Capcom is a publisher known for its successful line of horror games, Resident Evil, and its side-scrolling action shooters, Mega-Man. It is also known for another highly successful genre of hack-and-slash action games, titled Devil May Cry (DMC). Originally making its debut on PlayStation 2 in August of 2001, Devil May Cry has been known for its stylish gameplay, immersive storytelling, and fantastic music. The third game of the series was released in 2005 and is the one I will be telling you about today.

Devil May Cry 3 is known for being the best in the series, it builds off of the first and second games while inventing new things for its gameplay. This prequel to the first game focuses on a younger Dante, the Son of Sparda. Sparda is the rebellious demon who led a revolution against the demon king Mundus and fell in love with a human named Eva who then gave birth to twin sons, Dante and Vergil. Mundus’s demons killed Eva and Sparda and Dante and Vergil both ran away thinking that the other was dead. We follow a young adult Dante who is opening his shop, the eponymous Devil May Cry when he is attacked by demons after getting an invitation from his brother. Just after this, a tower called the Temi-Ni-Gru erupts from the ground and is raised in the middle of the city. Your goal is to climb Temi-Ni-Gru and face your brother. You play as Dante, the sword-swinging, gun-toting, smarmy devil hunter. Dante has many combos available from the start, very simple ones that are easier to pull off than others. Dante can switch between two equipped guns and weapons at once, so you have to choose between them. Dante can choose between Rebellion, Cerberus, Agni and Rudra, Nevan, and Beowulf. Dante can also choose between 6 styles, two of which are unlockable after beating certain bosses, these styles are Trickster, Royal Guard, Gunslinger, Swordsmaster, Quicksilver, and Doppelganger. You can only choose one style to use at a time. Each of these has three levels which grant new moves the more upgrades you get. 

Combat in this game is smooth and highly addicting. You use a combination of your melee weapons and guns. The game ranks your combos on a scale of D to SSS and each rank you crush gives you more red orbs. Red orbs are the currency that will let you purchase new upgrades and moves for Dante, along with items such as health regeneration stars and Devil Trigger stars. Devil Trigger is a state in which Dante unleashes “The Devil Inside” and becomes ultra-powerful for a short time, you can extend this time by purchasing purple orbs from the shop. Dante can increase his maximum amount of health by purchasing Blue Orbs from the shop. You can also get blue orbs from collecting blue orb fragments found around the map and in the 12 secret missions. These secret missions give several challenges to the player and are great fun and add a lot of replay value to the game. I have spent countless hours on Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition playing as both Dante and Vergil (The unlockable character). It is maybe the best in the series and also an amazing game to play even if you aren't a fan of the series.