Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (Special Edition) (Sony PlayStation 2, 2006)

Graphics-93/Sound-95/Controls-​97/Blast Force-92/Overall-94

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best games for the PS2. Someone I know once said it's a knockoff of Zelda, but if you have a problem, then I'll say again, "listen fanboy, you slay demons with shotguns, rocket lauchers, and nunchuks...and it's got a really nice lookin' Lady, too." The graphics, story, gameplay, and replay are all A+. There's tons more content than before, and the Bloody Palace mode adds to the fun while further enhancing Dante through XP to the styles and loads and loads of red orbs. The weapons and fighting styles are great, with the defensive minded "Royal Guard" being the only low point. Trickster helps mobility (wall runs, air dashes, dodging, etc.), Swordmaster is for your Devil Arms providing new attacks and combo possibilities, and Gunslinger maximizes gunplay, including a nifty shotgun stinger attack at later levels! Plus two more styles; Doppleganger and the time rift one (I forget the name) are not only all kinds of awesome, but help you set up combos so you can nail those "Super Sweets" everytime! Virgil is pretty cool, kinda like an evil samurai warrior, but his lack of technique causes him to stale out eventually. He's all power, and some of his Yamato attacks are ridiculous! The graphics are great, and it's hard to complain or nit-pick at the controls. This is one of the most solid action platformers ever, and also one of the best selling. If you like this sort of thing, the devil may cry if you don't buy it. So buy it already!

The storyline in this game is based around Dante trying to kill his evil twin brother , Vergil. A gigantic dark tower appears right near Dante's house , and Vergil is on top of it. He has some sort of sinister plan that has to do with the tower and Dante must stop him. Now on to the gameplay itself. Once you lose , you have to start from the beginning of the level , unless you buy a certain item in the game that prevents that, and once you use it , you have to buy a new one , since it's not permanent. Also , the enemies and bosses in this game are hard. They're all very cool , but also tough , especially the bosses. The combat system in this game is also great. You have 4 fighting styles in this game, that gives much variety to the combat in the game, and every one of them grants you some special abilities. They are: Trickster- this style lets you dodge enemy attacks much easier than you normally do. You can do things like running on walls , dashing to the sides , etc; Swordmaster- this enhances your ability to use melee weapons. You can do things like throw your sword at enemies, stab them with it in lightening-fast speeds, and so on. This is also my favorite style; Gunslinger-enhances your ability to use guns . You can do things like shoot your guns in two different directions, spin your shotgun around and fire it , etc; Royalguard-lets you block enemy attacks , and then release them back at them by punching them with all the energy you build up in you from their attacks. So as you can see, there is much variety to the fighting. You can pull off some amazing combos, not to mention you have many weapons , melee and long ranged alike. Your ranged weapons will include a pair of handguns with a rapid rate of fire, a shotgun , a bazooka , and two others. Also , if you keep using a certain style, it'll eventually level up. All of these attributes combine to form an awesome game that should not be missed.

Devil May Cry 3, already highly rated by the reviewers, had one major concern on everybody's mind. The action was some of the best you can get in any game, if not the best. But, the difficulty was insane!

Thus, DMC3:SE was made, with a whole new load of features. First, the difficulty is taken down one notch, with the addition of a new difficulty, very hard. So now Easy (DMC3) is the Medium (DMC3SE), Hard (DMC3) is Very Hard (DMC3SE) DMD remains the same, and DMC3SE Easy is very easy. In other words, the names of the difficulties got changed a bit, and one was added.

Furthermore, Vergil, the extremely badass antagonist twin brother of Dante is now fully playable with his own style. This darkslayer style is not as expansive as Dante is, but it is different and fun to use.

There is also a bloody palace, survival mode. Plus the ability to watch all the cutscenes, and all the great features of DMC3 make DMC3SE one of the best games ever!.

If you like action and style, this is a perfect game for you. Where God of War may have gotten more attention last year, this game's combat system is far more complex and chaotic. Switch guns and melee weapons during combos to create your very own form of brutality. 6 Styles to keep things more interesting as you progress, and the ability to play through the game with Dante's brother Virgil changes the way you play Devil May Cry 3. A must have for action fans looking for a challenge, and even more for fans who were dissapointed with DMC2. A+

Any PS2 Gamer will know how good the DMC games are. The first one set standards on the console, having been designed by many who worked on the original Resident Evil games. This DMC is as good as the first and better than the second one. The first one was a challenge, forcing me to play on easy automatic before finally beating normal mode. I'm still stuck on the hard! The second DMC was easier to beat. After the struggle that DMC One put me through it was a welcomed treat to finally beat the demons without getting out of my seat! But when it comes to replay value DMC Two doesn't have it as much as the first and third installment. DMC Three is as good as the first one, and you get to play as Dante's twin brother, Virgil! The best the PS2 can offer awaits the gamer willing to play these exciting and challenging games.