good review, but I can't say I agree. I still enjoyed it, but I'd be willing to bet this is what happened with DMC4:
Capcom were on their way to developing an awesome DMC4 with just Nero and then some dickhead decided that the game just wouldn't sell if they didn't force Dante in as a playable character. so they spent tons of development time working that in instead and ended up with an underdeveloped Nero, an underdeveloped Dante (who's somehow way more limited than DMC3 Dante even with style-switching), and an underdeveloped game (the levels are awfully bland, not to mention the second half being one big backtrack).
I think if they'd been allowed to focus on Nero, it would have turned out much better. plus the difficulty is a joke to any hardcore DMC player, I can understand toning down normal but DMD should kick your ass. instead, it's basically the same as hard except if you really suck then the enemies might eventually DT. but if you really suck, you wouldn't have beaten hard.
the characters are both too strong, too, Nero never has to work for an opening to use Snatch/Buster against enemies and Dante has a few totally overpowered moves and either spamming pinup, using a glitched Real Impact, or jump-canceling Gilg's downward kick will let you shred bosses in about a minute flat even on DMD.
I need to write a review, if this doesn't count as having done so already. hahaha
Oh no, it's a Goomba!