Dante says: ...
The start up sequence is awesome and fun to watch, it gives some fun and exciting insight to the game and looks awesome. Dante got an upgrade in his looks and is returning as an even more outstanding lead than he was before. It looks like the game got and overhaul and is improved for the better.
In this game he baddies are a little bit more memorable in the last, for the life of me I can't really recall the bosses to well in the first Devil May Cry, while the one that pops out from the building leaves a more lasting impression, I guess entrances really do count. Except Arius, he's kinda flakey. Him and his stupid English voice.
Now what is a fun new feature is the ability to actually be able to pick your mission rather than having to play through the whole game again, so if you missed some blue orb fragments somewhere or a secret mission, you just have to replay that level rather than scrutinizing for it.
Now there are only 18 missions in this game, and for some reason two felt shorter than the first one to me, but that may be due me being a new comer to the series. Still, I think it left a little more to be desired in length, though they made that up nicely by adding a second disk with a completely separate character to play.
Moving from one to two was a bit of a difficult transition control wise, since I was used to the move set being assigned to certain buttons already, it was a bit of a learning curve for me throughout the first levels of the game. I managed quite well though.
The story is reiterated and catches up anybody that has no clue what's going on up to speed; this time around it feels like there's a stronger vibe of drama from the start; also the story seems a little more in depth this time thought it doesn't feel that there's a lot more that's revealed about Dante, honestly it just feels like the entire game is a big fetch mission and Dante really didn't show his charm here. Albeit so, I enjoyed the layout of things and the fact that Dante could run along walls, sweet.
Power ups, you can never get enough blue and purple orbs, most of the items from the last game makes a continuing appearance throughout the games, this time around, you have the ability to level up your swords and your guns; even with Dante's diverse line up of weapons, most times I found myself falling back on the defaults, and who can beat having Ebony and Ivory? I like my action quick and roothless, so these shooters lie as my favorites. So it's best to save up that demon blood for your main bastion.
I found myself using the devil trigger more so in this installment especially for being able to fire so rapidly was really worth scraping for more purple orbs. A lot of times I caught myself using the trigger as a crutch to both fly and restore my energy. We're also introduced to the amulet, which augments Dante's abilities in your devil trigger mode, allowing you to have elements added to your attacks as well as speed, recovery, etc.
The cameras have been made a bit easier to deal with I must admit, but there's still times where I end up doubling back by accident and getting annoyed by this. Battle is still pretty easy to maneuver around in and Dante as always makes the strain easier to bare, automatically targeting his enemies and slicing them to pieces. Move wise, I felt there was a little bit more to be desired on that front, it's more gratifying to wipe out hordes of enemies when you can do it flashy and in style.
This time your Devil Hunter Rank is determined by a little more than clear time, adding more challenge to the game, you have clear time, which basically urges you to run through the level as quick as possible, Orbs, which depend on how many you gather from enemies and breakable objects, Stylish Average, how much you can raise your combo (which is pretty difficult in this game to accomplish, but it's not impossible. I don't worry much about it as it frustrates me when I'm knocked out of a combo.) Damage, kind of like a fighting game huh? You get a perfect if you receive no damage while bashing your foes to kingdom come. Items used, which goes down in ranking if you used anything that replenishes you from your item screen.
So kicking it to the masses,
A lot of things have been improved in this game, while some things felt left out. The add on of the amulet felt for the most part experimental for Devil May Cry, and in a lot of ways made the game feel more like Castlevania, where once you get to a certain stage you'll acquire something that'll help further your progress in the castle, like a double jump or whichever. But all games are like this in some way, it's just it felt strongly alike. Being able to play in completely different areas on the second disc expanded on the environment and made the game feel for the most part larger, while I did not play completely through the second disc, it still feels to have good promise that I'll have to take up on some time.
Graphics: The cut scenes have been dramatically improved over it's predecessor, looking much more impressive, some of the scenes had a better feel to them, more authentic rather than forced on, so I have to applaud Capcom on this.
Sound: I enjoyed some of the music here and there but I wasn't to thoroughly impressed by it, a lot of it was heavy and felt gothic, going well with the theme, but that's what most players expect for a game like this. So it didn't do to much to step out of the box.
Playability: It took a little while for me to adjust to the controls, but other than that I was able to move about pretty fairly, other times in battle I'd have a difficult time getting Dante to strafe around his foe; for some reason in this game he feels slower and heavier.
Entertainment: The bosses are wicked and fun to fight against, their move sets are hard to counter, and at times hard to dodge, so most of them I kept back and let loose with bullets rather than getting up close and personal. The cut scenes were fun to watch but Lucia's story felt to similar to Trish's, she was created and has apprehension about this, afraid that she'll destroy humans and that she's not truly real, yaddah yaddah, while it opens well for the Devil's never cry line, it doesn't do well to impress. Still, I was able to feel for her.
Replay: This game is fun and quick, I was able to finish it within a day and still have time to start on the next in series. I felt a bit cheated this time around, expecting a longer game, sure you can play as Lucia on the other disc, but I didn't even feel compelled enough by her character to do so more than a few minutes. And I'm not patient enough to get Trish. Maybe a later time. Still there's secrets and higher difficulty levels to try out, but since I can't just go buy some moves, I wouldn't feel to motivated personally, unless I wanted ubber powerful weapons. Cause really, without many new and flashy moves to try out as you go, it'll get boring, and it'll get there fast. Honestly, the first game had better replay value.
All and all: I like this series I really do, but in comparison it felt like it fell short, to the other three out there. Also it felt a lot easier than the first one did. Still, it deserves a play through, even though it doesn't feel like it goes along with the story as a whole. More like a side mission that you see Dante running through. Either way, the visuals and some of the game play is impressive enough to keep it in it's spot on my shelf.
-Ri