Keep in mind: This is a review coming from a long time fan of DMC3 that has only gotten around to trying this game out in current day.

Definitely dated, but decent. Some of the bosses have weird attacks that take a bit of trial and error to understand wtf is going on. The combat mechanics are simplistic and don't reward style or creativity as much as later games. Devil Trigger is really strong and some DT abilities are lifesavers against certain bosses and enemies. The grenade launcher + stinger combo is OP to spam on nearly anything in the game, too.

You take a lot of damage in even just 1 or 2 hits, so the game can be really tough and frustrating when you factor in its jankiness. Oh, and the camera is terrible. Like, really terrible. And so is any part that requires platforming, including some bosses.

All in all it can be frustrating at times because some bosses and enemies are kind of bad, and it's not even close to the later titles in the series but it was a good game on its time, and is still a decent game today.

Story wise it's ok, subpar for today's standards but for the time it was made it is about what you'd expect