When I first played DMC1 it felt like such a chore to finish it, but after a second playthrough I liked it alot and got really excited for the next one that had just been released at the time.
I really loved the second one too, despite what everyone else had to say about it. I'm still waiting for them to bring back Lucia or some other second playable character that doesn't have a sword and guns to fight with.
As for the third one, I thought it had the coolest choreography to date and might still be the coolest in the series. Hottest version of Dante as well, I must say .
And the fourth I really liked Nero's devil arm grabby-thing, it allowed for some pretty badass combos. I think I liked Nero more than I did Dante in this game.
In fact I think I've always liked the secondary characters more than I actually liked Dante.