Introduction:
Devil May Cry 3, just so everyone knows beforehand, is a prequel unraveling an earlier time in the main character Dante's history. It goes back in time before the original Devil May Cry, retelling the epic battle between the twin sons of Sparda, divided into complete polar opposites by both motives as well as personality. Sparda, as the game foretells, was the reknown legendary dark knight who triumphed over the Devil-king 2,000 years prior to the start of DMC3. When sealing himself in the netherworld, he felt his power had grown too strong and had sealed himself in as well. Dante's brother, Vergil, arises on a mysterious tower, and it is up to Dante to go up against his brother and all the enemies that come up in his path, including the likes of mythological beasts such as Cerberus.
Gettin' Down With The Nitty Gritty Of The Difficulty
Much like its predecessors, DMC3 (as it will be called for the rest of this review), is an intense, off-the-wall, gothic action game that takes all players for a ride they will never forget. The beautiful thing is, DMC3 just adds on to this overall foundation of the previous games and multiplies it, creating a more extreme, more exciting, and definitely more challenging atmosphere of which to play in. The game relies on precise control and knowing how to react in split second timing as you go up against a never ending supply of shadowy demons, ghastly fiends, and other assortments of ghouls and ghosts. However, much unlike many other action games, mastering these controls and figuring out the wide complex nature of the combos is a must if you have any hope of surviving this difficult game.
You must understand this is a fairly formidable thing to bring up for those casual gamers who are reading this right now. The game in Japan was said to have been very difficult and challenging. However, for reasons that are both benefitial and to some detrimental, the already challenging hard setting in the Japanese version of the game has transformed into the American version's normal setting. Basically, to sum up, this means that the game will beat you up three ways from Sunday, and luckily most of you will be asking for more. There is a sense of wonder and curiosity that seems to beg even the most defeated of players to pick themselves up and give it another try. Of course, everything has two perspectives, as does all my reviews. For the casual gamer who prefers to coast through games, then I'm afraid I must, (with much sadness), say you may be better off spending your money on something more on your terms. You must understand the game's difficulty level is often spoke of through gossip, and believe me -- it isn't just word of mouth. The game is extremely difficult, and you'll be hardpressed at first if you are a rookie DMC player to get through even the initial couple of levels that DMC3 whips out at you.
As veteran DMC players may know, you play as Dante, the good natured brother with a mouth and cockiness that could bring down the Rocky Mountains with a single sarcastic remark. Much to no one's surprise however, Dante's personality and his cockiness is not in vain, as he has a right to speak the way he does. Vergil, by contrast, is calm and collective -- often chillingly so as Dante's rival and main adversary. Of course, probably half the reason DMC3 is so addicting is because of the amount of personality, humor, and sarcasm injected deep within the virtual flesh of Dante. Never in such a long time will players get the opportunity to play a flashy character so utterly humorous, confident, and sarcastic; yet, all the while as he kicks some a#$@, he is left dwindling in health most of the time because the enemies always seem to be catching up on his tail in terms of skill. The humor adds much needed relief and excitement, yet the gameplay never gets degraded because of it. That is the magical formula of DMC3, and why it has done so well and become of the greatest hits on the Playstation 2. Hell, the difficulty level almost flaunts itself in your face when it offers you the novice level after you have died three times on the default difficulty, as if out of pity.
The Awesome Gameplay:
Toting a sleak keepsake sword from his father Sparda and also his dual handguns, you bust through the levels in either your choice of gun warfare or with some serious, hardcore swordsplay. As you defeat enemies, you retrieve red orbs that allow you to purchase upgrades for Dante in between levels. There are also other orbs, with green respectively replenishing health, and so on. The menu's shop also is cleverly designed so you cannot exploit a system where you find a part of the game to make a lot of red orbs, and then spend it all on health items or the like. The more you buy, the more the price doubles or triples at times, and this often leads to more strategic approaches.
One of the stronger points of the meat of the gameplay involves the ability to change styles of fighting before each level. These include the 'Trickster' style, which gives Dante extraordinary dodging abilities, 'Royal Guard' style which emphasizes defense and allows Dante to absorb attacks, and a sword and gun focused style as well. All hold their benefits and disadvantages in combat, and you will find that changing styles after playing a level several times actually creates a fresh new atmosphere for that particular part of the game. A level can be made ten times harder, or ten times easier based on the strategies you employ and whether or not you picked the right style according to the level design and enemies in it.
My favorite style by far was the gun style, which allowed you to shoot different, individual enemies with both of your guns, often times leaving Dante shooting one gun in front of him, and one gun behind him. I must confess, I haven't had as much fun in a game as of late as I did when you are firing away at some grim reapers as Dante calmly fires away at one in front of him, and doesn't even look back as he fires away at another behind him. Of course, you know the demon is behind him, but to you it is still very cool to watch as this cocky badass of video games blows demons away as if he were doing his laundry on a Sunday afternoon. If there was any particular gripe I had about the game in terms of gameplay, it would be small and somewhat insignificant -- button mashing can become frustrating for some players after an hour of play. There is no automatic fire button on a regular Playstation 2 Dual Shock controller, and more often then not regardless of what controller you may use, your thumbs will begin to strain and given the addictive nature of the game, you may end up with some sore, sore fingers by the next morning. If there was any flaw in this gorgeous, amazing game, it would be that. Sad, huh?
From the styles you can level up, to the upgrades you can purchase from various special attacks to better guns or swords, to the multiple extreme difficulty settings available and costumes to unlock, the amount of depth helps to keep things fresh, and keep that addiction going for many months to come even after you first beat the game (if you beat that game, that is). The audio and visuals only help to add on to this killer package, as the death metal soundtrack plays in the background and the gothic, moody atmosphere helps to keep things moving along. Overall, the flashy, exciting combat mechanics mixed with the touch of humor, edgy atmosphere, and compelling story and addictive gameplay combines together to create a masterful piece of work. Never before will you have been able to unsheath a pair of swords, a sniper rifle, dual handguns that can shoot individual enemies, and a electric guitar powered by demonic forces, and that encompasses only one percent of this fantastic game. The other ninety nine percent involves Dante fighting to eat the last slice of pizza as several dozen scythe-wielding demons struggle against a losing battle with him; facing demonic adversaries that range from a three-headed dog and the physical representations of the seven sins of hell; fighting with nunchucks halfway through a fight, then quickly pressing a button to switch back to your dual handguns for a finishing combo; reaping extra rewards for fresh, unrelentless, flashy combos, a storyline that has been revamped and impressively created compared to the thin weak storylines of the previous two DMC games; all this plus a ton more add together to produce a fine, fine action game that Playstation gamers won't soon forget.
Stylish, Fresh, Challenging. What More Is There To Say?
Suffice to say, DMC3 is a game that many would call one of the best games of the Playstation 2 period, and definitely up there in the ranks for one of the best modern day games of any console of the past five years. In fact, it happens to be in my top favorite twenty five games of all time list which you can find in my profile. However, with all the goodness and compliments that I can offer to DMC3, the one warning and other perspective sometimes gets blindsided and stepped on. So let me say this again to all casual gamers -- if you don't find replaying the same level with intense combat sequences and trying to find the right strategy to win after the thirty ninth time fun, then go find yourself Super Mario Bros. Don't get me wrong, Super Mario Bros. is the penultimate classic and also on my top favorite list (obviously), but the difficulty level is exceptionally hard enough to worth mentioning a forewarning to all possible buyers that the easily frustrated will be easily disappointed. For the rest of you, fortunately, if you can withstand the sometimes insane difficulty, you will be treated to one of the best games ever offered on the Playstation 2, and of modern day gaming in general.
Cheers.
FUN FACTOR & OVERALL RATING: 96% (***** out of *****)
