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| | Title:
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
Action
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Publisher:
Capcom
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Developer:
Capcom
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Release:
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
M
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As far as action titles go the Playstation 2's library is stocked full of amazing AAA quality titles that no other console has matched. So for a game like Devil May Cry 3 is be called on of the best action titles ever to be built for the PS2 platform is really saying something. Released in March of 2005 the original Devil May Cry 3 got amazing reviews from the media, some of them claiming it was the best in the series yet and a title every PS2 owner should have. Fast forward eleven months and now DMC3 is being re-released as part of the Greatest Hits line for the PS2. But Capcom was not going to settle for just slapping the twenty dollar price tag on the box and call it a day. Instead Capcom has fine tuned the difficulty level making it accessible to all gamers as well as created a second playable character, made new costumes available to unlock and finally created a mode where gamers can fight their way through 10,000 waves of enemies. Capcom is looking to make the Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition quite a hard game not to pick up.
Action Packed
If there is one thing that generally action titles lack in it is story. Unless it is a grand epic like God of War, action titles usually focus on the action first and narrative second. Devil May Cry 3 fits between these two extremes. On the one hand the story of DMC3 is entertaining and does draw the gamer in. Other times though the cut scenes seem to move a little to fast. It feels like a huge amount of story potential was lost in favor of a short cut scene. It doesn't take too much away from the game but being as this is the story of how Dante became Dante it would have been nice to have a more detailed storyline. I will say this though, some of the action found within these cut scenes is jaw dropping even though they are short. I don't want to spoil it for you but suffice to say Dante and crew know how to handle themselves. As a whole though the story fills its purpose and does offer a few twists here and there to keep gamers interested. The narrative is on the short side especially when playing on Easy (which can be beaten in just over seven hours), but the harder difficulties extend the life of the story mode tremendously.
Graphics
The graphics of Devil May Cry 3 are very impressive for a PS2 title. Character models are not only detailed but have some of the freshest and entertaining animations in an action game. They just look correct. This is especially the case with Dante. Dante himself is quite arrogant because he knows how good he is at fighting. So when he is taking on several enemies at once each every move he makes has that attitude of, "oh please like you are even a challenge," written all of it. This attitude then falls onto the player making them feel the same way about the game. But the beauty of DMC3 is how the game is anything but easy. The only portion of DMC3's graphics that could use some upgrading are several environmental areas. The areas in DMC3 are a mixed bag of gorgeous and ugly. The gorgeous outweighs the ugly ten to one but the ugly are so well…ugly that they have to be mentioned. On a few areas the graphics looked as dated as Capcom's Playstation Resident Evil series. Thankfully you'll only run into this problem for about ten minutes of the total game.
Music
Being as this is an action game the soundtrack can be a very important component. In DMC3 the sound full fills its task beautifully. Each and every sound makes sense and Dante's guns are some of the coolest firearms I have heard in quite a while. Capcom wisely put audio cues in for each enemy on screen. This helps a lot since sometimes enemies will appear outside your visual range. Only because of sound does the player know the enemies are there. The ambient music does its job as does the battle score. I wish there could have been some variation in the battle music though since it does get a little old after a few hours of playing.
Some Many Styles, Some Many Weapons
But enough about how the story is and how the game looks and sounds, this is an action game and the most important about any game of this genre is the well…the action. I can safely say without a doubt that Devil M ay Cry 3: Special addition is one of the best action games I have played in recent times. It sits right up there with heavy weights like Ninja Gaiden Black and God of War. It all begins when the game starts and players get to choose which Style they want to play in. You'll start out with four options but be able to switch between these Styles at the beginning of each level or at any save point found throughout the game. Each style gives Dante and different set of attacks and abilities. Feel like running up walls and slipping past enemies attacks? Then the Trickster style is for you. Do you prefer having more options with you sword attacks? Pick the Swordmaster style. If Dante's guns are your choice of weapon then pick the Gunslinger style. Finally, defensive players will feel right at home with the Royal Guard style. Surprisingly, each style does its job. There is no "better" style than the other. No matter which one is picked, the style can deal out some major pain. There are two hidden styles obtained later in the game from bosses. I won't spoil the treat of discovering just what these styles do but suffice to say, they rock.
The combat of DMC3: SE is both simple and deep at the same time. The novice player can easily mash the attack buttons over and over and create some pretty impressive combos. But it is those players who take the time to study each style, to think of ways to make combos who ultimately will get the most out of the game. This is a manageable task because Dante does not have a huge list of available moves. Between six and eight moves per weapon are available. This is a good thing since players are easily master eights moves as opposed to Ninja Gaiden's huge list. Take for example the Gunslinger mode and a combo I love to do. Entering a new area I'll blast away at several enemies, run in lay in a few sword attacks then smash one enemy into the air, juggle him in the air with my guns, let him fall then jump ontop of him and surf across the level firing off my weapons and then ultimately go into Demon mode and lay the smack down to any remaining enemies. This is only a taste of what is possible in this game. Demon mode also offers some nice options. Half way through the single player Dante will receive the ability to morph into his demo form. In this form he moves faster and his weapons do a heck of a lot more damage. Using this ability in conjunction with other styles quickly opens up more options.
Capcom wasn't satisfied with this, so they decided to give Dante a huge arsenal of weapons that spans everything from a rocket launcher to an electric guitar that shoots lightning bats (yeah you read that correctly). Even though some are absurd, each weapon works exactly how it should. Better yet is that each can be upgraded to unlock different moves for Dante to use. During combat Dante will have access to two long range weapons and two melee weapons that he can switch between, on the fly, with the L2 and R2 buttons. But just because Dante has all these weapons doesn't mean he'll have an easy time with the enemies. Make no doubt about it DMC3: SE is a hard game despite the change in difficulty levels. Playing on Normal or above will really make gamers work for every inch of land they trek. Enemies will crowd Dante and quickly finish him off. But it is that type of hard where the deaths don't feel cheap. The game will make the player want to come back and try again. It is something few games (even Ninja Gaiden Black in some respects) can't do.
Special Edition
This is the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 3 and with the title come some very special additions. One area was the difficulty level. Now an Easy mode is available for those players who are too scared of the harder difficulties. Along this line DMC3: SE also contains a reworked continue option that allows gamers to start off right where they died instead of having to play the entire level over. It was smart for Capcom to do this since the game is now more accessible to a wider audience. But the big add-ons to this game come in the form of Vergil, Turbo mode, and Bloody Palace. Vergil is Dante's evil twin brother and is the main villain of the story mode. Put simply he is a badass who can deal out massive amounts of pain. Now he is playable both in the single player and in Bloody Palace. While tremendously powerful Vergil lacks the options Dante has. Vergil only has one style to master (Darkslayer) and the number of weapons he has available to him comes to four. It would have been nice to see a few extra styles here. Also the story mode is unchanged except that Dante and Vergil have switched places. It is not terribly original but the fun of beating up on Jester (a new boss to the Special Edition) is quite fun as Vergil. Turbo mode basically makes the game faster. This was a wise decision by Capcom because originally DMC3 moved much slower than Ninja Gaiden Black. In a way it felt like the game was not as responsive as it could be. Switching on Turbo mode fixes this problem. Finally, there is Bloody Palace. Players can take either Dante or Vergil and fight off 10,000 waves of enemies in this mode. Waves can be advanced by 1, 10 or 100 depending on what portal is chosen after defeating a wave of enemies. The best part about the DMC3 game is the action, so including a mode where all players do is fight is genius. Better yet is that styles can be upgraded and items can be purchased in the Bloody Palace mode that ultimately can be used in the single player. So if you want to upgrade all styles, all weapons, and max out Dante's health and magic before taking on the Hard difficulty; go right ahead. It is an incredibly smart move by Capcom.
If this review hasn't spelled it out yet, let me be clear right now. Whether you own the original Devil May Cry 3 or not, go get this game. For only twenty bucks players are getting one heck of a deal. Between the playable characters, the faster gameplay, and the near limitless amount of combat in Bloody Palace…how can anyone pass this game up? Get up and go get it now!
| The Core Score |
Overall
9.5 |
| Fun |
|
10 |
| Gameplay |
|
10 |
| Graphics |
|
9 |
| Audio |
|
9 |
| Replay |
|
9 |
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