Capcom created a poster boy for bad and put him on the PS2.    Not only does Dante have the image and the attitude, but the moves as well to create beauty and challenge.  The innovative battle system keeps one imagining new ways to juggle, taunt, and kill one's enemies.  This game also comes with opponents which are challenging and menacing.  For the casual gamer, one can earn easy mode through many deaths.  If one plays the different difficulties, one notices that Capcom has made enemy substitutions to create a greater challenge.

The sword Dante starts out with is a memento from his father.  One has to get so far to unlock the force edge's ultimate power.  Which is well worth the wait, but comes after two other melee weapons.   The first is a sword named Alastor.  The sword provides lightening quick speed and an array of other purchasable abilities.  When you get Alastor, you also receive devil trigger (a mode you build up to by killing enemies and filling the symbols below your health). In devil trigger, you are much faster and actually gain and regenerate health for the duration of your devil trigger.

The next melee weapon is a set of fire gauntlets named Infrit.  The gauntlets work much the same way Alastor does except they focus on power instead of speed.  You also receive a couple ranged weapons.  You start with ebony and ivory, one silver and one black handgun.  They are designed specifically for Dante, so hey can shoot as fast as he likes or as fast as you can as the case may be.  

Next, we have the shotgun, it’s a typical shotgun. The shotgun, ebony, and ivory can both be charged, if a melee weapon with devil trigger is equipped. One also gets a grenade launcher and an energy weapon called the nightmare-beta. The nightmare-beta runs of your devil trigger and has a ricochet effect. You can also find a belt that temporarily stops time for every one but you.

The music kind of sets the tone for the scenery.  The music blends with what is going on and actually drives one to the zone.  The music can also make it more difficult, for instance in the puzzles.  The skull hopping puzzle (a secret mission in the coliseum) or the platform jumping to acquire Infrit the fire gauntlets are two examples.  

The storyline is quite worth the shame of easy mode (I admittedly played through easy my first time through). Dante (a half demon, half human) does battle to keep the emperor of hell, a demon named Mundus sealed in hell. He was originally trapped there by Dante's father, Sparda, a legendary demon knight.

I did however have a few complaints. Some of the camera views lacked the proper angle, which can be adjusted for given the proper forethought. I also feel the controls would have been slightly not as clunky had the "X" button been the jump button.

The bottom line is if you haven't played it you should.  If you have played, you should play it again. 

Developer:

Capcom

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Publisher:

Capcom

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Genre:

Type

Action 

Release Date: