Devil May Cry 4 is an enjoyable action game, let down by problems clearly caused by a rushed development. The game has 20 missions, just like its predecessor, but many of them are simple retreads of earlier levels, complete with the same bosses. While backtracking occured in DMC 3, it was handled much better than this. Thankfully, the developers know what they're doing, and have done their best to try and revitalise these old levels, but what was really needed was more time in development, not a rushed product.

The other main issue the game has is the bosses. While still enjoyable to fight and well designed, the majority of bosses can't hold a candle to the bosses of DMC 3 (excluding 3's Gigapede), and the two that can are some of the only bosses not repeated in the game. This repeating can make fighting some of the bosses for the second or third time tedious as a result, whereas repeating the other two would likely not have been: fighting Vergil three times was fun in 3, Angelo Credo would surely have also been fun to fight more than once.

That being said, this game still gets a recommend. The combat is as polished as ever, with new character Nero serving as a good introduction to the system for newcomers to Devil May Cry, and Dante now being able to switch between styles and all weapons on the fly, allowing for large amounts of player expression. On top of this, the Special Addition includes Vergil, Lady, and Trish as playable characters, who are also fun to play as (especially Vergil).

The enemies still attack you in swarms, and there are some very well designed enemies here, the standout being the Blitz enemy, a teleporting, electric abomination that can take and dish out a lot of pain. The stronger enemies outclass Devil May Cry 3's Fallen and Abyss enemies, although 3's fodder is better than the indistinguishable scarecrow enemies on display here. These aggressive enemies are a large part of why DMC's combat works so well, and the strength of this combat is what gets the game recommended.

On top of the stellar enemy and combat design, this version of Devil May Cry 4 has seven different difficulty modes: Human (Easy), Devil Hunter (Normal), Son of Sparda (Hard), Dante Must Die, Legendary Dark Knight, Heaven or Hell, and Hell and Hell. At first, only Human, Son of Sparda, and Legendary Dark Knight modes are available, and the player must complete Devil Hunter to unlock more. However, as the difficulty increases, the combat gets better, with enemies becoming stronger, giving the player less down time in between attacks, and even gaining a Devil Trigger on Dante Must Die mode, the hardest standard difficulty. Legendary Dark Knight, Heaven or Hell, and Hell and Hell all function a little differently, and are arguably a little gimmicky, but when treated as an aside to the main game, they function well. Dante Must Die mode alone is worth the hassle of beating the game twice, elevating the combat further than any other mode into the greatest combat experience in gaming.

Devil May Cry 3 is one of the kings of the action genre, and although its younger brother lacks a fully realised set of levels, it still comes close to taking the crown.