost ruin it for me and pull me out of the moment.

Easily the worst part of the movie for me was the big “reveal” that happens about half way through the movie giving us the identity of the “bad guy”. It was beyond stupid and added a big squirt of sour to the flavor of the res of the movie. I almost wish that they hadn’t revealed the villain until the very end of the movie. Yes it would have ruined the end… but at least I could have blissfully gone through the rest of the flick imagining a GOOD ending until the big disappointment hit me before the credits rolled.

OVERALL

In the end, Eagle Eye turned out to be a respectable post-summer action flick with a solid performance by LaBeouf to carry it through, despite some far too over the top devices scattered throughout the film and a horribly lame bad guy. Still, had me on the edge of my seat a few times and in general I was entertained.

The Dark Knight Movie Review

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.

The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He's pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.

Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann's Heat. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.

I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."

The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."

The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. "Hello, beautiful," says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. "I choose chaos," says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.

The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you're busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce's butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss's spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.

No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It's enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It's enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn't). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.

Crisis Core (PSP) Review

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII achieves a striking balance of old and new, and juggles fan service with pure role-playing satisfaction. It's striking how these elements have been shaped into such an appealing and emotionally affecting prequel. There are some new characters and plenty of fan favorites too, such as Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. Howwwwever, the characters you're most likely to empathize with are unlikely ones, including protagonist Zack, and Sephiroth, who is complex, troubled, and even sometimes likable. The way their personal stories weave in and out of each other--and set the stage for the events in Final Fantasy VII--makes Crisis Core not just the finest role-playing experience available on the PSP, but also one of the best Japanese RPGs in years.

Zack isn't new to the franchise, but he was a mere flashback in Final Fantasy VII, which may not make him seem like the best choice of leading man for a prequel to one of the best RPGs ever created. Yet he's as interesting as any Square Enix star, and transcends the usual spiky-haired heroism and teenage angst with an uncommon maturity that develops as the game continues. Revealing almost any plot point could be a spoiler; the Gaia world is rich with mythology and complex character motivation. What's important is how the characters interact, change, and grow. Scenes between Zack and Cloud are both effortless and poignant, and stem directly out of Zack's most impressive character traits: trust and loyalty. As each plot thread twists together and the game reaches its inevitable conclusion, your heart will soften and you may shed a few tears. Crisis Core tells a memorable and exciting tale, but more importantly, it makes you care about its characters, even if you are new to the lore. The game's final scenes are amazing and heartfelt, and one sequence in particular that brilliantly mingles gameplay with narrative is one of the most incredible and moving moments in role-playing history.

The game's stunning cutscenes have an immeasurable effect on the emotionally resonant story. There is a harmonious mix of prerendered cinematics and in-engine cutscenes, and both were created with precision. Dramatic camera angles frame Crisis Core's greatest moments, from earth-shaking soliloquies to the quiet pauses Zack and Aerith share. There is a standout scene in which Sephiroth comes into deep focus using a cinematography technique familiar to Alfred Hitchcock fans. This kind of range is rare in cutscenes, even in RPGs, yet it's never forced or overdone here. The quality is further enhanced by incredible voice acting. Past Final Fantasies have sometimes suffered from awkward English voice-overs, but each actor here delivers the right degree of emotion at the right time, which in turn gives weight to the story. As Zack matures, you can hear the newfound confidence replace his adolescent arrogance; when Angeal tells Zack that he's just a little more important than his sword, you can hear a subtle grin in his deep, commanding baritone.

If you enjoyed Final Fantasy VII, this kind of attention to detail won't come as a surprise. However, you may be startled at how the combat works. Crisis Core is an action RPG. Granted, it does have many of the same elements as FFVII: materia, limit breaks, and so on. However, it plays nothing like its inspiration, which may irritate some fans. This doesn't make it better or worse, but it does make it different, and once you get used to it, it's a lot of fun. Battles are almost exclusively random, with the exception of those that end your side missions (more on those later). When combat begins, you are limited to a contained area, but you can move freely within it. To target an enemy, you simply face in its direction, and to attack, you hit X. It's not quite real-time, but rather a series of quick turns that give you a smidgen of time in-between to select a different spell or attack. You can switch among different options and spells on the fly using the shoulder buttons. If you're familiar with the Tales series (Tales of the Abyss, and so on), you'll have a rough idea of how the combat works in Crisis Core.

You can also guard and evade oncoming attacks, though doing so spends action points. A number of special attacks, such as assault twister, also use action points. Other attacks, like spells, use up magic points. To perform them, you need to possess and equip the corresponding materia. Zack can't use an unlimited number of materia in battle; he's limited to a certain number at a time, so you'll want to choose wisely before you head into late-game combat, especially if you know a boss fight is imminent. You can also fuse materia together to make new spells or enhanced attacks, such as the impressive Thundara Blade. There are times when you'll need to take advantage of your materia and dodge oncoming attacks. Nevertheless, for the first half of the game, Crisis Core is remarkably easy, and a lot of battles come down to mashing on the X button. There is no shortage of potions and gil (the series' currency), either, and given that you can purchase items at any save point, there's no reason not to be fully stocked.

The combat is fun, and it will get Final Fantasy fans talking. But no mechanical element is bound to get more attention than the Digital Mind Wave, or DMW. The DMW is a slot reel that holds the key to two important facets of Crisis Core's gameplay: leveling up, and powerful attacks called limit breaks. The reel contains six slots: three that contain character portraits, and three that contain numerical digits. As you fight foes, you earn soldier points, which in turn function as currency that keeps the DMW in the top left corner spinning. When the left and right character portraits match, you enter a separate limit-verge screen where you wait for the digit slots and the center character slot to stop spinning. If you match all three portrait slots, you unleash a limit break, which is accompanied by a dramatic cinematic. If you match numerals, you may level up an equipped materia or Zack himself. The DMW also controls some status changes, such as temporary invincibility, though they aren't signaled by a change to the limit-verge screen.

This all sounds very confusing, and it may take you some time to figure out exactly what's going on. Essentially, leveling and limit breaks are left to the roll of the dice (or in this case, the spinning of the reel). The idea of random leveling and special attacks may make you squirm, and on paper, it sounds like a bad idea. In practice, it works out far better than you'd think. Just like when you pull the lever of a real slot machine, it's exciting and intriguing to see if you make a match. You can't skip past the limit verge screen, but if you could, you'd be missing the point (and be warned that you can't skip past cutscenes, though you can skip out of the long summoning animations and the flashbacks that occasionally crop up during limit verges). Your results are not completely random because your character's heightened emotions make it likelier that the DMW will spin up a positive result, such as after a phone call with Aerith. However, you may go a while without leveling up, only to level up multiple times in a short period of time. Sure, it's a strange system, and it will make your head spin at first. But it will become second nature, and in the end, it works. The downside is that it takes control of the game's most impressive attacks out of the hands of the player. Not everyone enjoys having the game do the grunt work for them, but the system is original and streamlined, and likely to grow on you.

Outside of the main story, there are plenty of side missions to keep you occupied. Most of them boil down to entering an area, killing a bunch of creatures, and earning your reward. It's simple, sure, but incredibly addicting, perfect for players on the go, and you may find yourself losing hour after hour to mission after mission. This is Crisis Core's grinding mechanic, but the combat is entertaining enough (and the DMW mesmerizing enough) to keep you involved. Some of the missions also weave in cameos from other characters, such as a charming set of missions centered on an impish Yuffie. Yet the action and limited customization goes only so far, and it seems that Square Enix understood that. Crisis Core is on the short side, clocking in at around 20 hours if you do a reasonable number of side missions, though you could add another 10 if you want to see every secret the game is hiding--and there are some good ones that will get fans talking. That may make the game feel less grand than previous entries, but in actuality, the length feels just right and keeps the action from wearing out its welcome.

You'll marvel at Crisis Core's visual and sonic beauty. Environments were designed with painstaking detail, from the slums of Midgar to the crystalline vistas of an underground lake. Character design is equally terrific, from Genesis' solemn sneer to Zack's gleaming blue eyes. Monsters look great too, and the imposing and astonishing bosses are particularly awesome to behold. The game sounds as good as it looks, starting with the terrific musical score, which includes both grinding rock tracks and haunting orchestral interludes. There are moments in which the action is undercut not with the same heart-pumping guitars we've heard before, but with softer tunes. These battles feel even more important because the music connects them so well with the emotional scenes that came before. Additionally, familiar sound effects have been updated and new ones added to make for combat that sounds as tremendous as it looks.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is a game you must play if you own a PSP, if you like RPGs, or if you want to get lost in a gripping story. Like most Final Fantasy games that came before it, it has its quirks. However, this is one of those cases where you should embrace them for their originality and charm because they add something uniquely compelling to the game. The only truly disappointing aspect of Crisis Core is reaching the end, because Gaia is a world you want to stay in, populated with extraordinary characters who will move you.

CHS Sports Day ( 2008)

It's 3rd of May, Sports Day!!! Many people turned up today. All were wearing their respective 'rumah sukan' shirts. I reached school as usual...6. 50 am. As I entered the school, I saw the BBSM getting ready. I also saw the prefects. Some were so nervous that they had to check the mirror to see whether their hair was fine.










































I was heading for the PMO room while passing the school hall. There I saw Kah Leong, Wenkai and Jing Sheng. We talked a while and then suddenly Jing Sheng came up with a story on Dragon Ball... As I was walking to the PMO room, he kept on blabbing about it...Then, I saw Jun Xu. She was sitting on the stairs. I asked her whether the door has opened yet, and she said no. Then I took out my Mp4 to let her listen to it until the door was open. Eventually, all of us had to assemble at the tapak.












































After that, we got together again. We went to the Sports Centre to support for our teams. As usual, no one forgot to bring 'barang larangan' to school today. Many brought handphones and Mp3's. Some of them brought camera's including me... I started taking pictures with my camera. The marching was very interesting. Then we all had to stand to sing the nasional anthem, ' The Negarakuku'...oops... I mean the ' The Negaraku'. After a while, it was the cheerleaders turn to perform. Honestly, It wasn't very creative. It was down right boring!







Half the time, we were practically talked about Command & Conquer 3 : Kane's Wrath! Oo yeah! Kah Leong got 'kai bao' by some of our friends. It was so funny! It began with his shoe and then they charged for his pants! LOL!!! ( No hard feelings Kah Leong)


Later on, we all went to eat. We got free food! Nuggets and a bottle of water...Not exactly what I call food thats worth being free, but who cares.... The bottles were so irritating. When you try to remove the top, water starts to leak out of the bottle! I remember throwing that bottle on the ground! Hahaha!!


Then we all headed to the Squash court. There, I was break dancing. I was totally minding my business, until a girl came and started spreading the word!!! Why wouldn't she? I was practically head-standing!!! We were having loads of fun in court until some a** hole started throwing expired Maggie: Hot Cup's down on the court. That made a lot of mess! Mei Zhuen also came to the Squash court. She and her friend Shereen were browsing through my pictures in my camera, while I was break dancing.

We all went back to the Sports Centre to rest as the weather was so terrible. It was so freakin' HOT!!! We decided to play ' Truth or Dare ' using a bottle. We had fun!! After that, we had to sit on the field under sun for like half an hour because we had to listen to a jack a** blabbering about the winners and the closing ceremony.





















































Before we went to the field, Jing Sheng, Wenkai and me were foolin around. We were doing all kinds of crap to make each other laugh!!! It was the most memorable part of the day!!!




































As we were sitting on the field, Wenkai and me started playing with grass. We collected a huge amount and launched it on Kah Leong. He was a bit frustrated...Suddenly, Wenkai hatched up a plan. He decided to classify him and me as The Brotherhood of Nod and Kah Leong as Scrin. We scattered grass all over his head and he didn't realize it!! I hope he doesn't blame us... Then will have to evacuate to Plan B, which is blaming it on GDI aka. Thinesh! hahahaha..... And then I met a friend which I have only known via MSN all this while...


It was a very tiring yet fun day especially for them!!! My adorable sister(left) and cool brother. Well, that's what happened this Sports Day!! ^^

Devil May Cry 4 Review

Devil May Cry fans know what they expect from the action series: they look for fast paced action sequences that require solid timing instead of button mashing. They expect large scale battles with insane bosses and hordes of monsters that barely give the player a second to breath. They also expect characters to take the dangerous settings lightly, with a large dose of sarcasm and a snarky outlook towards the supernatural surroundings they find themselves in. Well, DMC fans, take heart: Devil May Cry 4, the latest chapter in the series and the first true sequel in the Devil May Cry chronology maintains all of these trademarks while showcasing the power of the PS3 fairly well.

See, Dante fans may find themselves a bit disappointed in their favorite character's new role within the series: instead of taking over the spotlight as he has in the previous three games, the anti-hero takes on a secondary position to franchise newcomer Nero. DMC4 is really more of his story and his coming of age within the Sparda-influenced universe than a tale that picks up after the events of DMC1. Is this a bad turn of events? No, not really, although some of the hardcore might wonder if the game could've had a different title with a Dante cameo instead of a Devil May Cry chapter.


The story of Devil May Cry 4 is set in and around the coastal town of Fortuna, which has an interesting tale by itself: it's governed by a militant theocracy known as The Order of the Sword, and protected by a group of Holy Knights. The people of the town worship the demon knight Sparda as a god and savior. During a ceremony in honor of their deity, Nero, a young knight, sees Dante crash through a window and slaughter the leader of the Order, as well as many of his friends. While he doesn't know who Dante is or why he's attacking them, Nero wants revenge for Dante's actions. What follows over the course of 20 missions is a quest of revenge and betrayal, as well as salvation and sacrifice, as Nero hunts Dante down across the land.

Apathetic and dismissive of authority, Nero is a younger, more angst-filled character than Dante's older, wiser and more sarcastic outlook on the world. However, he's just as skilled as the Son of Sparda, with a wide range of abilities to support him in combat. The first, and perhaps most obvious element, is the Devil Bringer, his demonically-enhanced right arm that allows him to project an energy arm ahead of him. This allows Nero to grasp distant objects, which he'll use to reach new areas or scale heights, as well as grab, throw and punch opponents. While this can be used to start or extend obvious combos, perhaps one of the most intriguing elements is that the arm responds differently when used against each opponent in the game. For example, players will grip and throw some creatures by their tails, while others may be pulled apart or even used as weapons against their allies. This can be factored into players' plans when using Nero's primary attacks in battle.


Nero has access to both projectile and melee strikes thanks to his unique weaponry, the Blue Rose and the Red Queen. The Blue Rose is a double-barreled pistol that allows Nero to fire powerful blasts at distant opponents. While slow to fire, the power of these blasts is quite strong, and can eventually be charged-up to provide even more punch. His more devastating attacks come in the form of the Red Queen, a motorcycle throttled, gas-infused sword that can be revved-up to add additional strength behind each combo or blow inflicted on an enemy. This boosting of the sword is known as the Exceed system, and allows Nero to charge the sword up three times, turning the blade red hot with energy and lashing out with fiery blows.

The Exceed system is one that can take a little getting used to. Continually pulling the trigger to rev the sword doesn't work nearly as well as slow, consistent pulls, which boosts the gears of the blade more. It also drops Nero to a slow walk as he reaches behind him and revs the motor of the Red Queen, which can be tricky to pull off consistently in the midst of battle, particularly because it leaves you open to attacks. While you can work on your timing after an attack to instantly charge up the blade, you won't always nail it, so the difficulty of this move is rather high. However, there's another, more pressing issue with the Exceed system, which is that you don't need to use it at all to quickly and efficiently eliminate the monsters within the game. Thanks to the strength and power of Nero's various combat skills and combos, you're better off eliminating your opponents with standard attacks than spending the time to charge up your blade.


What's more, Nero will eventually gain access to a Devil Trigger, which allows him to project the demonic entity that inhabits his arm behind him. Not only will you regenerate lost health, you'll significantly strengthen sword strikes and gunshots. While the duration of the devil trigger is limited by the amount of magic power that you have available, the attacks that you can make are much stronger than anything that the Exceed system can provide, which makes the optional battle tactic somewhat useless by comparison. This is exacerbated when you realize that you can purchase additional magic power and decrease the speed of the magic drain by purchasing enhancements.

Just like other DMC titles, you'll be evaluated at the end of every single mission on how quickly you complete the stage, the number of red orbs that you collect, and how stylishly you eliminated demons in the game. Style, of course, is the most important of the three, since you'll continually be evaluated in battle on the variety of your attacks. This ranges from D (for Deadly) to SSS (for Smokin' Sick Style), and are only mildly degraded if you rely upon the same strike or are hit in the course of battle. These three classifications provide you with a final grade for that mission, which translates into proud souls. These can be redeemed for new abilities and skills, just as red orbs can be redeemed for new items at Divinity Statues.

There are two cool aspects to this system. The first is that while you can quit a mission at any time, you'll still receive a certain amount of orbs and proud souls for your progress. Like previous DMC titles, orb farming is a key facet of the game, and you'll wind up constantly trying to amass as much as possible to help you along your way. This could be either through playing secret missions, or playing a stage over and over to just collect what you can. The second feature is that you can always return any skill or ability that you don't use, receiving a return on your investment towards something that you will want to use. Obviously, this encourages a significant amount of replay of missions and levels to collect as many abilities and items as possible, especially to make the game easier to fight through with either Nero or Dante.


Yep, Dante eventually does make an appearance within the title as much more than a plot device. He does take over as a playable character, and brings with him some of his considerable talents from DMC3. Dante wouldn't be caught dead without Rebellion, his large sword, and Ebony and Ivory, his twin pistols. Ebony and Ivory are much faster than Nero's Blue Rose, and lets you blast away with quick bursts of gunfire at enemies, and they allow you to charge up their blasts for stronger shots. For harder shots, Dante can use Coyote, his sawed-off shotgun to knock monsters down. However, while these weapons are particularly strong in battle, it's their use within Dante's weapon styles that helps define his combos and his battle abilities.


Dante retains his four styles from DMC3: Trickster, Royal Guard, Sword Master and Gun Slinger. Unlike the previous title, you can choose to switch between styles on the fly instead of having to select one at the start of a mission. For example, you can start one combo in Sword Master, switch to Trickster and evade an attack, and finish off a monster with Gun Slinger. This allows you to string together some stylish attacks, particularly if you get the timing down on each style's moves. Dante also has access to his Devil Trigger as well, so you can quickly eliminate monsters or bosses with a concentrated use of this spiritual energy.

However, there are a couple of downsides that you'll find when it comes to Dante. The first is that he doesn't have nearly the same kind of focus that he's had in previous games. His play time isn't nearly as long as that of Nero's - it's more like 30% compared to Nero's 70%, which is somewhat disappointing. (Before you ask, no, you can't take him through Nero's sections of the game.) This disappointment extends to other characters, like Lady and Trish, who feel like more of an afterthought than an addition to the game itself. What's more, the change almost feels abrupt; you'll be relatively used to playing as Nero after a while, and suddenly find yourself switching over to Dante, which will force you to readjust your tactics and moves. It doesn't hamper or wreck the gameplay by any means (and I'm not saying that one of the characters is better than the other; I'm sure players will quickly establish their own favorites), but it is a significantly noticeable change in the way that you approach battle.


Related to this diminished role is that Dante simply doesn't have nearly as many weapons as he did in DMC3. Instead of managing to acquire five guns and five Devil Arms, you'll only have the opportunity to acquire three different weapons within the game. They do have an impressive amount of strength, and fit in quite nicely within the tone of the series. Whether it's the striking power of Gilgamesh, the explosive blasts of Lucifer or the over the top nature of Pandora, the three weapons can all be powered-up and used by Dante's various styles to help him through the various battles. However, if you've fought your way through the fierce difficulty of DMC3, you may feel shortchanged in the equipment department.

What's more, the amount of backtracking and repetition makes the game feel somewhat half-heartedly finished in the design department. Don't get me wrong - I know that there's a certain amount of backtracking that you are going to do within a DMC title; it's almost inherent to the series. But the way in which it's handled in DMC4 is practically a travesty. Without revealing any plot details, I'll just say this: instead of taking Dante and his part of the adventure through new areas, or even forging radically different paths, you'll find yourself trekking back through extremely familiar territory with minimal changes made. This is pretty sad, especially when combined with this reduced role for Dante in the game. It merely serves to highlight the larger role that Nero plays in the game. Then again, Nero doesn't escape repetition that drags out gameplay meaninglessly, either. Believe me: you'll know it when you see it, but you'll gain a new hatred for board games.


Repetitive level design aside, you will want to stick your way through these elements, partially because you'll unlock harder difficulty levels. Initially, the game starts with two levels available: Human and Devil Hunter. It could be me, but after surviving titles like DMC3 and Ninja Gaiden, playing through these two levels weren't particularly difficult at all. However, DMC4 has multiple difficulty levels, six in all, which are only fully unlocked after you complete the game five times. One of the cool parts about these additional difficulty levels is that the game does vary up the gameplay in stages as you climb up in difficulty. The position of monsters or other demons will change, puzzles will get harder and enemies will get access to different weapons or abilities, which help to keep the game fresh.

Personally, I found four of the levels to be a piece of cake, but Dante Must Die mode is much harder in this game than it ever was in DMC3, and will probably result in numerous controllers being shattered in frustration. Seriously, this mode will kick you when you're down and laugh at you mercilessly. The fact that there is another level beyond it that is much harder just mystifies me, and it will take incredible skill and possibly superhuman reflexes to beat it.

Regardless of the level you wind up playing the game on, you and your progress will be recorded on the game's leaderboards, which will rank every mission that you've played and the rating you receive. Not only can you check to see how you did across the various difficulty ratings, but you can also check to see how your score stacks up against the world's best as well as against those of your friends. Apart from these bragging rights, successive playthroughs will unlock the Story Theater, which will allow you to watch any cutscene within the game individually or together in one continuous movie, a gallery with bonus art and character info, and a game library that provides information on every element of the game. Players will also unlock the Bloody Palace, a survival mode where stylish hits add time to a steadily-decreasing clock, giving you another option to farm orbs and souls.


Though the focus might be more on Nero than Dante,DMC4 still has everything that fans expect of the game – over the top fight sequences, tons of replayability and an experience with an excellent production value. Whether it's on the PS3 or the 360, action fans are going to get one incredible experience with this game, and if you own either system, you'll have a great time.