Since I wasn't that crazy about the first game to begin with and thought that the second game was astoundingly terrible in ways where I could barely believe the franchise even kept going after its release, I was unsure if I even wanted to go ahead and play Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, and so I took a bit of a break from the series after playing the first two entries within two weeks of each other. As time went on, though, I heard quite a few people say that it was well worth it, and that made me decided to finally bite the bullet and play through the fan favorite of the franchise. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening was one of those games that I really looked forward to jumping back into whenever I wasn't already playing it, because while it definitely isn't perfect in some outright frustrating ways, it was a massive improvement on Devil May Cry and especially Devil May Cry 2.
Before I even got the chance to control Dante, I had a feeling that I was going to like this game thanks to its cutscenes, because if there's one thing that Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening has in spades, it's a strong personality. Instead of being vessels for dull exposition, the cutscenes in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening are loaded with hyperactive camerawork and editing, blood-pumping music, campy dialogue, and some immensely over-the-top action that made my jaw drop multiple times, and I looked forward to every single cutscene to the point where they were my favorite element of the entire game. The stylized cutscenes were complimented by Dante's much more lovable personality, fleshed out characters, and a genuinely compelling story (a first for the series!), and seeing how Dante's relationship with Vergil evolved alongside Lady's relationship with her father Arkham was compelling from start to finish. The gameplay here got a much-needed revamp from the first game's barebones combat and the second game being entirely dedicated to having you spam the square button forever, as the twitchy, fast-paced combat is bolstered by a combo system that rewards speed and a whole slew of weapons and styles to choose from, the former of which you can switch on the fly. Not only did the variety of options to choose from alone make for a lot of experimentation, but the weapons and styles themselves being genuinely really cool made me excited to unlock new items and moves, and I got to try pretty much everything at least once while still clinging onto my favorite playstyle. The bosses are also loads of fun to fight with how hectic and varied they are, and while I do wish that they were spaced out a bit more and I especially wasn't a fan of the unnecessary repeated fights (looking at you, Mission 18), their Gothic designs made every encounter memorable.
Pretty much everyone who has played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening talks about how difficult it is, and while it is pretty challenging, I don't think it would be half as hard to play as it is if it wasn't for the atrocious in-game camera. I don't know what it is about this series, but I haven't been able to play a single Devil May Cry game with a genuinely good camera system, as it constantly jerks around to the point where you can't even see what you're trying to kill, let alone avoid their attacks. This also ended up impacting the still-clunky platforming, barely functional enemy targeting system, the gimmick enemies that break the flow of combat with how they can only be killed in one or two ways, and practically every boss fight in the game, as attacks constantly come at you from off-screen in ways where you don't even get the chance to react to them to the point where it makes certain fights flat-out annoying to play. Although I wouldn't really call Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening the masterpiece that so many people have crowned it as over the years, it's still a great game that proved to be hugely influential to the character action genre, and while I'm not that interested in playing Devil May Cry 4 or DmC: Devil May Cry, I definitely do want to eventually check out Devil May Cry 5 when I come across a copy of it.
Before I even got the chance to control Dante, I had a feeling that I was going to like this game thanks to its cutscenes, because if there's one thing that Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening has in spades, it's a strong personality. Instead of being vessels for dull exposition, the cutscenes in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening are loaded with hyperactive camerawork and editing, blood-pumping music, campy dialogue, and some immensely over-the-top action that made my jaw drop multiple times, and I looked forward to every single cutscene to the point where they were my favorite element of the entire game. The stylized cutscenes were complimented by Dante's much more lovable personality, fleshed out characters, and a genuinely compelling story (a first for the series!), and seeing how Dante's relationship with Vergil evolved alongside Lady's relationship with her father Arkham was compelling from start to finish. The gameplay here got a much-needed revamp from the first game's barebones combat and the second game being entirely dedicated to having you spam the square button forever, as the twitchy, fast-paced combat is bolstered by a combo system that rewards speed and a whole slew of weapons and styles to choose from, the former of which you can switch on the fly. Not only did the variety of options to choose from alone make for a lot of experimentation, but the weapons and styles themselves being genuinely really cool made me excited to unlock new items and moves, and I got to try pretty much everything at least once while still clinging onto my favorite playstyle. The bosses are also loads of fun to fight with how hectic and varied they are, and while I do wish that they were spaced out a bit more and I especially wasn't a fan of the unnecessary repeated fights (looking at you, Mission 18), their Gothic designs made every encounter memorable.
Pretty much everyone who has played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening talks about how difficult it is, and while it is pretty challenging, I don't think it would be half as hard to play as it is if it wasn't for the atrocious in-game camera. I don't know what it is about this series, but I haven't been able to play a single Devil May Cry game with a genuinely good camera system, as it constantly jerks around to the point where you can't even see what you're trying to kill, let alone avoid their attacks. This also ended up impacting the still-clunky platforming, barely functional enemy targeting system, the gimmick enemies that break the flow of combat with how they can only be killed in one or two ways, and practically every boss fight in the game, as attacks constantly come at you from off-screen in ways where you don't even get the chance to react to them to the point where it makes certain fights flat-out annoying to play. Although I wouldn't really call Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening the masterpiece that so many people have crowned it as over the years, it's still a great game that proved to be hugely influential to the character action genre, and while I'm not that interested in playing Devil May Cry 4 or DmC: Devil May Cry, I definitely do want to eventually check out Devil May Cry 5 when I come across a copy of it.