The hard core Devil May Cry fans out there are probably going to be universally disappointed in the boss fights in the game. First of all, they're pretty easy to beat. The basic demons can be more trouble for you than the bosses just because they have numbers on their side. The first time I faced a 50 foot fire demon that channeled memories of The Lord of the Rings' Balrog, I was certain that I was in for a long and grueling battle peppered with more than a few reloads. I was more than a little surprised when I beat the demon on my first go, and it wasn't even all that close as I had plenty of health to spare in the end. The other disappointing thing about the bosses in this game is that you'll have to face some of them more than once. This makes you feel that you were somehow cheated out of an original boss or two, like your money didn't buy you as many bosses as it should have.

Speaking of repetition, the same thing goes for the environments in the game. The environments are imaginative, feature some compelling architecture, and exude plenty of great atmosphere. It's just a shame that you have to backtrack so often and spend so much time at each location. Some of the levels can simply drag on for too long. I found myself on occasion wondering how many times I'd have to backtrack and crisscross my way around a location before I finally hit enough switches to open up the way to the next level.

So there you have my take on Devil May Cry 4. Excellent combo system and visually stunning, but the boss battles are too easy it teeters on the edge of being too repetitive. The cutscenes are pretty impressive, but they come so often that at times they break up the action a little too much. In the end I enjoyed my time with the game, but I couldn't help but feel that with a little change to the level design and few other minor tweaks it could have been a truly great one.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 85%. The Devil My Cry series makes a good debut on the Xbox 360, but it comes up a little short of being a truly great game.

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