Versus: DMC4's Dante VS Nero

We pit Capcom's premier demon slayers head to head in the scrap to end all scraps. It's not going to be pretty.

The king is dead, long live the king. Or is he dead? Dante fans turn away now, because Capcom has replaced everybody's favourite demon slayer with Nero, a sort of "Dante-lite" warrior from the corrupt religious cult The Order of the Sword, for Devil May Cry 4 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Fear not! You'll get to play as Dante for just under a third of the game, but the big question is, how does Nero shape up? Here we pit gaming's two premier demon hunters head to head in a no holds barred scrap. Who comes out on top? Read on.

Lock, load, and rev that sword - weapons

Nero's got some pretty cool weapons at his disposal - Blue Rose is a rapid-fire, double-barrelled six-shooter which can, of course, be upgraded as you accumulate Proud Souls throughout the game. It's not massively useful during the game, and isn't particularly powerful either. Nero can use Blue Rose to keep enemies in the air, as well as himself, as Dante has been doing since the first game. More interestingly, Nero's also got the Red Queen - a giant sword that can be revved like the handlebar of a motorbike - at his disposal. This brings into play Nero's Exceed meter, which you fill by holding the left trigger. Exceed can be revved up to three levels, each granting Red Queen addition speed and power, and a cool red glow. It takes time to rev it up though - thankfully, you can purchase an upgrade which allows you to fill up the meter automatically with a perfectly timed press of the left trigger after an attack, making the sword, and Nero, much more useful in combat, much more powerful and much more fun to use. Later in the game Nero gets hold of Yamato, the sword used by Dante's brother, Vergil, in DMC3. Nero whips this katana-style sword out when in his devil state, granting him increased speed, super fast combos and additional power.

Nero's best weapon is his demon-powered right arm - Devil Bringer - which allows him to grab enemies from a large distance and pull them towards him. This opens up some interesting combat options - you can drag demons from mid-air, kill them, then, before you touch the ground, drag another. Devil Bringer also gives Nero a close combat throw attack, which is different depending on what demon you use it on. One of the best, and most fun things about using Nero, is discovering all the different Buster attacks in the game. Some of them, especially on the game's huge, spectacular bosses, are absolutely brutal.

Dante, on the other hand, has all his weapons from the previous games, and more. When you eventually get to control him, you'll have access to Ebony and Ivory, the super fast twin handguns that never have to be reloaded, as well as Vergil's sword Yamato. As you progress through the game as Dante, you'll unlock other weapons, including a shotgun, fist and feet blades and a Pandora's Box style suitcase with 666 different forms. The suitcase gives Dante access to a mini-gun, a rocket launcher and a hovering missile-launching craft which suspends in mid-air and can be flown about briefly. All these weapons give Dante huge variety, deadly power and mind-boggling speed. And his guns are actually useful - Dante's mid-air upside down handgun attack remains one of the coolest moves in video games. And, of course, Dante can transform into a devil.

Verdict:

Nero's motorcycle sword is a cool idea, and once you unlock the ability to fill the Exceed meter instantly with perfectly timed button presses, he becomes much more useful, fun and spectacular to use. Yamato, too, gives Nero a much needed boost in the coolness department. But compared to Dante's more visceral, in your face, powerful weapons, he comes up miles short. Add to this the fact that Dante, however briefly we get to play with him, has loads more weapon options to choose from (the Pandora's Box suitcase itself, fully upgradeable, contains more weapons than Nero has to himself), and you can see that Dante is the only choice. Nero's Devil Bringer is fun to use, and, as we've said, some of the enemy specific Buster attacks are super cool, but Dante's armoury gives die-hard DMC fans something special to play with. Round one goes to the stubbly one.