A Challenge

Still ... if i`m thinking about a challenge ... there`s no point in NOT to add a little review here about the most challenging game i ever played : Devil May Cry 3 : Dante`s Awakening - The PC version of course :)

DMC3 can be easily described as a Hack&Slash game, with tons of monsters to kill, some interesting bosses and the occasional puzzles to progress. To put it simple : Dante has to pass through a series of missions ( which are nothing more than levels ). At the end of each mission the player has to face his ranking, the players performance is ranked from D ( lowest ) to S or SS (the biggest). The rank is based on the orbs collected during the mission, the red orbs (currency used to buy items or to increase weapon/attack levels ), the time taken to finish the mission, the damage taken and the items used and stylish points. The stylish points are gained during combat by performing a series of unfuckingbroken combos on the nearby enemies. This is where the cool part starts ... thought it`s an action game and Dante has to be pretty aggressive to get from point A to point B .. you must have at least one tactic when fighting ... because not all the enemies will fight the same and surely you can`t expect to finish a level using the same attack. When attacking a stylish meter will appear on the screen, if you want it to grow from Dope to "SSStylish" you`ll have to keep attacking the enemies without taking any damage whatsoever and without repeating the same combo :)
But that was all about the fighting ... After defeating a boss Dante usually gets a new weapon, during the missions Dante may carry two meele weapons and 2 pairs of a ranged type of weapon .. guns to be exact :D. Besides the nice variety of weapons Dante can also choose a fighting style, because i`m way to lazy to type all the shit about the styles here`s a nice quote : Style selection is available at the start of each level, as well as during gameplay at checkpoints. The styles available are: Trickster, for dodging and agility; Swordmaster, with extra abilities for swords and other melee weapons; Gunslinger, which has more techniques for firearms; Royal Guard, which allows the player to repel attacks with a properly-timed button press, and thereby charge energy for retaliation; Quicksilver, which slows down enemies while the character attacks at normal speed; Doppelgänger, creates a shadow double that fights alongside Dante. I personally liked the Swordmaster style, pure hack & slash and a lot of nice effects and style points ;)

I guess this is all just bullshit, bullshit which can be applied to any other hack&slash action game. Devil May Cry had something special (besides the fact that it is the special edition playable on PC ), the more you play, the harder it gets. For example to unlock the HARD difficulty level you had to finish the game (storyline) in the with the "normal" difficulty, and because of the nice variety of weapons,levels and styles ... the game actually becomes replayable. The harder it gets, the stronger my will to play it. When it comes to DMC try not to underestimate the meaning of the word HARD: if at the normal level you encountered dumbass blue projectiles then you can bet you sweet keyboard that at the ultimate "Dante must die" difficulty level that monster will launch those projectiles (which are now homing or i think they are homing - i didn`t really get to watch them closely since every time i had to fight the EMOs shooting them you can be sure that the other mobs nearby had my full attention) a lot faster. Since the game offers a slight chance of boredom DMC has a nice "Bloody Palace" for all those mob killing action loving gamers :D. The Bloody Palace is actually a medium sized arena where mobs just keep spawning at 3 varieties of difficulty leves, as the player desires , but still hard. It`s really hard to get bored of Devil May Cry, even the game`s soundtracks can make you wanna kill something . Also if you finish the game at harder difficulties, besides the bonus features which will be unlocked, at some point you get to play with the evil character in the game, Vergil, Dante`s twin brother. Unlike Dante who kills for fun apparently, Vergil only seeks power, the power of Sparda. Here`s a little history lesson about devils going good: Sparda apparently was a demon who turned against his own kind for the sake of the emo world, sealing the demon world, but by doing so he sealed his mofo demon powers too, thus .. turning into Jesus. 2 more characters appear in this game, it seems that Dante and Vergil aren`t the only two members from a family here, for the first time appearing in the Devil May Cry series Lady also gets sucked into the story, a bit too much even, as Dante has to fight her at some point, Lady trying to be a BOSS ... trying indeed and also Lady`s dad appears giving Dante an unfriendly "invite". While Lady only appears only in some cinematics, Arkham, Lady`s dad tries to get the power of Sparda thinking he`ll turn into Christ or something and also turns Dante, Vergil and Lady against each other. Though as a nutjob he`s pretty tough, appearing a few times as a clown and fights Dante a few times and also appearing as and end game boss as the BLOB, a testicular like boss who, after taking some nice damage, turns into a few dozen sperm like leeches draining Dante`s health. I guess that it`s good to mention stuff like : against the blob Dante and Vergil fight together ... hard to control both at the same time but hey ... they`re brothers :D

DMC leaves me speechless, just thinking about it makes me wanna play it, so .. to end this : combining great action with a nice story about a cool devil somehow growing up you get Devil May Cry 3 : Dante`s Awakening.