I have waited since completing DMC3 for this game and it was worth the wait. As a massive fan of the series I was uncertain about the shift in limelight from Dante to Nero, but after getting to grips with controlling Nero I was very fluent in my attacks.

The devil bringer arm is an excellent addition to the series allowing for a non-stop battery on multiple opponents, although I would have liked to have seen more abilities with it, maybe as an addition to the pre-set buster throws, there could have been additional button combo's much like Dante's style attacks, but all in all the arm is a very welcome addition.

As for Nero's sword the Red Queen the combo's look nice and gave me a sense of satisfaction when I annihilate a particularly aggravating enemy with a barrage of attacks from the un-lockable combo's. The exceed system is a great way of powering up attacks, allowing you to deal out even more pain and torment, with the ability to fill the exceed meter by tapping L2 during an attack, you to keep the meter full the whole time your attacking, this does take some getting used to but once you have mastered it it's easily done.

The blue rose is Nero's double barrelled pistol capable of firing two shots almost simultaneously while lacking in rate of fire when compared to Dante's ebony and ivory it makes up for it with more punch. Not a weapon I used much but that's probably because I prefer the up close and personal approach.

Dante does make an appearance as a controllable character at mission 13 through to mission 19 I think, and my personal opinion is that this wasn't long enough the weapons you start with are the rebellion sword and ebony and ivory as per usual but this time you start with the shotgun as well whereas previously you had to collect it. Controlling Dante feels much the same as the previous titles but with a slight change in some button combo's. The major change in Dante's controls are the ability to change fighting style as you please by pressing a directional button this can even be done mid-combo which can make for some interesting attacks and combo's especially when coupled with a change in weapon (once found).

As for Dante's new weapons I didn't get on with them much and I still prefer rebellion and E+I over the additional weapons but that's not to say they are bad weapons or bad ideas, it's just probably down to how I prefer playing the game.

The levelling up system has been changed this time round and instead of using red orbs for everything now they are limited purely for the purchase of items. As for levelling up skills, now you need to collect proud souls which are awarded at mission complete screens the number of proud souls awarded are affected by your progress through the game and your mission rank. This is also an idea I prefer over the previous titles as I believe it makes acquiring skills and items easier.

During game play i noticed that no longer does the use of vitality stars or devil stars detrimental to your rank although they stop you from getting a no item bonus but they don't count against like the gold orbs or continues.

I did notice on a couple of occasions some frame rate issues on one occasion i burst a large number of breakables in one go resulting in lots of orbs on screen and as they appeared the frame rate slowed down.

All in all this game was and is very much worth the time and money I've put into it. I recommend it to newbies and veterans of the series.