Devils Never Cry

Hello again minions,

I say, you folks out there sure are lucky. You get not one but TWO whole posts tonight? What have you done lately to deserve such generosity?

Tonight's featured game is the ps2 exclusive (at least until Ubisoft gets its act together and releases the PC port) Devil May Cry 3. You are Dante, resident badass and Alucard look-alike. Being the son of a legendary demon who turned his back on fellow devils to help out the human race, its up to you to stop your evil twin brother and a bookish demon-wannabe from something something. It is all very silly and over-the-top, really nothing more than an excuse to kill demons. That having been said, the cut-scenes are well directed, featuring inventive fight scenes courtesy of Yuji Shimomura (of Versus fame). I found it to be a lot of fun, if not particularly memorable.

The real meat of the game is the action. Dante has a variety of melee and projectile weapons at his disposal to cut his opponents to ribbons. Pistols, rocket launchers, ice tri-chucks and even an electric guitar become available as you progress and defeat bosses. By defeating enemies, you obtain red orbs which can be used to upgrade your health, move repertoire or get more time in your super-powered demon form. This RPG-esque feature adds a welcome layer of depth to the beat'em up. But wait, there is more! At the beginning of mission, you can choose two guns and two swords (or guitars etc) to bring into the level. At any point you can switch between the selected weapons with the touch of a button. This seemingly simple feature greatly expands the combo opportunities and style of the game. Style is important; if you use the same stale moves over and over, you will not get as many red orbs as you would otherwise. Plus, it just looks cool to uppercut someone so hard they fly into the air, then keep them suspended there with lighting bolts as you wail on your axe.

But wait! There is yet even more style! You can customize Dante between levels to tailor to your preference. Love guns? Play as a Gunslinger and gain additional abilities with your firearms. Like mobility? Try Trickster for greater dodging capabilities. The game does a great job at letting you play as you wish. That is good, because you are going to need all the help you can get; the game is damn hard. Expect a big challenge on all but the easiest difficulty setting. Dante Must Die, the most difficult mode, is for the hardest of the hardcore only. If you dislike a challenge, then this game is most certainly not for you.

Graphically, DMC3 is very sharp with a lot of detail and the framerate holds up nicely. Plenty of Gothic architecture too, if you are into that kind of thing. The enemy design could be more inventive, rather than the "Sickles for everybody!" thing it has going on now, but overall it looks very good. The sound is a mixed bag; the voice acting is competent and appropriately campy most of the time, but the music was not terribly memorable. There is a lot of metal that all sounds pretty much the same, but a couple uses of an orchestra and a choir save it from being too monotonous. On the otherhand, the game really lends itself to being played to fantasy metal like DragonForce or Rhapsody of Fire, so give those a shot.

A few things hold the game back. The biggest flaw is the level design, which sucks. You are given no idea where to go most of the time, and not in the good Metroidvania way either. The stages are confusing and only serve to break up the action, always leaving you frustrated and wanting more enemies. Puzzles consist entirely of "find this artifact to open the door" monotony. The platforming sections are pretty painful due to the mostly fixed camera, but thankfully are usually short or optional. It could really take a lesson or two from God of War in these regards, though GoW might learn something from DMC3's combat.

If you are interested in this game, I recommend the Special Edition which is only $20, if not less. It adds more difficulty options, a revamped continue system, another playable character, the ability to increase the game speed and the Bloody Palace, which is basically a survival mode.


Devil May Cry 3 is, despite its flaws, probably my favorite beat'em up and highly recommended to anyone looking for a challenge.

Looks like this is gonna be one hell of a party,
Dante