Devil May Cry 3
After a serious misstep with the second chapter, this prequel looks on track.
Tags: Devil May Cry 3 Categories: PS2 Previews, Previews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Jun 18th, 2004
Family values play a key role in the newest Devil May Cry title.
Of course, remember that DMC’s Dante is the son of a demon, so when we say “family values,” we’re not talking about the importance of saying grace before meals here. Instead, we’re talking about what looks to be an all-out brother-versus-brother brawl that will span the entire game.
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The brother in question, Dante sibling Virgil, went in a different direction, following his demonic roots instead of rebelling against them as Dante did. And he’s the main opponent for Devil May Cry 3, which may be retitled Devil May Cry Zero by the time it’s released. We doubt it, but if it worked for the Resident Evil franchise, this prequel could see a similar event happen.
One of the main things that alienated gamers from DMC2 was that Dante went from a smartass loudmouth to a “strong, silent” type – mostly as the result of an effort to make the game’s language a bit more ESRB-friendly. But this time out, realizing that the violence level will keep the series solidly in the M-Mature category anyway, the smart-mouth Dante we all know from the first game is back in a big way.
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Because the game is a prequel, Dante’s personal survival probably isn’t in doubt, but because he’s younger and more egotistical, he’s even more of a smart-aleck than before. And he’ll need both his mental AND verbal wits about him to survive.
This is due in large part to the game not being a simple one-on-one brother vs. brother match, but an inter-gender, three-way match. The third player, a demon hunter named Lady, is dedicated to the eradication of all demons, reformed or not; which means Dante is fair game for her, not just Virgil. Whether there will be a Buffy-Angel love twist, to the story remains to be seen, but Capcom isn’t telling.
Fortunately, the graphics this time around are even more detailed and sharp than the previous two outings and the gameplay is customizable.
Hold on … huh?
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That’s right. Using a system informally called “My Dante” by Capcom, gamers will have a chance to customize Dante’s abilities, following several paths, including gunslinger, swordmaster, trickster, royal guard and likely several others by the time the game goes gold. By selecting these paths, Dante’s base abilities are boosted in some areas while not in others. If you like Dante of the dual-pistols, this feature will make Dante that much better at his gun skills — but you probably shouldn’t pick up a sword because those skills will be less developed. And it also provides a substantive reason to replay the game more than once.
Storywise, this younger Dante is aware of his origins but his demonic half and the powers that come with it have not emerged, though they will as the game and story move forward.
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Referred to as a “crazy hard action game,” the “crazy” part apparently refers to an emphasis on integrating more of Dante’s stylish, over-the-top moves into actual gameplay, rather than just showing them off in the story-cinemas. If this works, it could really improve the game’s battle system on style-points alone!
Add in the fact that one of Japan’s top action directors, Ryuhei Kitamura, has been brought in to direct the game’s cinema segments, and there’s plenty of reason to expect that the new DMC will be more than a kick-ass action title in it’s own right; it promises to be an apology for the misstep that was DMC2!
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Tags: Devil May Cry 3
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Jun 18th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Previews, Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
