If you want a good introduction to the DMC series with tons of content to play, deep combat mechanics, tons of replayability, beautiful graphics for a 2008 game, and great cutscenes with great characters then this game is the one for you. Now if I'm being completely honest, DMC3 is the better introduction to the series so buy that first if you want the best introduction possible, but this is a very close second. Nero is a fantastic addition to the series with his Devil Bringer, Blue Rose revolver, and Red Queen rev sword. Dante is a mixed bag, his combat is deep with tons and tons of different techs and combos, he just has some really big issues that come with the flawed development that they had.

If you don't want parts of the game spoiled, don't read past this line.


Dante's missions are literally Nero's missions but backwards, I wish I was kidding. You start at this church place, run all the way to this tower and get to the very top as Nero while fighting 5 bosses, you switch to Dante and start at the top of the tower and now have to run all the way back to the church place while fighting the same bosses again except with 2 removed (which were the best out of the 5). After you get there, you fight one of the WORST bosses in the series, switch back to Nero for a final boss rush where you fight the bosses for a THIRD time, and then the final boss which is ALSO a rehash, and boom the game ends. What, the ♥♥♥♥, happened.

Also Dante's combat, while interesting, does not at all match what the enemies were designed for which is Nero. When you fight enemies as Nero, the game feels great. Once you swap to Dante, you start to see the big big flaws in the enemy designs. Blitz, Infected enemies, Big angelos with their armor and ability to just cancel being staggered after like 3 hits, those little health enemies that you can't launch into the air, Dante's complete lack of any real good AOE moves. All of Nero's swings are wide and his abilities have good reach. Dante's Stinger is a single thrust forward, Nero's stinger is a sweeping slash that when exceeded gets more slashes, which then if you time your LT press correctly, you can do the same thing again. That's just one case of many.

The other characters are all fun, Vergil of course being my favorite as you can tell from my profile picture. Trish is hilarious with how much damage she does and how exaggerated her moves are but she just relies way too much on that Round trip for it to be a constant joy, maybe I'm just not used to it. Lady is definitely my least favorite and again for the same reason as Dante, she just doesn't fit in the game. Her combat definitely has a solid foundation and is fun but it needs a lot more for it to be consistently fun and engaging, and the enemies aren't designed for her. Sitting around waiting to charge up weapons over and over gets boring really fast, it feels like I'm playing DMC2 almost where I just run around and spam guns over and over to win.

You must think I hate this game with what I said in these last few paragraphs but I really don't, these flaws while evident are completely outweighed by the entire combat system, characters, cutscenes, and gameplay. Just because the combat system has some flaws doesn't mean it isn't a blast to play and learn. There is TONS here to learn. Do yourself a favor and go watch some of donguri990 on youtube with this game, I've linked one of his videos down below. THAT is how deep the combat system is, and that's only ONE character. Do yourself a HUGE favor and buy this game. DMC3, DMC4, and DMC5 are all absolute GEMS of games despite their flaws, they are all worth your time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh28Ks4RW58