Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening

"I still think Devil May Cry is a dumb name though."

Devil May Cry 3 - I still think Devil May Cry is a dumb name though.

It is here: the highly anticipated action game that is supposed to prove that Capcom was actually tricking us by creating Devil May Cry 2. Once again, it features the impossibly strong half-demon protagonist of the story Dante in his full glory. The latest installment in this long-running demon smashing game also proves to be the most intense and difficult one in the series. Even from the starting missions, players might already realize that this 'one hell of a party' might not be as much fun as it could be. In fact, it can be extremely frustrating. Players would quickly learn that the demon enemies spawn at a near never ending rate, and they don't seem to drop dead in just a few fancy swordplay. However, a player that is patient enough to master the nuts and bolts of this deep combat system would surely agree that Devil May Cry could easily be one of the best action games that the Playstation 2 has ever seen.

The cutscenes in the game leaves many of us envious of the true ability that Dante possesses. Dante willingly permits hordes of demon cloaks to shred their scythe through him with immense power; only to realize that Dante has near immortality during these short sequences. He then makes short work of them with flashy moves that you can only see and sit there with those envious eyes. Yep, unfortunately for you, these immortality powers don't follow up when you are finally able to control Dante. On the contrary, Dante has little to no vitality during the start of the game and can easily be dispatched off within a matter of hits. It's not that a bad thing actually. At least you would look like a professional dodging the moves of the demons and then slashing them at the back with the Rebellion. That is, until you fully master the patterns of the demons and the occasional annoyance of the controls. Devil May Cry also starts you off with no continues, no stylish actions and completely no orbs. Naked, so it seems. There's no denying that this game is harsh, but like I said before, the ones who endure and continue to play this game will soon realize that it is wicked fun.

However, if the situation is really that bad, the game also opens up the 'Easy' mode after Dante gets slaughtered a few times. I continued with normal mode though, and it really wasn't that bad after all. Your call.

You're not completely defenseless, though. Devil May Cry does throw you some simple defensive moves that you can pull off pretty easily as they put it. Most of the fault would probably go to the way the monster attacks. The thing is that it's very difficult to counter the monsters when they slice their filthy scythes across your neck. There would be a momentary stun there, which could be very much easily followed up by another slice by the same monster, or by another one of the five others circling Dante. You could jump around, but then the camera needs a bit of time to get used to. The controller responds to the direction Dante is facing, not the direction where the general camera is facing. So if you're inclined with that, you would do fine dodging simple attacks. But if you're not, Dante doesn't exactly have a lot of health to spare. Another method would be to roll out of trouble. Rolling is always seen as the more professional and cool way of dodging attacks. Nothing beats rolling out of the way of a red-clothed scythe wielding demon and then burying fifty over rounds of bullets with your dual guns. Suck it all up, however. Rolling isn't easy, you would be better off jumping backwards and then firing them.

Dante also automatically targets foes near him whenever you use a devil arm or the guns. This is a good thing, but if there so happens to be a particular monster you want to dispatch off first, you could use the R1 locking system. When you're locked onto a foe, you can sort of dodge him more easily as Dante always faces the enemy you are targetting. It doesn't seem so bad now, does it?

Well, there's more. The game also implements a new feature called 'Styles'. Basically, Dante will choose a 'Style' to begin with in each mission, and then clock up experience points in it, and learn new 'Style' moves when it levels up. While everything sounds very interesting and unique, it is ultimately redundant as you are pretty much set on the default style - which is Trickster. This style incorporates more fancy dodging moves for Dante, and for our half-demon hero right now, this is something that he needs. Badly. The thing about Devil May Cry is that is emphasizes on meticulous operation of the mission. Storming right into a horde of enemies would normally result in our hero ending up in three or more separated pieces.

It is also possible to switch styles during missions by finding those hourglasses figures. However, it is always more beneficial to stick with one style throughout the long course of the game. Levelling a style usually spans several missions and they only introduce a few moves at a time. The other styles available are 'swordmaster', 'gunslinger' and 'royal guard'. You should be able to guess what each of them does by now.

The thing that allows Dante to even survive in such a harsh demonic world is that the demons don't exactly attack at a high frequency. The enemies themselves spend more time side-stepping then lunging at our half-demon platinum haired character. This allows us to capitalize on this situation. Dante can do some serious combo damage if he manages to strike first. Nothing says it better when you chain a barrage of sword slashes and some quick pistol shots to a helpless demon.

Some new touches of the game include the extremely helpful usage of the outer shoulder buttons. The L2 and R2 buttons now allow you to switch your guns and devil arms respectively on the fly. While you can only equip 2 of each kind of weapons, you will also soon realize that this handy measure will prove to be an immense help when facing impossible amounts of enemies. There is also a lack in the type of moves you can pull off in the game, but everything will work out fine once you mix and utilize all the weapons correctly that you currently possess into the heat of the battle.

What makes the entire battle system of Devil May Cry click so beautifully is that everything flows nicely. Everything that you do - from doing a simple slash to performing a high-time - ends up being smooth and precise. It's like doing a snap with your fingers; it just flows in a perfect manner. For example, repeatedly bashing the triangle button would cause Dante to do his typical 3-hit slash with the Rebellion. This usually ends up with the demon falling to the floor and sliding backwards involuntarily. This is where the entire thing clicks in. You can basically continue the punishment from there. Perform a high-time, smash the guts of the monster inside out with an aerial slash, and then finish the job with some fast button punching with the ranged weapons. Kicking a demon's ass has never been this satisfying with Devil May Cry's excellent graphical aspect. But we'll get to that later.

In addition to how much butt you're kicking on the field, the game also keeps track of how stylish you are in doing that by having a combo meter on the right hand corner of the screen. While you're basically slashing the orbs out of the demonic creatures, the meter never fails to rocket upwards unless you've been doing that for every single monster you met. The meter serves as a friendly reminder; that is, to include variety when you're fighting. While the game doesn't exactly provide a lot of different combos that you can pull off, you can also switch between styles of fighting. For example, perform aerial to ground attacks rather than always being on the floor. Use the different weapons at your disposal with the extremely handy shoulder buttons. So, as you can see, even though the monsters just don't die as quick as you want them to be, the battles don't exactly get boring fast.

The game also helpfully break down the long story into numerous amount of reasonably sized missions. Each mission would normally start off by showing a continuation of the plot from where it ended last time (probably also portraying the immortality and incredible power that the true Dante possess), and then leaving you to do the dirty work yourself. Most of the game will take place in a extremely tall tower that sprouted out of nowhere, so you'll be basically travelling upwards and downwards in this one wreck of a tower, chasing your evil brother and his weirdo sidekick, occasionally meeting the only witty woman in the game, and of course kicking ass in the process. Devil May Cry do throw in the regular puzzles and stuffs, but they aren't exactly difficult in any manner. Take it as a short break from the excessive button smashing and pushing of the analog stick then.

Also, you'll spend some time squaring off against Devil May Cry's numerous devastating bosses. For the most time, the bosses are challenging and interesting to fight against. You will spend some time pitting yourself against them however, as most of them require some sort of a trick to inflict damage against them. In other words, you will have to scout of some way to exploit their weaknesses before having a chance to damage them. At the same time, you will be kept busy dodging their multiple, hard-hitting colourful attacks. Nevertheless, they are pretty and they actually require you to think before you can defeat them. Everybody is satisfied with these monsters worthy to be called 'bosses'.

Should Dante be mercilessly slain in one way or another, you would probably have to restart the mission from the beginning. Thankfully, there are some missions where they would save your positions somewhere - sort of like checkpoints that you will never be informed of - though you shouldn't really count it anyway. While slaying monsters on the other hand would normally earn you orbs. The most important one would be the Red Orbs. These are used as the main currency in the game, and you would probably not have a lot of it throughout the game. This is because the orbs could be used to purchase several critically important items that would surely help you throughout the game, or they could also be used to learn new actions. I would personally recommend the former though. Eventually, you will also be accessed to the Devil Trigger part of the game. Basically, it allows Dante to be transformed to the demon of himself, letting him wage chaos over the field and regenerate health constantly, all for a matter of seconds. At any rate, all this helps to provide Devil May Cry that little customization that it needs, and will ultimately benefit you in your final goal in finishing the game.

The quality and choreography of the game cutscenes are simply marvellous. One would simply marvel at their quality that you would think that these are easily the best cutscenes that you would ever witness in a Playstation 2 game. There isn't really much to be told about the cutscenes. It's just over the top, downright impressive, all thanks to the crew members who were behind all these. Slick animation of the already stylish moves of Dante can be witnessed in the cutscenes, and the monsters also look extremely good in motion during those short but satisfying experiences.

Along the game, Devil May Cry also sports a stable frame rate. Even under a massive invasion of monsters, the game also tries its best to keep the moves as fanciful and smooth as ever. Dante never at one time freezes and lags in the game, and you will surely enjoy the feel to transverse across gothic and dark surroundings as you knock on Hell's door.

Devil May Cry boasts a heavy metal soundtrack. It doesn't really matter if you like this genre of music or not because everything just looks so good when it's placed together. I don't really like Metal to begin with, but I must admit. It does look good when you piece it together with Dante and his badass moves. You will most probably hear the same music over and over again though, not that it's a bad thing anyway. Most players would probably not even notice it. The sound effects of the game are also very well done. Several melee weapons have been given its own 'sound', which makes it look even more dangerous than it was before. The voiceovers, while not as perfect as the sound effects, are also admirable. Dante might sound pretty awkward at the start of the game, but you will look over that tiny flaw soon enough. That, I can promise.

All in all, Devil May Cry is an action game that the audience can probably never ask more of in a game. Though it might pose to be one heck of a challenge to overcome in the starting, let's be realistic. Nobody likes a game that any blind monkey can complete. Besides, it's not exactly challenging to that limit in which every single move you make has to be pre-planned or everything just falls apart. On top of all that, Devil May Cry also boasts an excellent and deep combat system that would probably attract nearly every action gamer out there. The stable frame rate, stupendous graphical and audio aspects, and the always groundbreaking cutscenes all come together to produce one action adventure game that you would never want to miss. My final verdict? Do the world a favor and get yourself this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/05