Platform: PlayStation 2

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Release: March 2005

Dante smirks with big-man-on-campus bravado at whatever foe lies in his sights—be it a ghoulish demon, his unruly brother, or a three-headed devil dog about to bite him in half. “Dante knows he’s the man,” says Director Tsuyoshi Tanaka. “It’s evident when you see how little fear he shows when facing massive monsters.”

A prequel to the stab-and-shoot series, Devil May Cry 3 focuses on the half-demon for hire’s dysfunctional family. “During the planning phase, we saw that the relationship between Dante and [his bad-seed brother] Virgil had potential,” Tanaka explains. “However, that sort of story could only occur pre-DMC.” The time-warp twist makes sense in one respect: DMC3 shares more with the saga’s first installment than it does with the second. DMC2’s wide-open, dullsville areas are history, so fancy up-close fighting is a must here.

As Tanaka says, “DMC is about its world as well as its characters,” and what a Transylvanian postcard of a place it is. Everything’s done up in cathedral-like concentrations of detail—candlelit gargoyles, wind-whipped curtains, eye-grabbing stained glass. The game isn’t Ninja Gaiden gorgeous, but it does tap PS2’s processing vein, draining it nearly dry.

These lavish locales play host to countless monsters, and luckily, DMC’s antihero has never been deadlier. At 20-something, this Dante’s at the height of his demon-hunting game, “tougher, cooler, crazier,” as Tanaka says, than any of his incarnations to come. Here he can wield multiple weapons at once, shuffling between them with a button press. Plus, he packs all-new instruments of destruction including an axlike guitar and nunchakus that freeze foes solid. Wanna sweep ’em off their feet with an electrifying solo, then cut to the chase with a pair of swords? Have it your way—DMC3’s artful combat always looks slick. Speed lines trace your sword’s trajectory; snazzy neon shadows appear in the wake of your acrobatics; and dying hellspawn crumble like shattered hourglasses.

“Stylish crazy action,” as Capcom calls its game, isn’t just a mishmash of adjectives. Six selectable fighting disciplines await your mastery. Swordmaster’s whirlwind of blade work and Gunslinger’s ballistic ballet are self-explanatory. Trickster, which emphasizes evasion and is “probably the easiest to master,” according to Tanaka, lets you twist and turn from harm’s way, walk on walls, and lunge from foe to foe with lethal gusto, whereas Royal Guard, “a highly technical style that requires some serious reflexes,” focuses on defense. Not feeling the more followed routes? Try creating a doppelganger to do double damage, or tinkering with time, Prince of Persia style, in the other two areas of expertise. “We try to do something new every time—no one likes a plain old rehash,” says Tanaka, doing his best to play devil’s advocate. “But you never know whether what you create will be welcomed or hated.”

Notable Half-Breeds in Entertainment History

Alien Resurrection

Cloned from Ripley when she was “heavy” with an alien queen, these alien babies acquired physical and emotional traits from both species, killing the franchise in the process.

Blade

Hard-assed half-breed vampire cleans house with half-assed inbreeds in a trio of movies based on the Marvel comics character. Dante shares his love for trench coats.

Out of this World

Late ’80s sitcom mom shacks up with a deadbeat dad from beyond the stars, giving birth to a teleporting, time-stopping baby. Space poppa Troy gets visiting rights via a talking crystal cube.

Devil Inside

When Dante gets good and pissed, his inner demons take over, turning the hero into a sinister (but still suave) devil. The selectable fighting style you pick—Gunslinger, Swordmaster, etc.—determines its powers, too.

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.