Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening [Special Edition] Review (PlayStation 2)
One of Gaming’s Greatest Comebacks
~by tankMage (September 2026)
Score: 100/100 (Excellent)
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening is a masterful followup to the rather disappointing second game in the series. It’s almost hard to believe the same team that made Devil May Cry 2 made this one because they managed to not only fix everything that made their previous project such a let down, they also improved upon the design of the first game. Consequently, DMC3 had me enthralled from start to finish.
So what’s so great about this game? For starters, the challenge, tightly constructed areas, and fluid action are all back. The story is also more in line with that of the first DMC. Dante has returned with his cocky attitude, except it’s cranked up to 11 because he’s younger in DMC3. His brother, Vergil, and a mysterious female demon hunter known as Lady are also far more compelling than any of the cast from the first two entries in the series…and I say this as someone who likes DMC1’s story. They also added new fighting styles, brought back the old weapon system, and kept the gun upgrade system from DMC2. The end result is a nearly perfect action Hack ‘n Slash title.
However, Devil May Cry 3 is not a flawless game. A somewhat janky camera and weak jumping mechanics sometimes get in the way of an otherwise perfect game. Keep in mind, this review is for the special edition, so I had to factor in the bonuses that come with this version into the final score since they are so huge.
Family Matters
Dante’s first appearance was largely centered around his family’s past. His father, Sparda, was a heroic demon who fought for justice, odd as that may seem. Sparda made a lot of enemies, so the first game was focused on Dante tying up some loose ends from the backstory. As a prequel, DMC3 focuses largely on Dante’s rivalry with his brother,Vergil, who is in league with an evil human named Arkham. Stories about sibling rivalries are old as dirt and have been done a million times for good reason: They work. The friction between Dante and Vergil drives the plot along like a freight train. Capcom also added two new characters with their own scores to settle, which made the plot even more compelling as they mirrored Dante’s family drama in many ways.
Devil May Cry 3 doesn’t break any new ground when it comes to video game story telling, which is fine because it does such a great job of entertaining the audience while building on the first game. Players are given bits and pieces of Sparda’s past and Vergil is fleshed out as a character. At the same time, DMC3 does not reveal too much, which is often a common issue with prequels that often leave nothing to the imagination.
Better yet, the punchy dialogue and Dante’s often irreverent attitude have been brought back. In my Devil May Cry review, I pointed out that the game was campy and over the top in a good way, Capcom took what made the first game so fun and dialed it up a notch. The action and script are so flashy that the story almost comes off as silly at times, yet the writers presented it with a mixture of humor, drama, and self awareness that made all the different elements work beautifully.
Lookin’ Good
It’s safe to say that Devil May Cry 3 is one of the best looking PS2 titles. The motion capture work is excellent and even puts some more modern games to shame. This fact is even more impressive when you take time to consider how much stunt work must have gone into the cutscenes. Capcom gave both Dante and Vergil beautifully crafted movesets that flow very nicely. Their abilities are also flashy and exciting to use. All this comes together to make the action truly stand out from the crowd.
Capcom used just the right combination of drab and colorful textures to bring the environments to life. Much of the game takes place in a giant tower not dissimilar to the castle from DMC1, which was a wise return to form. Locations were reused quite a bit and sometimes I felt like they had players backtracking just to get their money’s worth out of the level designers. At the same time, enough care was put into the areas to make revisiting them feel like a nostalgic trip through memory lane even if you were there just a few hours prior to backtracking.
The enemy designs were also very creative and well done. Players will certainly recognize bosses like the Grim Reaper and Cerberus, but they were made with a flair unique to Devil May Cry. Cool looking new foes, like fallen angels and an entire complement of chess pieces make appearances as well. I will say that the next to last boss was a disappointment. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just point out that Capcom catfishes players with a really cool looking penultimate boss only to replace it with something that seems pretty common to the first three Devil May Cry games.
Dante Dies Again!
The difficulty that made hard core gamers love the first Devil May Cry is back…sort of. DMC’s reputation for being difficult was always somewhat exaggerated since players have access to a lot of tools to help push them through tough spots, though the game does get legitimately hard in higher difficulty modes. This holds true for DMC3, which isn’t quite as tough as the first game.
I played through on Normal Difficulty and found it slightly challenging in spots, which is a good thing. DMC2 was far too easy and consequently boring, so Devil May Cry 3 can be considered a happy medium between the two titles that came before it. Most common enemies are pushovers, but there are a few fights that can surprise players. Bosses usually took me two or three tries to beat. However, the difficulty curve for bosses is pretty uneven. Cerberus, an early boss, took me several attempts to beat, while I was able to defeat some of the late game bosses on my first go. The spikes and troughs in difficulty weren’t a bad thing though, since the easier parts of the game felt like breaks after intense battles.
Blastoff!
DMC3’s action feels great. Fighting is polished and fluid, plus players are given a ton of options when it comes to how they handle enemies. A variety of melee weapons that range from dual swords to triple-nunchuku allow Dante to pummel his foes mercilessly. Players will also find a ton of guns to use from afar or in conjunction with melee attacks.
To top it all off, Dante has “Styles” which support various…uh…playstyles. Players can use the Trickster style to focus on mobility or Swordmaster to unlock new melee moves. If that’s not enough, Gunslinger and Royal Guard boost Dante’s skill with guns and give him defensive abilities respectively. Players will level up Dante’s skills, which unlocks new abilities, by defeating enemies. There are even two styles that are learned later in the game.
All of these abilities would mean little without good combat; luckily DMC3 has this covered. Enemies attack in fairly aggressive packs and even the weakest foes can pose a threat if you don’t take them seriously. Most boss fights are tough and climactic as one would expect. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the fights, like Agni and Rudra, inspired certain other games, but I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.
Area design returned to the tightly constructed rooms and hallways that made the first game feel so well thought out. As I said, there’s some recycling done when it comes to locations, but it works in DMC3’s favor because it makes the game world feel more concrete.
There’s also a ton of stuff to find and do. Players can upgrade their weapons to learn new moves, collect Blue Orb shards for more health, buy useful restorative items, challenge secret missions, and unlock a bunch of post game goodies. You can even play as Vergil, Dante’s katana wielding brother.
Vergil is the main draw of the special edition release since he was not available in the original Devil May Cry 3 under normal circumstances. Despite not being as fleshed out as Dante, Vergil is still a unique and fun character to use. Sadly, I have a lot of other games that need playing, so I didn’t get to finish Vergil’s story, but it’s certainly part of what makes this game so dang good.
That said Vergil does not bring much of anything new to the table. He has the same missions as Dante and only a few cutscenes of his own. It would have been great to have seen the story from his perspective and have unique missions for him, but that’s a tall order. As it is, Vergil’s skills and weapons are enough to give players who want to run through the game a second time something new.
Crazy Cameras and Jank Jumping
Devil May Cry’s controls evolved slowly and steadily over the course of the original trilogy. However, the problems that plagued the first game persisted into DMC3 despite marked improvements. The most annoying of these issues is the camera. Yeah, I know, complaining about camera angles on the PlayStation 2 is like moaning about sand in the desert. Capcom managed to get the camera 90% to where it could be considered perfect which is not bad. Even so, you can expect a few fights and areas to have some really awkward camera dynamics that get in the way of the action.
Devil May Cry’s jumping could have been a lot crisper, it still feels kind of limp and soggy in this installment. Once again, improvements were made, but it’s not quite up to snuff. This is especially noticeable when you do not have Air Hike (double jump) and can’t use it to reach high places or adjust your trajectory. Fortunately, there are only a couple of spots where platforming is bothersome, for the most part it’s good.
One thing they did improve is the menu system. Dante can switch between weapons with the L2 and R2 buttons in combat. Plus there are shortcuts for the map and various other menus tied to the D-Pad, so the game feels very easy to use overall. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.
Aside from that, the controlling Dante feels great. The visceral button mashing, combo slapping action is very much alive and well in DMC3. I have to grudgingly thank DMC2 for some of these improvements since the first game had some odd button layout choices. Guess we got the best of both worlds with DMC3.
Oh, I almost forgot to complain about doors. Yes, doors are a problem because they don’t follow a clear set of rules. I know that sounds weird, so hear me out. Sometimes you have to press Circle to use a door, other times Dante will change rooms simply by walking into a door. It’s not a big deal, but it does seem like a strange design choice. Maybe there’s some logic to the system that I don’t understand.
And they got the music AND voice acting right?!
Devil May Cry 3’s sound work is incredible. I didn’t feel like the sound tracks for the first two games always fit the atmosphere. This time, they fused heavy metal (well I’d say it’s more like nu-metal) and the techno style music from the first game to make something that fits the overall mood of the series really well. In fact, they got an actual band (or at least the band’s singer Shawn “Shootie HG” McPherson) to do the sound track and it sounds great.
The voice acting is superb by PS2 standards and very good in general. Everyone nailed their parts, which must have been tricky with the often somewhat silly script. Vergil was particularly good as he played the icy foil to the fiery Dante. Jester was also excellent, though his parts were relatively brief.
As with the other DMC titles, the ambiance and sound effects are great. You can hear the gears of a strange machine grinding away in the tower near the beginning and spooky wind blows through otherwise silent hallways to name just a few of the cool ambient effects. Weapon attack sounds also have a lot of depth to them, which plays an important role in giving combat that hard-hitting feel.
Final Thoughts
Devil May Cry 3 is a brilliant finale to the PS2 phase of the series. It’s also a redemption arc for the team that made the rather ill-favored second game. Not only did they manage to recapture what had made DMC1 great, they also expanded upon it. The end result is a title that exemplifies the best of the PlayStation 2. Capcom went a step further by releasing the Special Edition, which adds a ton of replay value.
I will say that I’ve always had mixed feelings about these re-releases and have little love for remakes. Both seem like a low effort, low risk way to further cash in on a game that already has an audience. In my opinion, Capcom should have given the DMC3 team enough time and resources to do what they planned in the first place. That said, it’s hard to deny that DMC3 was a risky venture considering how its predecessor almost sank the entire franchise. It’s also true that the Special Edition brings a lot of value to the table. In fact, it’s the definitive version of Devil May Cry 3 as far as I’m concerned.
As always, thanks for reading my review of Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening [Special Edition]!
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