How to Cry in both pain and joy.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is like nothing I've ever seen nor experienced before. This game sets the standard for what an action-adventure game should be like, even arguably standing out as the best of it's kind.
The Devil May Cry series has been dragged through the mud these past years. The first being revolutionary for it's time, yet the second being the biggest ''**** up'' in video game history. The sequel isn't all that bad in reality, but it goes so far below the level of the first, it shatters all the good reputation the original had. Thankfully, as humans evolve and learn from their mistakes, so do Capcom, by making a game that quite possibly even surpasses the original.
Why like it so much? It's somewhat simple at first, yet ultimately deep and satisfying. Within the following lines I'll try to explain what exactly makes this beauty tic, and how.
You play as Dante, the half-demon son of the legendary Sparda, who closed the gate connecting both the human and demon world. While Dante retains the status quo' for quite some time, his brother, Virgil, wants to re-open the gates connecting the two separate worlds by using the amulets their mother gave them. The story is rich and filled with twists and turns, but sadly, that's the least amazing thing about this game.
What truly makes it shine, is the core gameplay and content. When you start off, you'll think,''this is very fun and exciting...''
...But then you get to the further levels, you realize this isn't your normally challenging game. Anybody looking for a Friday's snooze fest should just turn around and leave. Though the guilty pleasure is within the difficulty level itself. The game gets much easier the more you play it, so just bare with a few hours of pain, and soak up all the heavenly pleasure thereafter.
The way the game executes everything is just jaw dropping. The combat is completely customizable to your liking, skills, and interests. The key to this is among the 4 (and two extra) combat styles. Trickster, being pretty much self-explanatory, lets you use interesting dodging mechanics to evade opponents. Gunslinger, also a bit obvious, gives you a boost in firepower, extra ''Gun Kata''-like moves and such. Swordmaster, allows you to wield your blade like a pro and slash easily through hordes of enemies in seconds. Royal Guard, slams upon you the ability to block most incoming attacks, thus taking only half damage.
Even ignoring all these amazing styles, you still have enough options to play around with. Every devil arm has unlockable moves and every firearm has 3 levels of firepower. You use a handful of items some of which include health and devil trigger upgrades
One of the game's numerous strengths is also the boss fights. Each is unique, and requires different tactics. Some of them come off as cheap by throwing highly damaging and almost impossible to dodge attacks, but in the longer run, everything is just tightly balanced and entertaining enough to be worthwhile
The game is of a decent length, consisting of 20 missions, plus a good number of secret ones. Each mission ranges from 5 to 10 to 30 minutes. My first play-through clocked in at about 10 hours, without searching for extra hidden items or replaying missions.
From presentation standpoint, it's just as flawless as the rest of the game. Sharp textures, good lightning effects, and a blazing fast and steady frame-rate. Audio is just as good, though the repetitive music that plays during grunt fights gets just a tad tedious. The voice cast also does an incredible job compared to the previous entries.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is an intense, visceral, challenging romp that one should remember for years to come, while an absolute must-have for fans, it's definitely worth checking out by those willing to learn the ropes of it.
