I recently had a chance to try out a level of Devil May Cry 4 for the Xbox 360. I have to admit; not using the dualshock to play the game was a little odd. The last three in the series were all Playstation 2 exclusives (unless you count the PC versions – which no one does) and the upcoming title will be a multiplatform release. Not unlike when Katamari Damacy found itself onto the Xbox 360, using the different controller for the familiar game felt wrong for the first few minutes.

To be honest, I didn’t really like the previous two games. Devil May Cry 2 felt like a bastardized version of the first with the “special additions” of control issues and crappy gameplay. Devil May Cry 3 fixed some of those problems and added a few of its own. The difficulty curve was sickening and even the moves that looked cool as hell barely dented the enemies. Dante skateboarding on a corpse while firing bullets in every direction was a sight to behold, but didn’t actually accomplish anything.

From my limited gameplay of the title it does look like Devil May Cry 4 may change the receding quality of gaming from the last few. The level I played was a boss fight with a large Balrog—erm, fire boss. The graphics were fantastic and it is nice to see Dante—erm, Nero in high definition. DMC4’s gameplay and controls remain basic and similar to the rest in the series, so anyone who has slashed their way through demons before will feel right at home.

While it still has the series’ signature stupid difficulty I did find it enjoyable. I actually didn’t beat the boss (though I didn’t let him grab Frodo), but unlike playing Devil May Cry 3 I didn’t get pissed about it and want to give up. My experience left me optimistic and I have high hopes for the game when it releases early next year.