I recently bought the DMC4 SE and palyed it a bit for the first time since launch.

My answer is neither, and I still prefer DmC over all of them. The Resident Evil camera lock combined with directional inputs is probably the worst idea ever only rivaled by Rockstars "Worst controls in a AAA game." Which is why I'm increasingly saddened when I see the awesome graphics and gameplay of DMC5, marred once again by that god awful static camera that often puts you in a corner where you can't even see enemy attacks coming your way.

But if were are choosing the lesser of two evils I do enjoy DMC4 a great deal more than DMC3.

A static camera can work, if the game is designed toward it. The main issue is that DMC is still designed in a style which involves dicking over the player as a way to increase challenge. It is the difference between "Nintendo Hard" and "Hard but Fair" games

DmC (I forget Ninja Theory's history but they are consistently awesome) was very much designed to ramp up to "hard but fair". As were the Bayonettas (which did often have fixed camera angles for some arenas). Which is also why both (DmC moreso) are also great for newbies. You can make it through the game just mashing and learning the basics. Or you can learn the game and combos and crank up the difficulty to have a great time.

So yeah, I am another vote for DmC. But if I had to pick one of those two I'd lean 4.

This is an unholy place.

I bought DMC4SE two years ago. Played as Vergil and Lady for a bit. I moved on to something else; most likely another Fallout 4 binge.

I bought DMCHD back in June. Sat on it for a little bit, but I replayed and finished DMC3SE over a weekend in August mainly to unlock Vergil.

My answer is DMC3SE for now, but since DMC4SE has those extra characters to play around with, I could change my answer.

...Oh, and, I bought DmC back in 2015, but I never really played it due to hack 'n' slash burnout at the time, so there's my horse in the DmC race. Not triggered, but not motivated.

Devil May Cry 4 SE is clearly the mechanics winner here and for a DMC game that's all that really counts. Hence why DmC lands squarely in the middle of the pack. It's DMC4SE > DMC3SE > DMC4 > DMC3 > DmC:DE > DMC > DmC > DMC2.

Now DMC3 had some strengths over DMC4 mostly in the obvious story department but also in the enemy design. DMC4 suffered a bit with the enemies that were designed with the being taken down with the devil bringer being more of a pain in the ass to deal with as Dante than they needed to be. It limited your combat possibilities as there were usually very specific ways you had to deal with them. Another thing DMC3 had above was the Vergil final fight over DMC4's terrible big statue final battle.

Let it never be forgotten that Ninja Theory's original DmC was a trash fire. Who cares if you've got camera control. It not like you've actually got time to fiddle with the camera in combat. You know what you could use in combat is the ability to select your lock-on target. Because that was not a thing you were allowed to do in DmC. Something that even DMC2 had figured out. Then it triples down on the enemy design problem I mention from 4 with the color coded enemies and weapons. Sure let's prescribe what weapons the playerbase has to use on an enemy or have their attacks bounce off. In Devil May Cry the series all about letting you choose the tools of how you will stylishly take down your foes. Oh and also you can't even choose what enemy you lock on to so the attack you meant for one enemy went into the immune on great. To top it all off it was a character action game that ran at a locked 30 fps.

Sure all of those things were addressed in the Definitive Edition which was not developed by Ninja Theory but instead was taken in house by Capcom because they knew how to make a competent character action game. Then it was actually pretty alright. Good even.

@frostyryan: Yeah, some shit went down with Brad's review of DmC where fans of regular DMC thought he was crazy and now most of them have been banished ;p (i'm still here though! And I like them both!)

Anyway, my answer is DMC3SE. The combat is great in both but I found the level design in 4 to be really tedious. Those dice rolling sections? That dumb gas forest with Zelda esque hand creatures that take you back to the begining? I really want to know who thought that shit was fun.

I did like Vergil and Trish in DMC4SE, I wasnt the biggest fan of the exceed system and Dante having 3 weapons at once compared to 2 really threw me off. But Trish and Vergil felt like they had a simpler move set that was easier to deal with, even if they were a little OP. Lady was a bit too slow for my liking.

I think my biggest problem with 4 is that a lot of the enemies feel like they were designed for Nero and were a chore to fight as anyone else. (the knights especially)

@ryuku_ryosake: pretty much agree completely.

I wanna add though I REALLY like DmC definitive edition. I would describe the original version just "good." Don't wanna come across as a hater of that game but yeah the first two comments in this thread made my head scratch haha. I really love 3 and 4.

4's special edition is just awesomeness though.

DMC3 is an amazing game and DMC4 is like half of a pretty good game that suddenly rewinds in the middle.

DMC3, because it's a much better game, but DMC4 does have the more fun combat system. DMC3 still nonetheless.

Nero is fun to play as, it's just a shame he's in such a mediocre game.

Nothing but praise for the combat system in DMC4, and if you're the type to spend dozens of hours in the bloody palace I can see how it might be your favorite in the franchise, but that story mode really sucks.

And the extra characters they added for Special Edition aren't great. It's kinda fun to just shoot at shit with lady, but it makes the game trivial. Ditto for Vergil.

4 is structurally a weaker game than 3, but in every other regard it is a better game than 4. The combat is far better with Dante's style switching and Nero's everything, and in general combat feels smoother and more responsive than 3. The enemies are more engaging to fight than 3's punching bags, and while there are a few clunkers (namely the possessed enemy set), 3 had its share of bad enemies like the angels, blood bats and those little bastards that just rev up to shoot light bullets at you and dash out of the way constantly on higher difficulties. DMD mode doesn't give the enemies all ungodly amounts of health that turns the game into just farming for DT meter so you can use DT Explosion, a decision in 3 I absolutely hate.

The only thing 3 has going for it is there's not as much repeated content, which only really matters in a first playthrough since in a replay the entire game is essentially repeated content. 5 is looking like it's easily going to knock 4 out of its spot as the best Devil May Cry game, but until then I'm going to continue singing the praises of 4.

(DmC: DMC Definitive Edition is a decent game but near universally awful "cinematic" bosses, constant boring platforming, and one particular brokenly designed weapon keep it from ascending beyond "fun casual action game")

@TechnoSyndrome: I hate to say it but my most hated thing about DmC is the story and characters. Dante himself is just insufferable and the whole game takes itself too seriously. I never used the term cringeworthy anymore because the internet butchered it but that game is cringe worthy.

Gameplay is pretty fun but yeah it's pretty broken and easy a lot of the time

The story and characters are awful but you watch the cutscenes once and then skip them every subsequent playthrough. If the cutscenes were the only problem people wouldn't hate that game.

I like DMC 3 more. It's a much more cohesive experience, even if the technicality of the combat isn't as outright crazy as it is in 4. Even beyond the whole "Devil May Cry 4 is half a game" thing, I don't like Dante's weapons in DMC 4 very much and the nonsense you can get up to with his style switching is mostly beyond me. Same goes for Nero and his "press the button with perfect timing to get a charge on his blade" stuff. The characters they added in the Special Edition are a lot of fun, but the game sure as hell isn't balanced around them. As a proof-of-concept for DMC 5 though? Totally on board. I can't wait to see how V plays after seeing what they did with Virgil, Trish, and Lady.

Also, I remember liking DmC at the time when I played it in 2013, but I made the mistake of checking out the special edition after playing a lot of 4, which made it feel like a real downgrade. I'm sure it's still a totally alright character action game, but I also find myself closer to the camp of purists who think it's not a great Devil May Cry game.

4 felt very out of place, 3 is fantastic, 2 is trash, and 1 is the actual best.

Personally I loved the DMC reboot from a few years ago more than any of the older games. They are fine games and liked them for the time but that DMC reboot was just a lot of silly dumb fun.

3's special edition just seemed like a much bigger deal at the time. It added a bunch of stuff and made the game more playable.

4 SE is cool, too, but since I already beat the original 6 times I just haven't gone back to it.

DMC3 is great, but has kind of boring level design and i much prefer using Nero than Dante.
Whereas i love everything about DMC4, the whole playing through the game backwards thing doesn't bother me when the gameplay is so good.