Recent reviews by JTH-x

tl;dr: Everything about this game rules, play it.
This game was an incredible experience for me as a new fan, coming right off the heels of 4. I can only imagine how gratifying it must have been for long term fans after over a decade and a less than beloved remake. Out of the games in this series that I have played, I can firmly say this one is by far my favorite.
The gameplay is really fun. Lady and Trish aren't playable, but with the addition of Vergil from the Special Edition series, there is a great variety in gameplay styles available. Dante, Dead Weight, V and Vergil all play pretty different from one another in terms of basic moveset and they all have unique elements to their gameplay on top of that. A game with a single one of these playstyles available would already be great and have a lot of depth to it's combat (especially Dante), but having all four in one game is just amazing. As of writing this review, I've only really beat the main story and messed around a little in bloody palace, but I know there's still so much more fun left to squeeze out of it. Unlocking more moves for everyone, clearing bloody palace, beating the whole game as Vergil, beating the game on harder difficulties, getting the collectables I missed, improving my mission rankings and just having fun styling on enemies. This game is easier than 3 and 4, which may be a downside for some people. But for me personally, I don't mind that at all. If anything, I honestly prefer it. Basically all my problems with the previous games' gameplay have been smoothed out and everything controls nearly perfectly. Basically my only complaints with the gameplay are that some bosses aren't as good as others, and I wish Nero had a way to switch arms during combat without destroying the currently equipped one.
The story and writing of this game have everything I loved about 3 and 4 and more. Dante is as wacky wahoo and fun as ever, Nero's angst and too cool for school attitude are handled perfectly and V is a great addition to the cast, balancing out the other two very well. The main antagonist is by far the best out of the DMC games I've played and the climax of the story is on par with DMC 3's.
The presentation is top tier. The music is absolutely fantastic. And honestly a big reason for me picking up the series as a whole. Devil Trigger and Bury the Light are the obvious standouts, but Crimson Cloud also grew on me as I played. Subhuman is lacking compared to the other battle themes but it's not terrible and can be switched out for the other themes or older DMC songs. The visuals are also stunning. This game obviously has an advantage over the older games in the graphics, being much newer. But still, I can't not mention how great they look. And they're used very well to present a wonderfully SSStylish game.