Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

After the disappointment that Devil May Cry 2 was, Capcom brings us a third installment in the fast paced action series, which turns out to be a prequel to the first title and which is called Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. Will they disappoint us again or will they revive the feelings we had when playing the first game? Here I have the special edition of the PS2 game, which shows some differences with the original version, but since I never played the original, I will not be able to tell you of the differences in question.

As initial thoughts, the special edition of DMC3 has more options than the previous games, which is a plus from my point of view, since it is enough options to make most people enjoy their time with it, even the ones who disliked the series for the incredible difficulty that the games are often referred to. The game is sure to please both sides of the party, as a real challenge can await those who miss the time of the first title as well. What am I saying? More like one hell of a challenge! You can choose how to basically.. "play" the game, as you get the option between Gold or Yellow orbs when starting a new game, which is probably the most important option found in the game for every genre of gamers. Selecting Gold is like selecting the Easy mode in other games: When you die, you can resume exactly where you left off by using a gold orb and the game will also let you restart from the last checkpoint as many times as you want, without using any orb. Yellow orb is more the natural way that DMC fans have been used to: A yellow orb will simply bring you back to the last checkpoint, so if you run out of yellow orbs, you're out of luck, buddy. On with something else.

The resume on the back of the box says: "Dante's past is now revealed as Devil May Cry returns to its roots. Master Dante's multiple fighting styles while battling never before seen demons and new characters as you fight your way towards a brutal confrontation with Dante's mysterious twin brother, Vergil." It pretty much sums it up well, except it doesn't tell you much story wise. While Dante is trying to set up his small shop in the town, such a shop that you've already seen if you have played the original game, a tower suddenly rises up from the ground on which his twin brother can be found at the top. As the two characters share the same blood, they do not share the same goals. One chose the path of humans, and one chose the path of demons. Dante wants to reach the tower to meet with his twin brother to set things right.. once and for all. On his path he will encounter new characters left for you to find out as well as.. demons, of course.

As with the two other games, the gameplay remains pretty much the same. You wander from one mission to another, in different locations, fighting hordes of demons on your way with the occasional bosses. To the opposite of what the non-fans think, the game requires strategy, especially in the combat situations, where button mashing won't get you anywhere else other than a certain death. You need to learn your skills, weapons, strengths, and be able to use them the best you can. Most of all, you need to learn your enemies. So far, the fans will immediately see that the gameplay retains its original aspect that made so many people angry or happy, depending on the type of gamer you are, and just to make no exception here, you need to master the gameplay style in order to triumph.

The difference is that your character now has different kind of styles, actually. Trickster, Sword Master, Gun Slinger, or Royal Guard, the choice is up to you. These styles can only be beneficial and without them you will not reach too far into the game. Each have their advantages and disadvantages, choosing the best one is entirely up to your personal comfort. They add much to the gameplay, as you could play through the game four times, once with each styles, and every time it'll be different, simply because you won't fight the same way that you did the time before. As to what each actually do, I'll give a brief explanation. Trickster basically is for the masters of evasion. Evade your enemies as no one else could, such is the power of Trickster. It is also my personal favorite out of every styles you can use, that'll teach me to be a more strategic, stealthy gamer. Sword Master is all about special moves you can perform with each weapons, or Devil Arms if you prefer. Often claim as the best style in the game, one who masters it will destroy everything on his path. You can unleash extremely powerful attacks and it makes it easier to rise your style meter, since it offers you the time to perform a wide range of combos compared to the Devil Arms used by themselves. Gun Slinger says it all, it powers up your guns, allows for charge shots, etc. Nothing else has to be said about it. Royal Guard is all about blocking enemy attacks and turning them to your advantage. Simple, but useful as there are always tons of enemies wanting your death, wherever you are. There's also other styles available to you during the game, those which I won't even mention, as you need to first acquire them, unlike the previous ones I mentioned. Don't worry there, you still get your hands on some new awesome short-range and long-range weapons throughout the game, which are sure to be helpful in certain situations, assuming you use them accordingly, but I'll leave these to your discretion.

The controls share similarities with Devil May Cry 2, which I know some of you will be disappointed in reading this, as much as some will enjoy reading this, but know that the controls are entirely customizable, meaning that whichever control scheme you preferred between the first and second game, you can have it! You can even come up with your own scheme if you want to. With the controls being customizable, I don't see the point in listing out the default mapping. Otherwise, they are very smooth and respond extremely well. You can't go wrong with DMC3's controls, plain and simple.

Graphically speaking, the game is quite beautiful. You have the cutscenes between each of the missions which are something pleasing to the eye, and also shows you more of the story. Of course, with the current generation spread worldwide, they wouldn't appear as anything marvelous, or new to anyone, especially with the way people are (you know, how back when we were kids, the NES was the most amazing thing to have ever existed, and now many people will say it is crap because of the graphics). None the less, I found the movies in the game beautiful, a step above what the previous Devil May Cry titles shown us. Along with the young Dante's mentality, which is all about party and devil crushing time, you can't go wrong there! The different areas of the game looks really good as well, and show us a whole world we could of expected to see in a DMC game, all nicely done with dark textures, only for the lovers of the Netherworld like us.

Not to forget all the sound and music found in the game, which is entirely amazing. The Devil May Cry series, even the second one, have always amazed me in the soundtrack section. In fact, I could even say without a problem that DMC is my favorite game soundtrack ever. Playing along listening to the mix of rock and electronic music that is extremely fast paced is something you can't dislike. It puts you in the game and only helps as you fight against the what can something seems infinitely spawning enemies. The music definitely fits very well with the gameplay style of the title. When you ain't fighting, you get a more slow paced, church like in an evil way kind of music that only fits with the environment and what you see on screen. Not to mention that once again, the sounds found in the game, such as sounds coming from enemies is really important to your fighting, much like they were in the previous titles. It'll help you distinguish what the enemy is doing and what he will do. In the end, in terms of sounds and music, the game sure pleased me very well. I am far from disappointed with that section.

I've been disappointed only once throughout the game, which is at the end. The whole game offers you challenging combats, worthy of breaking your controller, but I still found the final battles to be ridiculously easy compare to the rest of the game. I don't know whether it is only me, since a lot of people told me it was the hardest fight they've ever seen in a game, but such an easy fight to win the game brings deception, no matter hoe epic it was, how good, how fantastic the game was, an easy won battle to end the story is just overall disappointing. Some may agree with me, a lot might not, that's just my opinion. When playing a game as challenging as Devil May Cry (exception being DMC2, since it was really easy), I expect the final battles to be ten times harder and more challenging than the regular bosses, which was not the case from my point of view. That has been my only, and I do say ONLY disappointing moment in the game. Keep in mind that I base this review off of the Normal difficulty for a general audience purpose, as the same might not be true for harder difficulties found in the game, and most probably isn't. Fortunately, It didn't disappoint me enough to lower it's score all that much though, the game is too amazing for such a minor thing to really affect the overall score.

In the end, despite my last comment, DMC3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition isn't for the gamers who like it easy, calm and peaceful. The hardcore fans will definitely appreciate the game, although they will find that the difficulty level found in the first title still is lacking, but not as much as it did in the second game of the series. Fortunately for both parties, the game offers again an Easy mode for those who find it a bit too challenging, and a Dante Must Die mode for those who wish to challenge something bigger. There are several other options, including something even harder than DMD, but that is a secret, my dear friends. Only the real masters will go up past DMD mode, and survive. No worries there, I'm not part of them.. yet. But as I was saying, this game will appeal mostly to the fans of the series with a comeback to the challenging difficulty, as well as offering a good plot that unfolds quite nicely and smoothly. Don't let Devil May Cry 2 affect your decision on this, if you liked the first game, you will love this one.