Devil May Cry 2 (PS2) Review

After the success of Devil May Cry on the PS2, it was inevitable that sequel would be in the works in order to live up the former's success. However, not everything went great during development. Hideki Kamiya, who directed the first game, was not brought back to develop the sequel, a move that disappointed him. He would later work on other titles like Viewtiful Joe, Ōkami, and Bayonetta, but no Devil May Cry games.

When the game was first released, critical and fan response was lukewarm at best in contrast to its predecessor. Today, I will take a look at the black sheep of the Devil May Cry franchise (next to the reboot) and see if it's worthy of the reception it got.

Story

The game is split into two discs, each telling the story of Dante and new character, Lucia, from their points of view. Taking place in the fictional city of Vie de Marli, they have to stop a businessman named Arius (who looks like Heihachi from Tekken) from resurrecting a demon called Argosax and achieving power.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, story isn't really the series' biggest strength, and throughout the game, I almost forget what was happening. At least Dante's cocky and arrogant personality would make up for it... he doesn't. He's mostly silent throughout the game and he has this habit of flipping a coin, which I really don't understand. Even Lucia was pretty bland and forgettable; she's hot, but that's all I can say about her.

Well, with a badly written and forgettable story, can the gameplay make up for it?

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Devil May Cry 2 is a mission-based hack 'n' slash game, with a greater focus on combat. Each mission has a different objective, from finding a way to get a new area or defeating a boss. After completing a mission, you are given a rank based on your performance (A, B, C, D, and S) from the time you completed it, collected a certain number of red orbs, or taking damage, to name a few. There are also secret missions hidden throughout the game and completing the secret missions will earn you power-ups.

Different types of colored orbs can be collected, each having their own purpose: red orbs can be used to purchase items and upgrades for weapons. They can be found throughout levels or from fallen enemies. Green orbs are used for restoring Dante and Lucia's health. Blue orb fragments are also scattered throughout the game and collecting four will form one blue orb and increase Dante and Lucia's health. Purple orbs can be bought to increase the Devil Trigger gauge. Lastly, there are yellow orbs, which, instead of being used as a 1-up, they can bring you back to life when you die.

Majin Devil Trigger. Not a bad design.

Devil Trigger mode is when Dante and Lucia transform into a demonic or angelic form, respectively, and their strength and speed are increased for a short time until the Devil Trigger gauge runs out. There are also amulets that can be found to increase their performances in Devil Trigger mode, like flying. Dante also has Majin Form, an enhanced version of the Devil Trigger, which can be activated when he's really low on health, making you invulnerable and powerful.

Dante and Lucia earn different types of weapons as the player progresses from various blades and guns, each having their ups and downs. For example, Merciless is a thin sword that has a long range, and Vendetta (reminds me of the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII) is a big sword with a short range. They can be upgraded by spending a number of red orbs. You can also switch between guns by the push of a button during gameplay, but you still have to switch different blades by going to the pause menu.

There are a variety of enemies to fight and what's cool is that the lower left corner of the screen displays the name of the enemies and shows how much health they have left. The "Style" meter also remains, where if you continue fighting enemies without stopping, the rank increases from D ("Don't worry") to S ("Showtime!"). However, what holds combat back is that it involves a lot of button mashing and not too many combos to perform. Even worse is that enemies hardly put up a fight, which leads me into another problem that hurt the game really bad.



That fight was nothing but a joke.

Remember the bosses from the first game? While I found them annoying, they at least had strategy. Here, you just approach them and keep mashing the triangle button to slash or hold the square button to shoot until they're down. The bosses are either repetitive, boring, or easy. The fight with the infested chopper was where I drew the line; you had to keep holding the square button to shoot it until it goes down and the chopper's guns and missiles miss you pretty easily. Did the game designers even beta test this game?

One thing that really annoys me is the target lock-on system. Whether you want to or not, Dante or Lucia will lock on to an enemy instead of your desired target. This is especially annoying when in a couple of missions, there are some switches you need to hit with your sword, but there are enemies in the way, preventing you from hitting the switches until you take care of them. It's a shame that Beyond Good & Evil, another game that came out in 2003, did much better by having no target lock-on to avoid any inconvenience in combat.

Graphics, Level Design, and Audio

Hello? Anyone but the demons home?

Instead of taking place in some haunted castle, Devil May Cry 2 takes place in an urban environment run by demons. While the game itself looks good, for the most part, the environment is needlessly large and empty. And if that wasn't bad enough, some of the fixed camera angles still aren't as helpful or clear in where to go next, which is another problem that the game has. I heard some people compare it to another Capcom game called Shinobi, where it has an empty city, but more well-executed than this game.

I can't say too much about the audio. Well, maybe a couple of comments. The voice acting isn't quite spectacular, but then again, the first game was guilty of that as well. I'm not even too surprised about Dante having a new voice actor. Arius's voice, on the other hand, is just laughably bad. Although, to the game's little credit, at least the music was actually decent; the intro music is by far my favorite, as well as "A Prayer for Goddess" which plays when buying items.



Conclusion

No doubt, Devil May Cry 2 was a disappointment, especially since I didn't like the first game that much as well. The combat was dull, the environments were unnecessarily large, Dante and Lucia were slow, the boss fights were pathetic, the story was forgettable, Lucia's gameplay is nearly identical to Dante's and it was just plain easy and boring at the same time. The game was also short, especially since I beat Dante's story within a day, but after playing it, I'm glad it ended when it should.

On the other hand, the game looks okay, the music was decent and the controls were MUCH better this time around, since you can now jump with X and dodging is much simpler by just pressing the circle button.. It's a shame that the game had a lot to live up to, only to be a flop. It's basically the Simon's Quest of the series. There's just no sense of excitement whatsoever.

Although I may sound generous, but it's not even the worst game I've played. You know what game I hate more than Devil May Cry 2?

That's right, I hate Sonic Heroes more than Devil May Cry 2. That one was garbage. Back on topic, if Hideki Kamiya was hired to work on this game, would it have turned out better than we have right now? Nobody knows, although, I don't think it might have turned out great for later games. After all, Devil May Cry 3 was made in order to avoid the mistakes that this game had.

I only recomment it just for the sake of curiosity. If not, you're not missing much and I say skip straight into Devil May Cry 3.

By the way, what was with the Diesel clothing product placement?