Devil May Cry is the prequel to a series about a pair of brother / demons who kick, hack and slash their way through the world. There are zombies galore!

The game goes in heavily for style, with a white-haired, muscular young adult male in Dante who plays the drums, eats pizza, and enjoys spinning swords and shooting guns while holding them sideways, gangster style. There are plenty of one-liners and cool poses to keep cool-seeking players happy for weeks.

The game is a mission-based level fighter, where you work on one mission, get past it, go on to the next mission, and so on. In each mission you choose a 'style' of gameplay. You can focus on swords, on guns, on dodging or blocking. As you level up in a given style, you learn new techniques.

The game isn't just about button mashing. I've heard that some find this game maddeningly hard, and in fact after a while of playing you unlock 'easy' mode to help you out if the normal gameplay is just too rough for you. But really, the game isn't about all the typical 'helpers' like health potions and power-ups. It's about learning and perfecting your skills.

The graphics are reasonably good, although not nearly up to par with other current games. The backgrounds are dark and gloomy, with broken cars and busted windows, but a lost of the mystique is lost with the jaggy edges and repetitive decor. There are several other PS2 games I can name that get this 'moody' atmosphere done much more nicely.

The sound is mostly about pounding rock music to go with the heavy-hitting main character. You don't play this one for the mood or envelopment of atmosphere - you play it to slay zombies by the thousands.

All in all, this is a game that will definitely appeal to a certain group of gamers - those looking for fast-paced fighting, with a dark, zombie / heavy metal hard rock attitude to it. There isn't a HUGE amount of gore, and since you're fighting zombies it's not as "bad" as say the Grand Theft Auto series. There is some challenge in mastering the skills for each path - and to fight masses of enemies to work your way up the D / C / B / A / S / SS traditional Japanese measure of skill.

But I have to admit, the graphics just didn't thrill me very much, the music was a bit grinding and uninspired, and the game became very repetitive once you got the basics mastered. With the wealth of other games currently on the market, this is one we played through a few times and then put aside, while we played our other games for months on end.

Still, if you're looking for a game that requires some skill, that rewards persistence and doesn't hand out easy item-oriented wins in a zombie-filled world, Devil May Cry 3 may be just what you're looking for.

Rating: 3/5

Buy Devil May Cry 3 from Amazon.com