In the end, Devil May Cry 2 is a disappointment, but it still has heart.
Presentation+Story:
Devil May Cry does NOT continue from Devil may cry 1, but is still in the same devil may cry storyline.In fact, in storyline order, it's devil may cry 3 first, then devil may cry 1, next is devil may cry 4 and finally it's devil may cry 2,however as I have heard there are tons of fans that don't care about the game, even capcom think that they don't own it, so they say that Devil may cry 2 is near the end of the storyline.Well, now that's actually finished let's get on with the review.The presentation of the game is rather neat, there's 5 difficulty modes to play through, each one unlocked every time you complete the game on another difficulty(eg, complete the game on normal to unlock hard and so on).The game is shared into 2 discs, each disc is for each of the playable characters, your favourite demon hunter Dante(although, there's something seriously wrong with him, his attitude), and a newcomer in the series, Lucia , she ends up being an important character in the game, and is rather a good one, both characters have different weapons, for example, with Dante you can get his shotgun, his trademark pistols-Ebory and Ivory, while Lucia can get a crossbow and grenades.Dante's disc contains 18 missions, and Lucia's disc contains 13 missions, even though that adds up to 31 missions, there are a lot of levels of which you just fight a boss and that's it, the good news is most levels in both discs are different, not bad. Overall, the presentation of the game is pretty well designed. As for the story of the game, which is tied with the presentation, it's good enough, I don't want to spoil everything up for you, but I will tell you the start of the story, so if you don't want any spoilers skip this part. The demon legend Sparda was an unusual hero, who used his dark powers for the good of mankind, sealed away the demon world so that earth could not turn into demon vile, and he sealed his power in the demon world, and the power can only be accessed by using a magic spell (This is shown in Devil May Cry 3).Newcomers to the series can easily understand the story of Devil May Cry 2, if they played the first game or not.The game begins with that legend told, while Lucia is in a museum, and all of a sudden a bunch of demons come to invade, while Lucia is fighting, Dante comes and helps her out, all demons in the museum are finished, as you would aspect Dante to say something cool, he says nothing except,''You called?''. The museum contains an important item called the ''Medaglia''. That's pretty much the start of the story, and in the end, if there's one thing that Devil May Cry 2 does good, it's the story.
Gameplay:
Devil May Cry has been known for being a game with excellent gameplay.Unfortunately, the 2nd game is not as outstanding as the other Devil May Cry games, and therefore, it could not be called anything better than ''decent''.The control scheme is simple and basic, and is similar to other dmc games. Triangle is your sword moves, square is your gun moves, as for circle it's a ''dodge'' button of which Dante and Lucia can roll around and do manevours etc. R1 is lock-on, so that you can lock on to an enemy, a bad thing though is that this could happen-when you lock on, when you sent your enemy to the air, it automatically locks on to another foe, even if the enemy you sended to the air is not dead.L1 is Devil-trigger a handy power which Dante and Lucia can do, while in devil trigger your life gauge recovers, and your attacks are more effective. There are a lot of items of which you can find around the missions, or buy(such as life,life upgrades, devil trigger upgrades and so on), you can also upgrade your weapons by using red orbs, which is basically the item you use to buy stuff. The items you find in the level are either mission objective items, swords, arms, or amulets. Amulets in the game are pretty useful as when you find them you can add elemental powers while you use devil trigger(such as fire, ice, wind, etc), there are some other amulets which can increase your attack power, give you the ability to fly or run faster, or recover your health faster while you are in devil trigger.The amulet effects only apply while you are in devil form.
That may the good side of the gameplay, but prepare to know the bad.There are plenty of disturbing and unnecessary parts of the game, which end up being frustrating. As I've mentioned before the lock-on system can annoy you, let me give you examples, when you are trying to activate a switch Dante and Lucia automatically try to attack the enemies, and even if you kill the enemies, in certain points of the game enemies will continue to come and attack. Not only are there enemies which keep coming, they can be avoided very easily, only on certain points of the game will you need to fight the enemy monsters, or you could just fight them for your style points(I'll explain that later), while there are enemies in your way, you can just walk(or rather run)past them. There are some new weapons that you can get the the game, but there's a very bad thing, Dante gets only 2 new swords, not only this number is low, but is also unnecessary since the new swords you get use the exactly same combos, and only are different due to the damage they do, but really you only need the rebellion(Dante's primary sword), Lucia gets no new swords, which is ok and I have already explained why it's ok. As for the guns you get, it's a different story, the guns in the game are all different and are rather good, Dante can get his shotgun, a Sub-machine gun, and a rocket launcher, while Lucia can get a ''triple-throwing dagger thing'', a underwater only crossbow, and grenades.Now, I am going to explain the style system, which is the results of how good you play when you fight. You see, when you complete a mission you get graded as either 'd','c','b','a' or 's'.Depending on how much red orbs you got during the mission, how long it took you to complete the mission, how much damage the enemies have done to you,how much items you have used(you use more the grade for that factor will decrease), and finally your style points.All seems good, as this is a good feature to make players replay levels and find out how good they are, as well as unlocking stuff throughout the way, and works well with all Devil May Cry games,execpt one.Yes, Devil May Cry 2 does not need this unnecessary feature.It doesn't need it because the way you get style points ruins it.First of all, your style grade goes up when you use your weapons wisely, and dodge enemies, seems ok and works near-perfect in other Devil May Cry games, but not in this one.The main reason is because it takes a long while to just increase that gauge, and while you try to increase it, if you get hit by any enemy once, you'll start over, and it is hard to increase it because Dante and Lucia both fight slowly, and do not have enough combos.
Now, for the boss fights a thing in which the Devil May Cry series is good at, and guess what, Devil May Cry 2 actually has good boss fights.There are plenty of bosses in the game and the bosses are in nearly every level in both Dante and Lucia's adventures.The bosses are fun to fight against and feel like bosses.One problem though, you can blame the style point system, because during boss fights it is very hard to increase your style points, and you usually get hit, which makes you start from square one.
The last thing I am going to talk about in the gameplay are the environments, the main part of the game is in an urban city, I rather like the city environment, but it's like fake, want to know why?There are no humans in the city, and when you enter certain buildings there are no humans, this is wierd and very unrealistic, Capcom should have at least added some humans in the game which are not main characters(eg, you see a man getting attacked by a demon in one of the buildings, sounds simple).
Overall, the gameplay in Devil May Cry 2 is basic, simple the control scheme is good, and the amount of items and other stuff like that is good, but the main problem is the numerous frustrations in the game, and how it seems unfinished.
Graphics:
This is one of the game's good points. Like the first game, actually like all Devil May Cry games the game runs at a solid 60fps without slowdown , while having beautiful graphics, all characters in the game have good models, the city environments are well textured, and the shadow effects are good, I could not find anything very bad in the graphics, apart from certain people's opinions that the game is not set in a gothic-like environment/atmosphere, I can see that, but I do not care about that concern either.
Sound:
Yet again, this is another positive point of the game, but could do better.The voice acting in the game is decent, the problem is, that Dante barely talks-I understand he is grown-up and is not a clown anymore, but he should talk at the right time at least. Sound effects are ok, you will find some repetitive sound, but nothing bad. This is my favourite part of the sound, the background beat and music, while not in fights soft-music will play and it suits the game.Also, while you fight(this is MY opinion), there is no rock music(I did say it's my opinion), I personally hate the rock music in Devil May Cry games, but if you like it, that may be a negative point for you.Instead, the game uses nice rock/techno beats while you fight a group of enemies or a boss.
Value:
Something which hits the game, not hard but could be improved.There is a total of 31 missions throughout the game(on both discs-18 for Dante,and 13 for Lucia), while you think this is good, the entire game only takes 5-8 hours to finish on it's default setting(normal), it depends it you have played Devil May Cry before or not, but in conclusion it is a short game. You can replay the game on harder difficulty levels to unlock more stuff(such as costumes, and more difficulty levels).Oh, you can also replay missions to get a higher grade, but like I said before that will be a disturbing and repetative job.As being a pro at Devil May Cry 3, I am still not used to getting a good grade in Devil May Cry 2, but it depends on the player, so you decide.
Final words:
Devil May Cry 2 is a good action game, but it lacks what the other Devil May Cry games have, such as fast-paced action with combos, and the grade system needs a lot of tuning, as well of having a lot of distractions, Devil May Cry 2 ends up as a disappointment, but it still has heart.
Pros:
-Simple,basic action and good control scheme, and worthwhile boss fights
-Excellent storyline
-2 playable characters, both characters have different levels
-Brilliant graphics, solid 60 fps
-Good audio, no rock music
Cons:
-Combat may be repetitive, missing a lot of stuff from the other dmc games
-Grade results are unnecessary, or could've been improved
-Good environment, problem is it's very unrealistic
-Get bundled with a lot of other distractions in the background
Summary:
Presentation+Story: 83%
Gameplay: 61%
Graphics: 82%
Sound: 80%
Value: 70%
My personal view: 73%
OVERALL SCORE:72%