My eyes weren't fixed on DMC4 until I ran into our own Colette trying her hand at the game, giggling with a sort of unrestrainable glee that only a good, solid action title can draw out of you. I was blowing away the hordes of zombies at the Umbrella Chronicles booth but kept an eye on the other screen, thinking "Damn, I could be playing that." Blazing at 60 frames, newcomer Nero was tearing through demons at speeds so swift I could barely keep up, and the experience seemed effortless -- I had to give it a shot. That's how DMC4 became my next stop and, after twenty minutes with the game, one of my standout experiences at E3.

The focus on DMC4, as with previous games in the series, remains fast-paced, hard-hitting combo-oriented asskicking. The demo we played at the show featured some basic exploration and granted us a few basic abilities to help us along, chief among them the "devil bringer" arm, new to Devil May Cry 4. Once upgraded, the devil bringer allows Nero to grab at long distances -- certain highlighted platforms show where the player can activate the arm and reach long distances or great heights. Exploration's swell and all, but how does the devil bringer work in combat?

Maintaining a constant flow of combat and keeping your enemies in the air as you cut them to little crumbly bits is a lot easier with the inclusion of this new gameplay mechanic. The "snatch", as it's referred to, is performed by pressing R1 and the circle button at the same time. Nero will hurl the devil bringer towards the nearest or locked-on enemy and pull him back, paving the way for a combo. This works no matter where the enemy is located, including over your head -- one of my favorite means of dispatching the foes in my path was knocking them around a bit, using the "high roller" attack to knock them into the air, shooting them several times and snatching them back to the earth for more up-close attacks. Makes for intuitive and fast-paced play, but don't expect those other enemies to go light on you while you're going to town on a single poor schmuck.