This game is not designed for casual gamers. But if you put up with the difficulty it is a great game.
Amazing gore and delimbing.
Great sounds of blood and gore.
Great weaponry.
Graphics of the enemies and characters are awesome.
Grab you story.
Cons:
Some parts are just way too difficult for people who have never played an NG game.
Boss fights seem cheap and recycled.
The environment could be improved on.
Let me say before anything else. I have never played an NG game, perhaps i should have before playing this one but anyway.
The game offers some good graphics, great sound and imaginative weapons and a great story. Perhaps the main thing that NG2 offers is the amazing level of gore present. You can slash the enemies limbs off sending them flying over the environment causing the enemies to fall over and crawl or only use one weapon. However you may think doing this will weaken them, instead it does the opposite, the enemies crawling will lunge at you and become a suicide bomber planting a explosive shuriken in you. While the enemies will one arm get more aggressive slashing at you with ferocity. However the aggresiveness can be countered with a quick thumb pressing Y next to a wounded enemy will kill them instantly in a flurry of steel sending more limbs flying.
The weapons you get and use vary wildly for the uses. The first weapon you have is a normal sword useful for chopping up enemys and spreading gore, the second is a stave with weights at each end, used for pummeling opponents to death. The third is a set of gauntlets and greaves, very very similar to Gilgamesh found in DMC4 without the addition of rockets. The fourth is a set of two swords similar to just using one except slower, the fifth is a Kusari Gama, a flail with blade attached. There are also amazing scythes, bladed tonfas and a nunchuck/flail/axe. You are not restricted to melee however, there are bows, a gatling spear gun and various shurikens. And also magic or Ninpo. The melee weapons are upgradable unlocking different looks and moves and each is suited for a specific task. The scythe is able to mow down enemies with ease where the staff and Kusari gama is used for taking out multiple opponents.
Now, the most annoying part of the game, no its not the camera. I can cope with that. It is the level of difficulty in the game. As soon as you start, you are faced with around 6 enemies who do not let up on you just because you are new. And the difficulty just gets worse. The first boss is relatively easy, when you see it. But it gets worse. The third chapters boss is just insane if you dont know what you are doing. It took me around 20 goes to actually figure out how to do it. It gets worse. All the bosses have special grabs which are unblockable and hard to dodge for a beginner. If you think you have killed a boss, well think again, they come back twice, or even for a third time. But you can think again if you think they come back with different things to do. All thath as changed is they do more damage. No new attacks or abilities. Just damage. This is where the game lacks a lot. The difficulty makes it annoying to play, and the lack of variety makes it just boring.
The game would be worth of a score of 10 easily, if it wasnt so hard for people never played the series before.