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Title: Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
Platform: Playstation 2
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Review written by: Bradley
Difficulty: Hard
Back in the early days of PS2, a revolutionary game called Devil May Cry came along and blew nearly everyone who played it away. It blended a great 3d graphics engine with superb 2d style action packed gameplay. It was just a generally fun game to play. Now it's 2005, and the true sequel is out. I say DMC 3 is the true sequel because, well, DMC 2 was a bit underwhelming and didn't earn the title for a true sequel. Is Devil May Cry 3 better then the original? Find out in my review.
Well, first off, the graphics are great. I'll go ahead and get that out there. Though they aren't as good as, say, God of War or Gran Turismo 4, they do show what the PS2 is capable of. The in-game graphics although good, can not hold a candle to the cutscenes. Beautifully animated and coriographed, they are some of the most amazing cutscenes i've seen in any game ever. This game just screams style (more on that in Story section). All of the enemies have a distinct style that sets them apart from enemies you have seen in other games. The bosses are probably the coolest bosses i've seen in a long time. And, you won't get tired of seeing the same enemies in this game, because there are plenty of different types. The game never slows down and is great at 60FPS. The environments are huge and beautiful, and topped off by terrific designs, sculptures, and just things that will make you go "ooooh...ahhhhh...". The overall presentation of the game is great. With short load times and a great interface, the whole game just looks good.
Ok, this is without a doubt the best part about this game. The soundtrack is phenominal and fits the game perfectly. It's all hard rock with some gothic chorus thrown in there for good measure. The voice overs are good. One of the most important parts of this game is actually listening to the enemies. Mostly all of them let out a sound right before they attack to let you know to jump and get out of the way. All of the weapons have great sound effects. And, the swords have that nice "whoosh" effect we all love. The gothic style soundtrack of this game will make it stand out for generations to come. There are plenty of creepy sound effects as well, such as eerie voices and just overall weird noises. Dolby Pro Logic II is used to its fullest here.
I'm going to get this out in the open first. This game is hard. The American normal mode is actually the Japanese hard mode. So, now that i've got that out there, i will also tell you, this game isn't as hard as everyone says it is. All you have to do is keep your eyes on the enemies and have quick reflexes and you'll be fine. Though you will still die, it doesn't get frustrating because the game is so fun, you won't mind playing the parts again. Always keep some spare yellow orbs and vital stars with you though, because in this game, there is a boss on about every level. Or at least every other level. Trust me, i've beat the game. Capcom knew that this game was going to be hard, so they made it easy to switch your weapons on the fly, in a flash. This can lead to some crazy combos and super stylish moves that only Dante can pull off. R2 switches your Devil Arms, or melee weapons, and L2 switches your guns. You can buy different actions (moves) to use during battle in the inventory screen with all of your red orbs you've collected. The bosses all have different strategies to use to defeat them and there are even more strategies when you try out all of the different styles. Which is another new thing they've added. There are 6 different styles in all, 4 of which are unlocked from the beginning. You have Swordmaster, which lets you pull off all kinds of crazy sword and melee maneuvers. Gunslinger, which does just what it says, you basically sling your guns around shooting everything around you. Royal Gaurd lets you block attacks, but really, who wants to do that in this game? It's basically worthless. And then there is Trickster which let's you do all kinds of dodge moves like running up a wall and just swiftly jumping to the side. You can't really have a problem with this game's controls, simply because you can change them to any way you want. I will tell you this, for awhile, you won't want to play this game for long periods of time at a time because all the smashing on the square button may hurt. But once you get used to that, you're home free. There is also some light puzzle solving mixed in with all of the mayhem. Though they won't bend your brain, they are a good inclusion so the game doesn't get repetitive. I honestly can't think of anything bad about the gameplay because it is all just perfect. There is also great lasting appeal here with unlockable modes and features. There is honestly nothing bad about the gameplay, it's all perfect or nearly perfect.
The story in this game is also a strong point. Dante is sitting down at his new shop and a mysterious man walks in. This man's name is Arkham and he was sent by Dante's brother to invite him to a "party". All of a sudden after Arkham leaves, a bunch of demons pop up and stab their sythes into Dante all over his body. But does this kill the half demon half human bad ass Dante? Hell no. He then walks over to the juke box, all the while dragging the enemies behind him, their sythes still in. He turns on some kick ass hard rock and proceeds to beating the crap out of them. He uses their own weapons against them and even eats pizza while killing them. There is even more absurdity where that comes from. All of this happened in the first cutscene. It's all about style in this game. The cutscenes are what move the story along the best and with some good plot twists, i'm sure you'll be entertained by the story. The story itself is this. Dante and Vergil are both brothers, the sons of Sparda, a legendary demon that sealed off the demon world and married a human. So Dante and Vergil fight because Dante wants to protect the humans and Vergil just wants power. During the first few mission cutscenes, you will see a huge tower rise from beneath the ground. It's called the Temin-ni-gru and it's used to break open the demon world. So naturally, Dante goes to stop his brother and Arkham from using the tower. The cutscenes push the story along in glorious fashion by having such a great direction and pacing in them. There's a deliberate path you're guided down, and mixed in with humor, creepiness, great action, and intensity, the path is good. By the time you watch some of the cutscenes, you'll be well versed in the history of Sparda. I'm not going to type all of it because that would take up to much space, just play the game.
Ok, here lies the only real problem with the game. Sometimes, the camera may get in your way. You can adjust it using the right analog stick and you can center it behind you with R3, but in the first few hours or so, it's difficult to tell where you can and cannot adjust the camera.
Well, after you beat the game, there are some things you can do to keep yourself playing. While playing the game you unlock easy by dieing 3 times. I found this as a way to mock me, so i beat the game on Normal. So you can unlock Easy, Hard, Dante Must Die, and Heaven or Hell modes. Heaven or Hell is the most interesting of the modes because everything is killed in one hit. Even you. You unlock even more stuff when you complete the different modes, like costumes and end game art. After you beat the game the first time, you unlock about 30 concept art pictures. So yeah, even though it's only one player, the game is a blast and has lots of replayability.
After you play a game like Devil May Cry 3, you will start to compare games like it to it. This is definitely one of my favorite games, it's a huge improvement from the first and second games in the series, and i hope to see more games like this coming down the pipeline. With great graphics, music, gameplay, story, and extra unlockables, this game is one of the best games of the year in my opinion.
GOOD+ everything. this game is so near perfect in my opinion, it's one of my favorite games ever!
BAD- some people may have problems with some of the camera angles and the difficulty.
-Overall Score: 9.8 out of 10 (not an average)
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