Devil May Cry 2 (PS2) Review

Devil May Cry was a smash hit. The reception of Dante’s first adventure was overwhelmingly positive, though not without a few complaints. Common complaints ranged from ‘the game was too hard’ to ‘the camera was horrible (I agree)’ to ‘Trish wasn’t playable’. Regardless, Devil May Cry was a critical and commercial success, and Dante had gone from a gaming nobody to the most extreme video game character during the first few years of the 21st century. As I mentioned in the Devil May Cry 1 review, Dante’s adventure was the adrenaline jolt that shook the gaming industry.

A sequel was not only imminent, it was DEMANDED by gamers and critics alike.

The original Devil May Cry was developed by director Hideki Kamiya and Capcom Production Studio 4, however neither director nor studio were given notice that a sequel would be in the works until, surprisingly, Devil May Cry was being localized for European and North American markets. Hideki Kamiya and Studio 4 were not brought back to develop Devil May Cry 2, and the project was instead handed to director Hideaki Itsuno and Capcom Production Studio 1, whose past achievements include Capcom vs. SNK 2.

Producer Tsuyoshi Tanaka wanted Itsuno and Studio 1 to make the sequel naturally superior to the original. Tanaka emphasized larger environments (approximately 9-times larger than the original game). Puzzles were also to be downplayed (a good move in my opinion), and the camera system was to be revamped to allow better action scenes. Overall, not a bad list of fixes that would have obviously improved the original game. In addition to the logical evolution of the series, additional changes from the first game were influenced by public surveys distributed by the development team in an effort to appease fans. Based on the infamous outcome of Devil May Cry 2, I often wonder: “Who the fuck did they survey?”

Capcom (in their infinite wisdom) went all out in the marketing campaign for Devil May Cry 2. An official video game soundtrack was released in Japan. In addition, due to the focus of Devil May Cry 2′s action on style, Capcom partnered with the Diesel clothing company, which has a history of working with game developers. Dante and Lucia were modeled with specially designed costumes featuring the Diesel brand name and were featured in promotional material in Diesel stores across Japan.

As it was with Playstation Home, Devil May Cry 2 is proof that Diesel clothing destroys video games as well as sexual identity.

The infamous outcome of Devil May Cry 2 was an overwhelming lackluster response. A lot of people have their own opinions of the game, which range only between “It’s okay” to “It was a steaming pile of rat shit that killed off more brain cells than huffing a can of aerosol paint.”

I’m not going to tell you how to think about this game, but I am going to share with you my personal experiences.

Story

Dante	Lucia

On a moonlit night, Dante infiltrates a museum where a sacred artifact called The Medaglia is on display. A red-headed, tanned-skinned fem-fatal, Lucia, is staring at The Medaglia with intent to steal. Before she can get her hands on her prized object, demonic birds break through the glass dome roof and attack her. Wielding two bladed tonfas (bladed police nightstick) she defends herself against the flying onslaught. As one of the buzzard-like creatures snatches The Medaglia from its glass case, Dante leaps down from the roof, shooting the bird demons as he falls. Lucia thanks Dante and, dropping a few mysterious parting words, invites Dante to follow her to Dumary Island.

Sounds vaguely familiar…

Arriving on Dumary Island, Dante meets up with an old hag named Matier, Lucia’s mother.

Matier: Lucia’s mother?!?!

I SEE NO FAMILY RESEMBLANCE HERE. IF THE DAUGHTER DOES GROW UP TO LOOK LIKE HER MOTHER, THEN TIME IS TRULY THE ULTIMATE EVIL. Anyways, Matier explains that she once fought alongside Dante’s father, Sparda, to defend the island against demons. She asks Dante to help fight Arius, an international businessman who uses demonic power and seeks to conquer the world. Of course! The power he is after is known as the Arcana. Like as in ‘Arcane’ or ‘Black Magic’. So inventive…

Arius: The rich corporate master and evil occultist who talks with a German accent and is trying to take over the world by bringing together scattered sacred artifacts, all while looking more flamboyant than permissible even in Japan.

If he does risk life and limb to fight off the hordes of Hell itself, Matier will reward Dante… by telling him a story about his dad…

Wait, WHAT?! THAT’S IT? If she wanted to properly motivate Dante, the old woman should rent out Lucia to him for a few nights.

Instead of doing the proper and gentlemanly thing and trading his hard work and effort for a night with the old lady’s daughter, Lucia, you instead flip a coin whether you will help her or not. Heads you will help, tales you won’t. And of course being the ‘cool hero’, Dante is packing a two-headed coin. Yeah all he needs now is a campaign button that reads “I Believe In Harvey Dent.”

Dante goes in search of the Arcana to prevent Arius from obtaining the items, which Arius needs in order to summon Argosax, one of the most powerful demons in all of Hell. Once Dante retrieves all of the pieces, he tries to hand them off to Matier. She refuses to take them and asks Dante to instead bring them to Arius and use them to save Lucia. Dante flips a coin again and, naturally, it lands on heads. As he arrives, Lucia is captured by Arius. Dante trades the Arcana to save her life. Arius is able to escape while Dante saves Lucia. But there is a twist in the story: it turns out that Lucia was created by Arius. After learning that Trish was created by Mundus in the first Devil May Cry, this came as a complete shock… A complete shock that they were so uninventive that they had to almost completely rehash the whole fucking first game.

Arius completes the ritual to summon Argosax when Dante arrives. Arius’s ritual goes awry, and it turns out that Dante pulled the old switcheroo with his two-headed coin and The Medaglia. Arius gets pissed and tries to kick Dante’s ass, but naturally Dante defeats Arius, but only minutes before the portal to the demon world unexpectedly opens. Apparently you only need 4/5 of the Arcana to open a gate to Hell; so much for going the extra mile in the name of world conquest…

Lucia and Dante argue over who will go into the portal and close it from the other side. The two-headed coin is flipped by Dante. It lands on heads and he leaves the coin with Lucia as he travels on his motorcycle through the portal to fight Argosax. As Dante battles with Argosax, Arius returns to life with demonic power to battle Lucia. Both end up defeating their foes and the portal closes leaving Dante in the demon world.

Matier reassures Lucia that Dante should be able to make his way out of the demon world just like his father Sparda did. Lucia takes a look at the coin Dante left her and discovers that both sides are identical. HOLY SHIT! ANOTHER TWIST! Sometime later, Lucia is at Devil May Cry, Dante’s business, and hears a motorcycle pull up in front of the building. Lucia rushes to the door to find…

The End.
Play Lucia in Disk 2.

Con-fucking-gratulations.

Here is where you realize just how badly the whole game has changed from its predecessor, and it starts off with Dante’s whole personality. Is Dante still a Demonic Deadpool? Is Dante the ‘Demon-slayer with a mouth’? No. Instead of provoking enemies with his carefree and ‘devil may care’ attitude, the Dante in this parallel universe known as Devil May Cry 2 is instead very stoic and serious. It’s like making Keanu Reeves the next James Bond: The stoic, serious, and emotionally-void performance doesn’t fit with a character whose self-confidence and witty one-liners are damned near his trademark.

Click Here for the Full Review