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PRE-GAME

By now you’ve heard of the Legend of Sparta. The demonic wife who took a human wife and liberated our world for a demonic ruler. How they gave birth to two children, one who would turn his back on his father’s good deeds and side with the very demon his father set out to enslave. How the other son would take up his father’s legacy, and would take jobs that would make the devil cry?

The question is why? How did the children of one of the world’s greatest end up on two different sides of the spectrum. For the first time ever, these questions will be answered. Why did Vergil take the path of darkness, to deny his father’s legacy? This is will be answered, as a villain is born and a hero is forged.

EYE-SPY

THE HOOK: He’s back....and boy, he’s pissed after what you’ve said about his last game(That, the  collective sales of the last two games he made cameos in, and the fact that Dreamwave went under before Pat Lee had a chance to finish up the DMC comic mini-series). Capcom’s genre defying action adventure has returned to Playstation 2, this time focusing on the events that turned Dante into the wise cracking demon slayer he is today. Looking to settle the score with his evil twin brother Vergil, DMC3 offers new weapons, 4 new fighting styles with their own move list and enough new enemies and characters to send you black and bruised ass crying to momma. Daddy’s home kids.

HOW IT LOOKS AND FEELS: The visuals in the DMC series were always a treat, and needless to say, Capcom came through once again. Aside from the rich in detail, awe dropping level designs and a surprisingly odd locals   (Strip club, huge demonic castle, belly of a flying whale-thing), the art team redesigned both Dante and his evil twin brother Vergil (why can’t there ever be a good twin, like in those movies with Jackie Chan, and to a lesser extent, Van Dame), as well as their odd supporting cast (flying Jester-demon, heavily armed school girl that looks similar to  one of those singers from Russian pop duo T.a.T.u.), to the hundreds of creepy ass demons (and I mean creepy, like giant spiders) and bosses (including, my favorite, the vampire hooker/Bass guitar-axe) the game will throw at you. The game should be bought the art factor along, despite the fact that Dante looks more like a pretty-boy then ever.

What of the controls you ask? Can players string together those amazing combos together and look “Crazy-sexy-rock and roll super stylish” (The producer’s words, not mine...I love engrish!) while out-dated adjectives fly over head, ranking your coolness like they were Fonzie? Yes, you can.

It is beautiful. One can start a combo with sliding across the level, knocking your enemy to the floor with a gianormous sword, using his body as a sled why you pump his buddies full of lead using your twin pistols Ebony and Ivory, dismounting said ride and whipping out a pair of three headed ice nun...knun....um... THOSE DAMN WEAPONS THAT MICHELANGELO FROM “TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES” uses, knocking another enemy into the air with said, hard-to-spell-weapon, and following up into the air with the sword you started out with. If that’s not bad ass my friend, I only assume your reading this review upside and one fire, balancing yourself on finger as you fight and army of zombie Bruce Lees, or one Bruce Campbell.

HOW IT SOUNDS This is like, the 4^th Capcom game I’ve reviewed, and by far, this is the only one I would ever buy a soundtrack for. This music for this game rocks (like a hurricane? Like the Scorpions before you? YES!), going from rich, well arranged gothic-orchestral music to what appears to be tracks from  the Japanese cousin of Powerman 5000 front Spyder-1 (Why do I have the feeling that maybe only five of you have ever heard of the last two bands I’ve made reference to).

Needless to say, the music fits the atmosphere, and helps makes all those “Stylish” battles all the better. The voice actors did a superb job with the script, offering some occasional insight along with the traditional one-liner hear and there. My only complaints. At times, Dante sounds like a Ninja Turtle. Seriously, I was waiting for the Shredder to show up in this game (and was horribly disappointed). That and while the occasional one-liner here and there is cool, Dante needs to shut up every so often. Take it from another leather clad demon fighting badass, this sort of thing gets real old, real quick. My annoyances aside, the sound department is presented in Doby Digital Pro Logic II, so the overall package is spiffy.

EXTRAS: Unlockable art, and a few harder difficulties. The producer’s are a bunch of sadists. Stick around to find out why.

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: Square Enix, you better hope the next Final Fantasy is minding blowing, because DMC’s stole your crown and is farting in your general direction.

Rather than trying to make the prettiest of cinemas, Capcom decided to bring in some talent to handle the cinemas for DMC3. Wise move there Capcomians. Enlisting the director behind “Versus” and “Godzilla: Final Wars”, as well as the “Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes” remake for Gamecube, DMC3 has, without a doubt, the best fight cinemas in a game, since like , EVER! I kid you not. Watch these sword clashing, demon transforming, rocket riding in-game movies and tell me you’ve seen better.

BEST CHARACTER: I should smack you for even asking. WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?!?!?!

I’ve give you a hint. It starts with “D” and end with “-ANTE”. Next question...

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: Check it, when confronting creepy-bald guy Arkham, have someone who’s capable of pressing more than one button at time plug a second controller in and have them play as Vergil to lend you a hand.

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: A sequence of buttons that would make the game’s difficulty balanced. That would be keen.

OH MAN! MOMENT: There’s like 15 hundred of them, (tripled on “Dante must Die!” mode), but for now, I’m gonna say the Ice-Cerebus.  He’s kinda a jerk.

GLITCH ITCH: None. But I still have plenty to complain about.

FAN SERVICE: A few in-jokes that fans of the DMC series are bound to pick up one. And you can play as Akuma. Okay, I’m lying again. Just wanted to see if you’re still paying attention.

END GAME:

Devil May Cry 2 was a great game, and all video game critics who say differ need to killed.

Why do I say that? Because I’m hoping by brown-noising as much as possibly about a game that I loathed and trashed, Devil May Cry 4 will be easier. Because Devil May Cry 3 will make you cry. 

Now you’re probably saying to yourself, “Wuss, I beat Ninja Gaiden, this game should a breeze!” Well aren’t you cocky Mister Fancy Pants. Not only does DMC3 surpass the original in terms of difficulty, but it is by far, the hardest game I’ve played on this generation of consoles, and I’m playing it on easy.

Why is it so hard. The minions of doom aren’t that bad...sorta. It’s the bosses that get to you. With barely any experience under your belt, DMC will throw you up against monsters that will have you leveling up for days, muttering profanities to yourself while doing so. What’s worse is that there’s no mid-level saves, and to prices to buy such things as healing items and weapon upgrade get worse and worse as time goes on. Even on the easiest setting, the game’s horribly unbalanced. All will be find and dandy while you pull of “stylish” combos, but then you getting trashed by some jokers with no heads that you can inflict damage on from behind.

Then there’s the camera. Not as bad as DMC2. Nor DMC. But if you’re going to give the player the option to shift the camera during game play, make sure we can do it all, the time, not only certain moments.

So now that you’re wondering why I love this franchise let me explain. There’s plenty of good amongst the crap of DMC3. I found so much joy  in letting loose so many sick moves in this game, it didn’t matter that I was moments away from another boss ass kicking. DMC3 is the only game I can start a massive combo off by using a strip pole as a means of doing so. The weapons selection is fantastic and diverse and once you go Devil Trigger for the first time, there’s that special felling of ripping apart several villains at once that gives you the warm fuzzies. And the overall presentation of this game is just plain beautiful. It’s the type of games art majors should be learning about. Also, while he’ll get on your nerves at times, it’s good to see Dante as the proper wise ass he is, oppose to his silent mock counterpart from DMC2.

Overall, it’s nice to see that Capcom is capable of reviving their properties once they’ve crapped out a bad game (except for poor Street Fighter....maybe one of these days....first they should learn to update their sprites) and return it to it’s sweet, sweet, violence glorious hey day. While DMC3 suffers from it’s shares of flaws, it’s still a great game none the less. Fans of the first one, buy it. Haters of the second one, buy it. Haters of Ninja Gaiden.....um.....um.....I heard “Shadows of Rome” was keen.

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