After beating the game last night, I believe DMC3 is better than 4. DMC4 could’ve been better if the design team didn’t make some terrible decisions as far as game design. Backtracking through previous stages as Dante was a really, really poor level design choice. Sure, it makes sense with the story, but they didn’t really do anything to mix it up except for some very minor things. Dante’s portion of the game could’ve been handled a lot better, but it just feels like they got lazy.
Same thing with the bosses. Seriously wtf. Fighting practically each boss twice was really, really lame. As to not to spoil anything, I’ll add spoiler tags.
DMC4 bosses
[details=Spoiler]
- Dante
- Berial
- Bael
- Echidna
- “Agnus” (or rather his machine and blade bird things)
- Credo
- Agnus
- Dante 2
- Sanctus
- Echidna 2
- Dagon
- Berial 2
- Agnus 2
- The Savior
- Berial 3
- Dagon 2
- Echidna 3
- Sanctus 2[/details]
I expected Capcom to pull the whole “play some bosses again” thing before the last mission, but geez guys… try to mix it up a little. Shit gets old. Be more creative than that. But, looking at that list… three of the eighteen bosses you fight you only fight once. The others you fight twice, some even three times! Either Capcom was rushed to push out DMC4, they were lazy, or what, I don’t even know… but there isn’t an excuse for that.
I mean in DMC1 you fight Phantom twice, Griffon three times, Nelo Angelo three times, and Nightmare three times… but that was DMC; it’s old, first generation DMC, so it was acceptable then. In DMC3, you fight none of the bosses multiple times save Vergil (and the level where you have to replay the bosses), who significantly changes his attack the second and third time you face him. In DMC4, almost none of the bosses you fight more than once change at all! Poor, poor design choice, IMO. It’s not like it isn’t fun to fight the bosses in DMC4, because it’s fun as hell, but more variety would’ve been nice.
Those are my only true complaints and flaws I see in the game. If I were to nitpick, I’d say that DMC4’s combat system doesn’t really evolve that much, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because it’s still the same gameplay we know and love, but at the same time it’s bad because I wasn’t exactly wowed by it as compared to DMC3’s style system and how well that worked. Devil Buster is fucking awesome and Nero is a great addition to the cast, but it’s just a minor nitpick that the gameplay didn’t really evolve like I expected it to. Another minor nitpick is that Nero’s history didn’t really get covered at all, but I guess that’s what DMC5 is for.
Overall:
Pros:
- Nice graphics and cut scenes
- Awesome combos and gameplay DMC is known for
- Devil Buster is great, especially when you Buster bosses for epic lulz and damage
- Good story and characters
Cons:
- Backtracking was a poor design choice
- Fight too many of the same bosses repeatedly
- Nero’s background not covered*
- Not enough Lady and her delicious tits*
*very minor cons
I’d probably give the game an 8.5/10. The game is great, but definitely not better than DMC3. I’d rank all the games in this order: DMC3, DMC4, DMC1, DMC2.
