I felt like I was going back in time when I first started playing Devil May Cry 3. I was remembering things from the original that I hadn't thought of since playing it. If Devil May Cry was a masterpiece, then Devil May Cry 3 is the perfected masterpiece. It takes the greatness of the original game, takes the misused ideas of the second game, and becomes the fastest, hardest, craziest action game I have ever played. DMC3 reminded me what stylish hard action is all about. It's about kicking ass in the name of cool and making it look easy. Oh yeah, Dante is back.
Dante's Awakening is a prequel. It takes place before he teamed up with Trish to send the King of Hell packing. Here, he's practically a kid, and he's cockier than ever. He's trying to open up a business, but he just can't seem to think up a name for it. So he's minding his own business when he's attacked my demons and a massive tower erupts out of the ground right down the street. Donning his now infamous red trenchcoat, he soon realizes that his brother, Vergil is behind the attack. Vergil always wanted the power of their father, the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda who saved the human world from the demon world. Vergil and Dante have never gotten along.
Make no mistake, Devil May Cry 3 is all about the action. Sure, there are a few RPG elements in there, but the emphasis is on the action. If you want to make any progress in DMC3, you'll have to pull out all the stops and start cranking out those jaw-dropping combos regularly. Like the previous 2 installments, our devil hunter comes equipped with melee weapons and ranged weapons. You can switch back and forth at any time, creating some insane combos. But you could do that in the previous game. Now, you can cycle through a total of four weapons at a time, two melee and two ranged. The new devil arms are very cool, along with your starting sword, you'll eventually get icy nunchuks, dual swords, gauntlets, and even a demonic guitar that can transform into a scythe when you rock out hard enough. Each weapon has it's own unique moveset, which can be upgraded as you buy more and more moves. To buy moves, and items, you'll need to collect red orbs, which can be gathered from defeated enemies. If you simply slash your enemy to death without mixing it up, your combo will be boring and you won't get many. But if you pull off crazy move after crazy move, to keep your chain going, you'll be rewarded with more. You can track your combo chains in the top right of the screen, with the Style meter. Just imagine, you can blast your foe with a shotgun, launch him into the air, jump up with him, dice him in mid-air, switch weapons to continue slicing him in mid-air, fall to the earth with a hail of gunfire and leap ontop of an enemy to surf him around the environment while firing bullets in all directions. This is one of the simplest combos to perform, if you can believe that.
Do you remember all that wall running and gunblazing that DMC2 was filled with? No? Well, I don't blame ya. These ideas have been refined for DMC3, and as a result, you must pick a style before you start a level. You can be a Trickster, which allows you to dash in any direction, and run along walls for quick escapes. This style is great for beginners, or for anyone who just likes to show off. Well, they're all good for showing off. You can be a Swordmaster, which gives Dante some of the sickest swordplay moves I've ever seen. If you can master this, your enemies will be cowering before your mighty blade. You can be a Gunslinger, which is hard to master, but so, so awesome to watch in action. You can fire in two directions at once, sling your shotgun all around your body while firing, and you can rain fire on enemies when you're in the air. Or you can be a Royal Guard, perhaps the style that takes the most skill to use. Coincidentally, it's also the most rewarding once you master. Here, you can block your enemies attacks. But if you parry them, or stun them, you can save their energy and release a blast that is extremely powerful. Personally, I didn't use this style because it seemed to slow down the gameplay for me. I would rather dodge than block, but that's why the style selection exists, to give the player a choice of freedom.
The enemies themselves are a huge part of the game. Not only are they very challenging, but each one might focus on a certain point of your skills. For example, one particular enemy requires it be shot a few times before you can attack it. Other enemies will explode if you shoot them enough, which can be used to your advantage. Some will teleport all around the room, so you'll want to move quick to keep up with them. The bosses, however, are leagues beyond the enemies. Figuring out their patterns will result in some truly ferocious, highly-fast paced fights that rarely give you a moment to breathe. Once you obtain it, don't hesitate to pull the Devil Trigger while in boss fights. Devil Triggering will turn Dante into a devil for a brief period of time, and he will move faster and regain health. Keep in mind, that this is a prequel. He doesn't have all those hugely powerful moves this time around.
DMC3 is one awesome looking game. For a game with such fast action, the framerate never, ever drops. The room you're in could be completely full of monsters, and you'd still be able to pull off the craziest moves in your arsenal. The environments in this game are more similar to the first game, which is a very good thing. The tower has a very gothic look to it, and will definitely remind you of the castle from time to time. Still, the castle still felt more alive, despite the crazy trips you go on towards the end of the game. The character models, however, are amazing. Each character has a very unique look, right down to the eyes. You can see the carefree attitude of Dante in his eyes, while Vergil has a much more serious tone. The voices are very well done, which is something I was not expecting from a Capcom game. In battle, each sound you hear will be crystal clear, since you'll have to rely on sound if you can't see your enemy. Enemies will scream, and even Dante will shout with glee while doing battle. It's really something else to hear him yell "blast off!" while launching and enemy skyward. The music is fairly good, and for the most part, it's got a good beat to kick ass to.
Devil May Cry 3 is the best in the series. While the environment cannot top the castle, it does everything else perfectly. It fuses new ideas with the old ones, and creates a masterpiece like the original. There are 5 difficulties to play through, and everyone of them will be a challenge. There are character models to unlock, and even pieces of artwork for a gallery, but be warned, you will need to be one hardcore player to unlock everything this game has to offer. But then again, that's what Devil May Cry is all about. Giving you the challenge of a lifetime, and then giving you the moves to make it look easy. A lot of people will be turned off by the high difficulty. But those that stick with it will find themselves jumping for joy when they finally beat a certain boss or dominate a fight that was giving them a hard time. I know I was.