Despite the game's insane difficulty, Devil May Cry 3 brings back the style and action that the original was known for.
User Rating: 8.8 | Devil May Cry 3 PS2
The Devil May Cry series has had its ups and downs. The original game presented great graphics, slick gameplay, and the wise-cracking hero; Dante, who we all came to know and love. But, the second entry wasn’t so epic, unfortunately. Dante had lost his cocky sense of humor and the game was just too easy and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But now Dante’s back and with a vengeance, in one of the best and most challenging action games on the Playstation 2, Devil May Cry 3. If you haven’t guessed already, Devil May Cry 3 is hard…really hard. Upon playing it for just a few minutes you’ll most likely find yourself dead with almost no idea on what just happened. Well, there are many things that make Devil May Cry 3 difficult. Probably the biggest reason is how much damage your enemies can inflict on you at once. Unlike in most games if you get hit, you become temporarily immune to damage for a second or two, that’s not the case in Devil May Cry 3, you can have five enemies hit you at once and you’ll absorb all of that damage. Another reason for the difficulty is that at the start of the game, you only have a pair of pistols, a sword, no special powers, and very little health. And probably the final reason for the difficulty is the boss fights. Bosses will chew you up and spit you out pretty easily if you don’t know what you’re doing. But, underneath the game’s insane difficulty; there is a learning curve to get by. For enemies, you need to hit them when their guard is down, and really hit them! As for bosses, it’s all about finding their weak point and hitting it with all you got. After a while, defeating the minions from hell isn’t so hard. The game has fabulous control and the game allows you to focus on your style of fighting. At the beginning, you have four styles to choose from; Swordmaster powers up all your melee weapons and allows you to create close range combos with ease. Gunslinger powers up all of your ranged weapons and lets you take on enemies from a distance. Trickster doesn’t power up your weapons, but it gives you a good set of evasive maneuvers including dodging and wall-running. Finally, Royal Guard focuses on defensive maneuvers rather than offensive. There are two other styles to unlock later in the game, but they don’t give as much of an experience like the other styles do. Even with all of these styles, they’re pretty useless without weapons, right? Devil May Cry 3 gives you quite a few more devices to destroy your enemies than the previous entries. At the start of each mission you select the style you want to play with, and then you can choose two ranged weapons and two melee weapons to use during the mission. Ranged weapons include weapons like pistols, shotguns, and rocket launchers. Melee weapons consist of swords, nun chucks, and gauntlets to name a few. But these features aren’t all that make the game great. Dante has returned with his sense of humor once again, and the story this time around is much more engaging that the previous two games. The story weaves Dante’s future and much of his past is explained in this game. You also meet Dante’s twin brother, Virgil; who has spawned a gigantic tower practically in Dante’s backyard, and challenges him to scale the dangerous tower as Dante tries to discover his brother’s true agenda. Early in the game, you’ll meet a female demon hunter named Lady, who is at the tower as well, for her own mysterious purposes. Many mysteries and answers await Dante beyond the hordes of demons that you will be happy to dispatch. Even with the failure of the second entry, Devil May Cry games have always dealt a dose of slick design and polish. Devil May Cry 3 brings all of that back once again, and not only does the game look great, with its beautiful Gothic design and backgrounds, but it makes all the crazy, action-packed cutscenes more entertaining to watch. In terms of sound, the game’s soundtrack contains a satisfying amount of hard, metallic rock music, which can really get your blood pumping during battles. Voice work is superbly done and sound effects sound grand and powerful. When you get the learning curve of the game, you will definitely enjoy Devil May Cry 3’s slick style, and hardcore action. Of course, Devil May Cry fans will pick this game up in a heartbeat, and anyone who enjoys a good action ride and owns a Playstation 2 should get this game just as quickly. After a while of getting used to the game, you will find that Devil May Cry 3 is just as epic and enjoyable as the original. 
