In the last fifteen years, the game has gone down as one of the best Devil May Cry games, and one of the best action games in general. And while the Special Edition of DMC 3 has seen multiple rereleases, with the most recent coming out in 2018, the version that’s now on the Switch comes with a few new features and extra polish that make this the strongest port of the game yet.
First released in 2005 as Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, this game marks the point when the series, which had already gotten off to a solid start with DMC 1, really hit its stride. It’s here that major staples of the series’ hack-and-slash gameplay were first introduced, most notably the combat style system that let players spice up series protagonist Dante’s base melee and ranged attacks with different abilities, giving them more options in battle.
All of this comes wrapped up in a prequel story that follows a younger, brasher Dante as he’s just starting out as a demon hunter and fighting to stop his twin brother Vergil from literally unleashing Hell on earth. Story-wise, the game keeps things simple enough to serve as a good entry point for newcomers who are less interested in series’ lore and more in its penchant for epically absurd and over-the-top action.
Actually playing the game, however, is another matter entirely. DMC 3’s original release gained a reputation for being one of the hardest games ever, something the Special Edition does address with some key balance tweaks. Still, the game is no cakewalk, as it starts off challenging and only gets more so from there, with hordes of basic enemies that hit hard and brutal bosses that hit even harder.
Making things even trickier for newcomers is the way that the game, in true DMC fashion, demands players not just defeat enemies, but do it with style. By chaining different combos together, they fill up a style gauge that increases in rank from “Dope” all the way to “SSStylish” if they can chain enough quick enough and without taking damage. Aside from rewarding players with more Red Orbs (the currency used to buy items and unlock additional skills), this is the key way players earn a high rank at the end of each mission.
Players can have a lot to juggle in the heat of battle, and even a simple battle against grunt enemies can involve lots of switching between melee combat, ranged combat, melee combos that change depending on the timing and length of button presses, attacks that can only be used when locked onto an enemy, and the unique abilities tied to each of Dante’s combat styles. It can be extremely daunting to pull this off with any amount of style, but what makes Devil May Cry 3 work so well is how it encourages players to improve, to learn the nuances of each weapon, combo, and ability, and experiment with how to link all together into an over-the-top dance of death.
There are so many possibilities, yet previous versions of the game limited the amount that players could access at any one time. Before, players could only equip two melee weapons, two ranged weapons, and one combat style, and if they wanted to change them up, they had to head to Divinity Statues (basically the game’s shops/customization menu) scattered about each level. While hardly a gamebreaking limitation, it does lead to more backtracking than is ideal, especially since some of the game’s most valuable items require specific weapons to unlock, weapons players might not have equipped when they spot them.
This problem is neatly fixed by the new features that are currently exclusive to Devil May Cry 3’s Switch port. Here, players now have the option to play the game in “Free Style” mode, which gives them the ability to switch between styles during combat (like in later games) and access all of Dante’s available weapons through a new wheel menu. Not only does this make for a great convenience, it completely erases the limitations in combat that the game previously contained. With enough time, players can effectively access the entirety of Dante’s arsenal and moveset at any time, and with that the combo potential goes from impressive to simply staggering.
Of course, this is still a game from the PlayStation 2 era, and these additions, as welcome as they are, don’t change the fact that this is still a product of the technical constraints of the mid-2000s. Even in 2020, DMC 3 deals with common camera issues from that time, most notably fixed angles that are used throughout most of the game. These can occasionally make it hard to gauge the distance between Dante and enemies, and even the occasional moments where players can control the camera (mostly in boss fights) often feel sluggish, something that can be problematic when one gets cornered by a hard-hitting and fast-moving behemoth. For the most part, though, the game is designed around these limitations well enough to keep them from seriously impacting the experience in a negative way, though they do remain a constant, less-than-ideal presence.
To reiterate, these nitpicks don’t really take away from what works so well here. Besides the simple satisfaction of learning to slay demons skillfully, perhaps the best thing about DMC 3 is how it values players time. Everything they do in the 12-15 hour story mode and the tournament-style Bloody Palace mode (which now supports local 2-player co-op, another Switch-exclusive feature) can go into unlocking new content, whether it be new skills and upgrades, higher difficulty levels, or the ability to play as Vergil. Combined with the secret challenges that are often well hidden in the game’s levels, these really serve to give players incentive to dive back in for another playthrough beyond the challenge of earning a better rank.
Devil May Cry 3 definitely shows its age in its latest port, but it holds up incredibly well regardless, thanks to some of the most challenging yet satisfying combat of any game in the last fifteen years. There’s a reason fans of both action games and the DMC series remember Dante’s Awakening as one of the best, and with the new features the Switch port brings to the Special Edition, one of the best action games ever has gotten even better.
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition is now available for the Nintendo Switch. Game Rant was provided a Switch code for this review.
