Capcom bring one of the best PS2 era action games to the Switch and go to a surprising amount of trouble to improve and enhance it.
It’s always good to see a previously mothballed franchise return to its original glory and last year’s release of Devil May Cry 5 stands as one of the most successful returns to form this generation. We’re sure Capcom will announce more new entries in the future but in the meantime the only other new releases have been versions of the original games on the Nintendo Switch. The first two were just straight ports of the recent Xbox One and PS4 remasters, but the effort that’s been put into this third game really is something special.
In an extremely unusual, but very welcome, move Capcom has taken the step of adding new features to Devil May Cry 3, retrofitting it with features that would only be introduced in later sequels. (The qualifier Special Edition has nothing to do with this, as the original PlayStation 2 version saw an update with that name in 2006, which rebalanced the difficultly and added new content, including Vergil as a playable character – as well as a performance boost to run 20% faster.)
We have to admit though, that we’ve no idea why they chose to do this, since rumours of main character Dante coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have since failed to pan out. Although he is still a good bet for Fighters Pass Vol. 2 and we still don’t know what’s supposed to be happening on two of the dates (30 January and 13 February) that Devil May Cry producer Matt Walker told fans to keep an eye out for. What we do know though is that this is the best version of Devil May Cry 3 there’s ever been.
As well regarded as the Devil May Cry series is today, prior to the release of Devil May Cry 3 it had almost suffered an early death thanks to the diabolical (pun intended) Devil May Cry 2 – still widely regarded as one of the worst sequels ever made. But the third game was a complete triumph, not just in terms of the gameplay but also the cocksure attitude of anti-hero Dante and the game’s over-the-top attitude and brazen disregard for any sense of realism or self-control.
Despite the huge range of moves available, Devil May Cry has never been a complicated concept. Most set pieces require you to do nothing more than kill everything that moves and those that don’t are highly simplistic lock and key puzzles (even so, there can be a touch too much back-tracking and aimless wandering between fights). The depth comes from the nature of the combat, which is closer in complexity to a fighting game than normal third person action games with this amount of freedom of movement.
Dante is armed with both swords and guns, but one of the big ideas for the third game was that he has four separate styles of play (plus two extra ones unlocked later in the game) that emphasised either dodging, blocking, swordplay or shooting. Previously these could only be changed between missions or at a divinity statue, but now they can be switched in real-time whenever you want, which adds greatly to the sense of dynamism and freedom.
You could already hold two of each kind of weapon at a time, and flip between them in real-time, so that combined with all the new moves and upgrades you can acquire gives you a highly impressive amount of control over Dante and the way he fights. Especially considering this is essentially still a PlayStation 2 game.
The original, non-special, edition was mercilessly difficult, but an easy mode and a more generous continue system was added later. Playing as Vergil, Dante’s twin brother, he doesn’t use guns, but instead his sword and magical projectiles. He’s stronger from the off but only has one fighting style and less upgrades. He doesn’t get his own story as such though, just the same levels as before with the cut scenes stripped out and one new boss.
However, the other major change for the Switch version is that you can now play the Blood Palace challenge rooms in local co-op, with one person playing as Dante and the other as Vergil. That really is going above and beyond for a release that most would’ve been pleased to see as just a straight port.
Of course, the one aspect of Devil May Cry 3 that is showing its age is the graphics. But while the characters and textures are very low detail the action is still easy to follow and the frame rate very smooth. There’s no question the pre-rendered cut scenes have aged poorly, but it’s the restrictive camera which is the most archaic element and the one most likely to frustrate a modern player. Although it was somewhat problematic even at the time.
We don’t know why Capcom has put so much effort into this re-release, but it’s a marvellous thing to see and the game absolutely does still stand up today. After all these years, Devil May Cry 3 now has a new definitive edition and if you haven’t played the most recent game this is not only the next best thing but stylish enough that some may actually prefer it.
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition Nintendo Switch review summary
In Short: An unexpectedly enhanced version of one of the best action games of the PS2 era, which even now offers better and deeper combat than most modern rivals.
Pros: The core combat still holds up extremely well and is greatly improved by the more flexible style-changing system. Great boss fights, Dante at his cocky best, and welcome new co-op options.
Cons: The camera was a problem even 15 years ago and is now very much showing its age, as are the crusty old pre-rendered cut scenes. Non-combat sequences are never very interesting.
Score: 8/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch
Price: £15.99
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 20th February 2020
Age Rating: 16
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