Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.

HD remakes are all the rage in the games industry these days. Missed a game that came out in the latter half of the last console generation? Just wait for it to come out for the new ones. It's an overdone trend but gives you the chance to catch up on games you may have missed. Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition though feels like the most unnecessary of these HD remakes yet as it originally came out way back in 2008. That being said though it is the inarguably the best version yet of what was already a fantastic action game and those looking for a quality beat-em-up for a discounted price should look no further than this Capcom classic.

Most of what you remember from Devil May Cry 4 hasn't changed. You're still using guns, swords and magic abilities to fight a secret society. All of the bosses are still here, the levels and the power-ups, so don't expect a complete reimagining of the game. There are some great additions here but they're mostly targeted towards die-hard fans of the series and newcomers to the Devil May Cry franchise may not appreciate them as much, even though they do add a ton of deployability to the original base game.

The biggest addition to the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4 is the ability to play as three new characters besides original hero Dante. Vergil is most like his play style in Devil May Cry 3 but is still a ton of fun to play through due to how his weapons promote both vicious attacks and precision. Lady undoubtedly offers the biggest change from the original gameplay as her focus on ranged weapons will require you to rethink how you approach a number of situations. She's got a bazooka, which is a huge difference from the normal style of weapons seen in the series and any die-hard fan of the series should try playing as her at least once. On top of all of this there's a new turbo mode and a brand new difficulty sure to challenge even those who think they've mastered the game.

Unfortunately though, the game's biggest issues still haven't been addressed. Almost the entire second half of the game has you replaying the levels you've played in the first, bosses included in slightly different order. It's still an almost complete momentum stopper from a series that normally moves pretty steadily, and I questioned whether I wanted to - or needed to keep playing.The game's final section is still as much of an insult to the rest of the game (and maybe series) as it ever has been. Who thought that the weird action/board game setup was a good idea?

Undoubtedly though the game's biggest strength, just as it has been for the entire series is the stellar boss battles. Now I may be a bit partial because I love taking down giant enemies, but Devil May Cry has always delivered great bosses and this is no exception. I may have played through them all before but it was a lot of fun to play through them with the different characters and modes as it often felt like a completely different experience. Whether it's battling a giant flame minotaur, an angel or even strangely enough a giant bull-frog, I couldn't get enough of the bosses in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition.

The biggest drawback of Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition though is one that Capcom couldn't fix and it was inevitable as soon as the game was announced. This is a the most repetitive game of an already repetitive series, and we're playing it all again (albeit with a slight bit of change). Die-hard fans of the series will love the changes and additions but anyone else is sure to find themselves looking for more before long.

The new Special Edition's 1080p presentation has things running smoothly even when the action get's hectic but you can still tell that this game was originally released nearly five years ago. The environments and the characters are cleaned up well but they still have that dated feel to them and at times it's more noticeable than others. While at times the animations are stellar, there are times when they're cringe-worthy and you realize just how far we've come in the last half decade. Don't get me wrong though, Capcom has done a great job cleaning up the game for the rerelease, but they could only do so much.

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed both the original Devil May Cry series as well as the highly controversial DMC released a few years ago (contrary to what you may believe, you don't have to pick between the two). They're both solid action games and now they've both got definitive versions that showcase their greatest features. Though the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4 may have cleaned up the now almost five-year-old game a bit, it unfortunately doesn't fix some of the game's nagging problems and as a result, it still feels dated at times.