Devil May Cry 2 Review - Devil May Cry Series 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 'Devil May Cry 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

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.

Arriving on Dumary Island, Dante meets up with an old hag named 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...

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.

Gameplay

Devil May Cry 2 did quite a few things RIGHT. Yes, you heard the word 'Right'. However, with each 'right' there is a parallel 'wrong':

First and foremost is the control scheme. As painfully difficult and illogical as was the first's, controlling Dante in Devil May Cry 2 feels more natural. The basic attack button (your guns) is the 'Square' button, and jump is 'X' (thank God). 'Circle' no longer utilizes your Devil Arms (your swords), which is now 'Triangle'. 'Circle' instead does a new 'dodge' maneuver, allowing Dante and Lucia to roll out of the way of enemies and run up walls like in The Matrix. Wall running is generally USELESS because both Dante and Lucia are able to double-jump from the beginning.

Dante has, however, learned an interesting new attack: Shooting two enemies at once! While shooting at one enemy, point your control stick at another enemy and continue to fire in order to shoot at both enemies at once. Dante will shoot in a different style depending upon where the enemy is.

The upgrade system (red orbs, purple orbs, blue orbs) has remained intact in Devil May Cry 2. HOWEVER instead of learning new moves as you progress through the game, you upgrade your weaponry to do more damage. THAT'S IT. All you do is make your weapons deal more damage. You do NOT get to learn new attacks, WHAT SO EVER.

The ranking system has returned, and has actually been improved. In the first game you are awarded extra red orbs by receiving a higher rank when fighting enemies. You start at 'D' and can progress to the 'S' rank. If there is a considerable pause in your attacks, or if you are hit by an enemy, your rank will fall back to 'D'. The ranks are:

A rank is also awarded to you at the end of the level, in which you receive bonus orbs. Originally, a player was ranked on how fast they finish a level, and how many orbs they collected in the level. Now, the amount of damage you sustained, your overall enemy fight ranking while playing the stage, and whether or not you used an item. These two factors make it much more imperative that you fight quickly and aggressively in order to score a higher overall level at the end of each stage.

The Devil Trigger ability enables Dante and Lucia to transform into a devil form. This changes their appearance, increases their strength and defense, slowly restores health, and enables them to use special attacks. The Devil Trigger state lasts as long as there is power in the Devil Trigger Gauge, which increases by attacking or taunting enemies in the normal state and decreases by attacking in the Devil Trigger state or using Devil Trigger-only attacks. Unique to this game is the Majin Form Devil Trigger — an enhanced form of the Devil Trigger — available to Dante when he is low on health. Also with the Devil Trigger comes the ability for Dante to FLY! Up, down, left and right; Dante can actually ascend to those hard to reach items.

Gone are the narrow corridors that you have to fight legions of blood puppets like in the first. Now, the levels are expansive and you have the freedom to roam through city streets and across rooftops to your hearts content. The downside is that you now have to walk five fucking miles to achieve anything or fight any enemies! Seriously, at stretches at a time Devil May Cry 2 is virtually desolate of enemies until you walk down just the right street, and then a few will materialize around you. What Devil May Cry 2 developers should have done was give Dante a 'Devil Cellphone' so he could call up his damned enemies and work out a location.

The gameplay, like me when I see women in Brazilian thongs, is INCREDIBLY STIFF. Compared to the first Devil May Cry, the combo system feels NEUTERED. In DMC1, it was possible to go completely bat-shit loco on your enemies. You could slash them, then knock them in the air, juggle them with your pistols, leap in the air, and knock them to the ground. In Devil May Cry 2, trying to pull off an outrageous combo against your enemy is an effort in futility. You are extremely limited in the lengths of your combos simply because of your pistols. In the previous game, Dante could juggle an enemy in the air with his pistols until either the enemy was dead, or your thumb got numb. Now, no matter how fast or how hard you tap the Square button, Dante can only shoot in bursts of three. That's it. You uppercut an enemy into the air, and you can shoot him three times before he hits the ground and you have to try something else.

Wanna know how stiff the controls are in DMC2? Look at the picture below

Now look between your legs. Yeah, THAT stiff.

The biggest problem with Devil May Cry 2 is that the game is TOO EASY. I know that the difficulty was a problem with the first game, but come on, DMC2 is a walk in the park in contrast. Honestly, during my first run through the game, I only DIED TWICE, and both were against the final boss. In my second run through with the Lucia disk, I never died once. While the enemies aren't much of a step up from the Bloody Puppets and Wraiths/Banshees from the first game, the bosses are laughably easy to defeat. Even more disappointing are the lackluster boss fights. While the character designs are cool (I was especially impressed by the giant skeleton demon that came out of the skyscraper), the fights themselves are not even a challenge.

Game Tip: To beat a boss, fill your Devil Trigger gauge by dodging the enemy's attacks then stand outside of the boss's range of attack. Activate your Devil Trigger, and then hold down the square button, which unleashes a hail of charged gunfire. Repeat once more if necessary.

Weapons (Swords)

No, not 'Devil Arms'... just swords. Another one of my major gripes about Devil May Cry 2 is the complete lack of original weapons. Every character gets a default weapon, and every additional weapon plays nearly IDENTICAL to their default weapon. I admit, I didn't use Ifrit too much in Devil May Cry 1, but having the CHOICE to use a weapon that is completely unique helps escalate the gameplay. But no, instead every weapon is practically the same as the last.

FURTHERMORE, you have to FIND THE OTHER WEAPONS! WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT? YOU SEE SOMETHING IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM AND HIT 'X' AND YOU PICK UP THE WEAPON LIKE YOU WERE PICKING UP AN ORB. In all other Devil May Cry games, when you receive a weapon, THEY MAKE A GODDAMNED CEREMONY OUT OF IT. I'M TALKING CUT-SCENES AND ACTION SEQUENCES THAT SHOW OFF YOUR NEW POWERS. BUT NO, IN DEVIL MAY CRY 2, YOU GET A FUCKING LITTLE POPUP THAT SAYS: "YOU FOUND --------" AND THEN IT DISAPPEARS. IF YOU ARE TAPPING 'X', YOU WILL MISS THE POPUP, IF YOU DON'T JUST MISS THE WEAPON ENTIRELY!

The Projectile weapons differ from character to character, but are about the same as you would expect. Dante gets guns, Lucia gets throwing darts. Each has a rapid fire weapon (yeah right...), a spread-shot weapon, and an explosive weapon. Respectively, Dante has his pistols (Ebony & Ivory), a shotgun, and a rocket launcher; Lucia has throwing knives, darts (shoots 3 at a time), and 'Cranky Bombs'.

However, Lucia also has a bowgun for her underwater level. It works about the same as the NeedleGun in Devil May Cry, but is used for only the underwater level, so it's not really worth talking about.

Enemies

One thing that Devil May Cry 2 really had going for it was the expansive amount of enemies you encounter, and where you encounter them. Also, some of the enemies were really unique and looked threatening. Some of the small enemies included: skeletal tin-men with swords that would give most Final Fantasy characters an inferiority complex; little shadow demons like in the game The Darkness; satanic flying goat demons; regenerating golems; and elemental cultists.

But, as I said earlier, Devil May Cry 2 is WAAAY too easy. Most of the enemies seem to lumber towards you as though they had a death wish. Their attacks are slow, and aside from a few of the later enemies, most can be taken out with a few quick slashes. The enemies don't really rush to kill you like the previous game (or the sequels) and the whole thing feels like you are shooting fish in a barrel.

Bosses

Bosses are as equally as inventive as the normal enemies, but also suffer from a lack of aggression. The only challenge one might actually reap from a boss is when (like in the case of the three floating skulls) they are too far away for you to attack. But that isn't "challenge", IT'S "FRUSTRATION". It's like the stupid recess bully who takes a little kid's toy and holds it over his head out of reach. He doesn't do it to make it a challenge for the little kid, he does it to piss him off.

The bosses are each unique and, for the most part, hold up to the bosses of the first game. Now, I WAS going to post pictures of the bosses of Devil May Cry 2 in this review, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find any. It seems as though time has forgotten the bosses of DMC2, but has somehow retained some knowledge of the first game, and the later sequels. Why is that?

Sure, they are designed well, but not one of them, NOT A SINGLE ONE is ever, EVER introduced to the player. THE ONLY THING THAT SEPARATES THE BOSSES FROM THE LESSER ENEMIES IS A GODDAMNED BIGGER HEALTH BAR.

EVERY OTHER DEVIL MAY CRY GAME HAS SOME SORT OF A BOSS CINIMATIC OR CUTSCENE TO LET YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO FIGHT A BOSS, AND YOU WILL GET YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU. But no, not Devil May Cry 2. You play through a level, see a bigger enemy, fight and kill it. THE END.

The only bosses that have ever stood the test of time from Devil May Cry 2 are Arius and Argosax; the only bosses that actually DO get a cutscene. I despise Arius (and if you listen to him speak, you will know why), but Argosax was actually an interesting concept. You fight Argosax in two different forms:

Graphics

Whether or not the graphics are impressive actually comes down to personal opinion. You either believe that Devil May Cry has better graphics because the levels are more expansive and open, or you can judge that the graphics have actually gotten worse because of it.

The Good: The levels are large and expansive than the first game. There is also a lot of variation for different levels. You see tall buildings with tile roofs, high-tech facilities with metal pipes, and city scapes with glamorous design. The enemies within each level are detailed and impressive in their own right. The CGI cut scenes were a marvel to behold back when the Playstation 2 was mid-way through its lifespan.

The Bad: Because the levels are so expansive, every building looks exactly the same as the others. Every tile and surface in a level looks nearly identical, and it is hard to not get lost in some areas, whereas in DMC1 every area was distinct and unique. A great deal of the 'organic' or Gothic feel of the previous game's levels has been lost in favor for more urban environments, which really rubs me the wrong way. 'Demon Hunting' is the last thing I think of when I see a goddamn skyscraper or oil derik. Characters appear to have a little more detail than the first Devil May Cry, but they still appear as rigid and pixelated as before, but you can't expect much on the PS2.

Sound

Overall, the music in Devil May Cry 2 has retained the electronic/heavy metal feel, but has lost a lot of the Gothic undertones that complimented the soundtrack of the previous game. Even more disappointingly is that, according to some, the heavy metal fight music sounds like monkeys taking a shit on an electric guitar.

To be brutally honest, the music in Devil May Cry gave me more of a headache, rather than the intended adrenaline boost.

The sound effects do not deviate from the first game all that much, but there is one thing that consistently annoyed me: WALKING. Seriously, walking. The sharp, endlessly repetitive 'CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.' you hear as you run down the streets was so incredibly mind numbing, it was like being locked in a dark room with a metronome. Why did the sounds of Dante's footsteps bother me so much in Devil May Cry 2 when I didn't notice them in any of the other games??? Maybe it was because I had to do five-times the walking to get anywhere.

Voice acting in Devil May Cry is actually fairly good, MINUS ARIUS! Seriously, that megalomaniacal little wizard sounds like a cross between Dr. Insano and Hitler huffing helium.

When Lucia and Dante ACTUALLY TALK their voices sound respectable. Dante's voice is spot on, even if his personality is waaaay off base. Lucia sounds sweet and stoic, which is perfectly fine since (UNLIKE DANTE) HER CHARACTER HAS NOT YET BEEN DEFINED IN A PREVIOUS BEST-SELLING GAME. Matier sounds like an old crippled woman, though something about her presence always has an air of suspicion.

Dialogue

Dialogue in Devil May Cry 2 isn't as horribly cheesy or stupid as in the first game. Why is that?

Dante has become a stoic, silent hero like Clint Eastwood's 'Blondie' from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" instead of a wise-cracking, rebellious figure more along the lines of Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop". It is a complete character reversal, and it's so abrupt that you can't shake the feeling that this Dante is some kind of evil impostor. What happened after the events of Devil May Cry to make Dante act so completely different? Did Trish dump him, and he took it too hard? That would explain Trish's absence from the sequel.

The other protagonist, Lucia, is another great conversationalist... for a MIME... Her invitation to Dante at the beginning of Devil May Cry 2 is the only time you will ever hear the voice of this ethnically-challenged belle until you reach the very end of the game. Then it's the same rhetoric we heard with Trish from DMC1: "I'm a demon created by (insert bad guy's name) to take over the world and kill you... blah blah blah"

Then you put Dante and Lucia together towards the end and you hear striking, dramatic conversations on par with the following:

So Devil May Cry 1 had horrible dialogue, and Devil May Cry 2 has NO dialogue. Why am I still pissed? Because REMOVING ALL of the dialogue is not a FIX. Sure, DMC1 was cheesy and sometimes made you cringe, but at least there was evidence of characters actually interacting with one another. Hell, even the bosses interacted with the characters.

THE prime example of this massive back step is when you fight The Phantom again. When you first met with the lava spider demon in Devil May Cry 1, his entrance was dramatic, and he approached Dante, taunting him with a hellishly deep voice. There was a sense of dread and almost helplessness as you watched this colossus approach you with intent to kill. In Devil May Cry 2, The Phantom returns. There is a bright light and 'presto' there he is, and you proceed to kick his ass. NO DIALOGUE ABOUT THE PHANTOM GOING TO KILL DANTE THIS TIME, AND NO WRY RETORT BY DANTE. But regardless of how cliche dialogue like that is, the first game pulled it off with some style, and the absence of it leaves an unbearable void in its place.

The first Devil May Cry had very few problems with its witty comebacks and the 'face-off' dialogue, but it stunk it up with its dramatic scenes. So to remedy this, you drop ALL the dialogue? It makes NO SENSE!

OVERALL

Picture this: Say that I belonged to a team of auto manufacturers that made a car that everyone loved. A smash hit. The company that you worked for raked in the profits and you and your team got critical acclaim. Then, your corporate bigwigs want another car that incorporates everything people love about your car, but adds better fuel efficiency, more luxurious interior, and maybe a cigarette lighter for shits and giggles. But instead of having your team make these minor tweaks, they bring in an entirely different team to head the project. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Sure, they might be qualified and they might be a highly productive team, but they don't know shit about your product, let alone the motivations and ambitions that you and your team had when you created the original.

Instead of simply slowly perfecting a formula that shows promise, Capcom almost completely rewrote it in an effort to please every gamer and critic. The result was a game that, while could have been decent as a stand-alone title, fails to carry on the title of 'Devil May Cry'. Devil May Cry 2 honestly feels as though the developers spent all of their time and energy trying to fix what was wrong with Devil May Cry 1, rather than preserving what made the first game so great.

Devil May Cry 2: "If it's broken, fix it. If worked in the original, don't focus on it."

The reviews for Devil May Cry 2 were mixed. While critics heralded a better control schema, fans and reviewers alike were put off by a sub-par presentation. Devil May Cry 2 still sold 1.5 million copies world-wide, regardless of its lukewarm reception. Devil May Cry 3 was on shaky ground, especially when it was announced that the team that developed DMC2 would be brought back for the third.

>> Click Here for Part 4 - Devil May Cry 3 (PS2)

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Devil May Cry 2 Review
(Playstation 2)

Devil May Cry Series Review: The Rise, The Fall, The Rebirth, and The Re-envisioning

Part 3 - Devil May Cry 2 (Playstation 2)

Story

Gameplay

Weapons (Swords)

Enemies

Bosses

Graphics

Sound

Dialogue

OVERALL

7.0

6.0

6.0

7.0

9.0

6.5

>> Click Here for Part 4 - Devil May Cry 3 (PS2)

Video Series

Authors

Reviews

Popular Topics

Types

Author

Series

Bloggers

CCS.com

General

Devil May Cry 2 Review (Playstation 2)

Devil May Cry Series Review: The Rise, The Fall, The Rebirth, and The Re-envisioning

Part 3 - Devil May Cry 2 (Playstation 2)

Story

Gameplay

Weapons (Swords)

Enemies

Bosses

Graphics

Sound

Dialogue

OVERALL

7.0

6.0

6.0

7.0

9.0

6.5

>> Click Here for Part 4 - Devil May Cry 3 (PS2)

Video Series

Authors

Reviews

Popular Topics

Devil May Cry 2 Review
(Playstation 2)