"Final Fantasy" is probably one of the biggest franchises that the RPG kingdom has to offer, turning this into one of those titles that plenty of people are expecting. Unlike the main series, which is generally composed by turn-based games, this title plays mostly like the first "Crystal Chronicles" title, released a few years ago for the now-defunct Nintendo Gamecube system.

Magic plays an important role in this game. You only have access to six different types of magic (three offensive spells and three support ones), which come in the form of orbs, and can be mixed up to cast stronger spells. For example, imagine you want to restore more of your HP - instead of casting the same spell more than once, you can quickly cast it in the same place, which originates a single, yet more powerful, spell. There are plenty of different spells to cast, and you can go for simple combinations of the same spells (resulting in Fira, Firaga or Curaga, among others) or more unusual ones, resulting in effects such as Haste, Slow or the powerful Meteor.

While you can use a single character to perform these actions, using your whole party to do so is a good, yet slightly problematic, idea. Mogs teach you about the basic character skills, but they never warn you about how stupid the rest of your party is, since your party members barely help you when they're needed. Unless you tell them to, they never use their special skills (an action here achieved by pressing R) or cast magic, which is just disappointing. While facing later boss battles, you'll be fighting alongside party members that just like to follow you, throwing occasional attacks and casting no magic whatsoever, which is a huge problem, as they barely help you.

Be aware that you can switch to any of those four party members whenever you want, which is done by pressing their faces in the lower screen, also saved for small mini-games. In fact, several aspects of the gameplay actually require you to use a particular character, one whose ability may help you in that particular area. Without spoiling much of the game, the second character can activate some hidden details of the scenario, the third one has the ability to double-jump and the final one can use a magical pot to perform some unusual tasks, all of which are needed in some part of the game.

There are no classes to give to your characters, but by equipping them with specific armor you can give them the look of classical Final Fantasy jobs, gaining certain bonus on the process. For example, if your character looks like a Black Mage, the spells he casts will be more damaging, and wearing a full Ninja equipment allows you to perform stronger physical attacks.

Another interesting feature comes in the form of loot. Each time you kill an enemy, he is likely to drop certain items, which you can later use to order customized weapons, obviously more powerful than the ones sold in stores. Sometimes, they even come imbued with special abilities, which may turn out being very useful - who wants a sword that drains enemy HP, and makes it your own? That's only one of many possibilities, you just have to get a specific scroll, enough loot and you're reading to create your own weapon.

Unfortunately, the dungeon design is far from perfect. Apart from featuring several minor glitches, a small map becomes available each time you enter a room, making it too easy to travel from point A to point B. Sure, there are plenty of puzzles in those rooms, but those are so easy to solve that they'll probably not pose you any trouble. Ultimately, it all comes to pressing a certain switch, killing all enemies or putting a magic orb in a particular place.

Such a flaw leads us to this game's biggest problem, its play time. Being an action RPG, it is odd that you can complete the main storyline in less than 10 hours. You can later replay it, facing stronger bosses and reaching stores that sell better items, but it's not really worth it. Unless you're too unskilled at this kind of game, you'll be completing it easily and in barely any time at all, and once you do it I doubt you'll want to replay it.

One could claim that the few side quests available and the secret dungeon are worth it, but they aren't. Instead, you could give a look to this game's multiplayer functions, which are an interesting surprise. If one of your friends has this game, you can play across the whole game alongside with him, or her. You won't be playing the story mode, but one where you face adapted (read it as "easier") dungeons, along with your friends. Up to four players may participate, which turns out being particularly useful when facing stronger bosses. You can even save your game and continue at a later date, even when your friends aren't around. It also comes with several missions, granting you extra items and unusual bonus, where you have to kill enemies, press switches or reach particular points, everything before a specific time limit is reached.

The Wifi mode is slightly more disappointing. Unlike you may think, you're not allowed to play online, with this option being reserved to trade Mogs, the same creatures you get to personalize while playing the main Story Mode. An online mode, allowing you to team-up from people from all over the world, would have been nicer, with this addition looking more like a small, and unimportant, option, added for the game to come with a very known symbol in its package.

In terms of sound, this game is quite good. Sure, the music has its high and low moments, but most storyline sequences feature voice acting, and I doubt you'll ever become bored to the point where you actually have to turn the sound all the way off. The number of sound effects is slightly limited, which tends to be unimportant but may hurt some fans.

Many asked if the new protagonist introduced in DMC4 was going to be enough to top DMC3's achievements.

Let's face it. 4 different styles, a plethora of different weapons, all of which had their own charms, plus the ability to play as Vergil in the Special Edition made the bar set high for all future prospect's.

How nice it was to see Capcom clear the bar with plenty of feet to spare.

Dante not only gets new weapons, but can also change between all his styles at will. While he was gone, he also took time to master Vergil's style.

And Nero, who takes the spotlight for most of the game, is one of the most intuitive characters ever. It feels right playing him.

'nuff said.