Worth playing, but nearly not as good as the first game.
“Dante, the world’s coolest demon slayer, is back to shake down the legions of the underworld. Armed with rock star good looks and more trash-talking attitude, Dante launches into a demonic new adventure with more moves, expansive environments and twice the sizzle of the original! This time Dante has a new partner in mayhem with the devilishly agile, Lucia. Together, they join forces against the hoards of evil in this stylish action thriller that’s cooler than hell!”
That was taken from the back of the box, thought if you know my reviews, you’re getting used to this. First, let’s correct what they say. Dante does not have much more trash-talking attitude as they say. In fact, Dante hardly ever talks in this game. He will start having an attitude towards the end of the game, but nothing like the first title. Dante totally lost his personality this time around which just makes it less fun to watch him meet bosses and stuff. More moves? Yeah, new moves, but never did I notice that he had “more” moves than he did in the first release, more like.. Less moves. Yes the environments are quite bigger, but are more boring too. You can spend a while just running to somewhere without meeting any demons or anything, just running. DMC1 sure has nothing to envy to this one. Lucia, his new partner? They merely cross paths and end up having a similar goal. I just wouldn’t call them partners. They don’t go on a demon killing frenzy together. Lucia is on her own quest and Dante is on his own as well, they merely cross paths a good couple times and eventually will end up with the same goal at the end of the game, but nothing more than that. Now that I’ve dug out the mistakes of the box resume, you already know more about the game and why people were disappointed.
The story itself doesn’t really have a sense and is practically non-existent. Basically, it’s about a game named Arius who wishes to control the darkness and to become immortal using the four Arcanas. A lot of the other things are left unexplained and that’s mostly the only thing you will make out of the story. Playing as Dante, you only go out, bust some demons’ ass. Why? Because Matier (Lucia’s mother) asked of your help to get rid of Arius. That’s about it. Lucia sure has a background story, hell, she has more story in the game than Dante although she has less missions to accomplish. As Lucia, you will go on the quest of finding the Arcanas to hide them from Arius and prevent him from doing the ceremony. You will learn about Lucia’s past, but I won’t spoil that for yourself. It’s hard enough not to spoil a game’s story when there is minimal to none story in it.
The gameplay changed here, the controls changed. Now you jump with the X button, Use melee attacks with the Triangle button, use your guns (Dante) or darts (Lucia) with the Square button, dodge attacks with the Circle, also used as the action button for opening doors to Secret Rooms. That’s basically it. You can move around using either the left analog stick or the D-Pad and change your current arsenal with the L2 button. Of course, you still have the Devil Trigger, which changed in appearance and can be activated with the L1 button, when you’re bar is full, of course. You can always lock-on enemies with the R1 and button and I have yet to find any utility to the R2 button. The gameplay isn’t bad though. It’s easy to catch on, it plays pretty smooth. Even though the environments can be big at times, you still always know where to go. I have no problem with all of that, everything goes perfectly there. Sometimes the camera angle can come in your way making it difficult to see where the enemies are, but anyone who has played Devil May Cry in the past will know this situation. It doesn’t really bother me, but hey, it’s still worth pointing put since I know it is an important thing in a game. In this game though, the guns are over-powered for sure. That’s what makes Devil May Cry 2 less good. You can stand in a corner almost for the entire game jus shooting with your guns, jumping once in a while, and before you know it you’ve gone through the game. Sometimes I even wonder why they gave him the sword this time around since you don’t even have any use for it other than light up orbs to proceed further. The game is MUCH more easier than it’s predecessor, offering no challenge at all. That’s another reason to why this game is disappointing in a way, since it is so easy and makes the game very short. You can sit one day and go through the game in less than 5 hours. The graphics looks good, they look sharp and there’s some very cool scenes happening. Too bad the game itself doesn’t live up to them. There isn’t much to say about them. The graphics are well rendered, the atmosphere is there.. Sometimes. I really like the demon world, that’s for sure. I ain’t got any complaints on what my eyes could actually see.
The music is pretty good in my opinion. A lot of people didn’t like it, but I think it suit the game perfectly. You will hear the usual DMC1 type of music mixed with metal guitars and all. Sounds pretty good and totally drives you in the game. If only the gameplay could be as good as the music itself, it would even be better.
Now, for those who wonder, the stages differ depending if you play as Dante or Lucia. Lucia has one of them in-water stage though which I highly disliked, but that’s just my personal opinion. It makes it worth playing through the game with both characters. You will play it as Dante because it’s Dante, then play it with Lucia because Lucia’s disc has more story than Dante’s disc. Yep, that’s right. Lucia has more story although she has less missions to accomplish. She plays pretty well too, but I still prefer playing as Dante.
So I hope this review can be useful to you. Overall, the game is disappointing because it is too easy to go through it. It offers no challenge at all. Dante totally lost his personality and some stuff just doesn’t make sense at all in the game. I still found it to be quite enjoyable and worth having to complete the DMC franchise. I just wish it would of offered more challenge, more story and better moves to work with.
Worry not though, as you can unlock special costumes by completing the game on different difficulty settings, as well as unlocking “Blood Palace”, which is basically fighting monsters endlessly going from floors to floors. This will probably keep you playing a bit longer than you would normally.
I recommend this game to people who thought the first instalment was way too hard for them and to anyone who just wishes to complete their DMC collection. At the very least, it is worth a rent, the game is still enjoyable despite all it’s bad sides. Just don’t expect any story driving game, more a run and slash at everything without really knowing what’s going on.