Dante is back, but unfortunately that's where the highlight of the game ends.
Devil May Cry 2 is perhaps the complete opposite. Yes, Dante is back, but unfortunately that's where the highlight of the game ends. The complete package comes with two discs, one in which you play Dante, and the other, a new but forgettable character, Lucia. It doesn't really change the experience all that much considering how both characters go through the same levels with little to no variation. Despite Dante playing through more levels than Lucia, playing through Lucia's disc gives you a better grasp of the storyline. Dante himself is not the Dante you remembered. The trash tallking heavy-metal loving punk/badass/demon slayer you remembered is replaced with a coin-flipping mute. Sigh.
The story itself isn't all that compelling, if a bit ridiculous in how confusing it is. Dante and Lucia go through different parts of the island the story takes place in, often without any rhythm or reason. It baffles me to no end why Dante and Lucia had to battle their way up a tall building to fight the antagonist's minion on the roof, be given a 30 second cutscene of them traveling to another part of the island, and open up the next mission in the antagonist's lair, which I assume is 50 stories high on another building miles away from the location of the last mission. You'd think the bad guy would've tried to hinder your progress to his very own lair with some enemies to fight before you get up there, but unfortunately that's not the case, especially since that big empty gap could've been used to flesh out a half-baked storyline. I am aware that the original DMC had very little story; playing this game only further proves that the development team doesn't necessarily have much storytelling talent to offer at all.
The gameplay itself has been altered a bit from the original. You can expect Dante to do the same acrobatics you've seen him do as in his previous adventure, but with some added manuevers to spice up the gameplay a little bit (although saying that might be stretching it). Dante (and Lucia) now have the ability to run up walls and dodge roll with the press of the button and a flick of the analog stick, and is granted some extra powers in Devil Trigger form. These additions don't really add up to the combat and are more entailed for the puzzle-solving elements, although as usual performing them in the heat of battle is fun to watch. The difficulty itself wasn't too punishing, as it was significantly easier than the first (no complaint here), but my main problem was that I was pretty much bored most of the time I was playing. There were a lot of long stretches of endless walking and most encounters can often be "walked off" if you so prefer, as many of the enemies and bosses are so easy to handle, you wouldn't have needed to power up your characters' weapons to beat the game (of course, your mileage may vary). Perhaps the only boss worth noting here happens to be a boss with three faces, but I won't go into detail as I might risk spoiling too much. Another thing worth pointing out: If DMC had some bad camera angles for combat purposes, DMC2 was just plain bad for anything. It not only was uncooperative at certain combat confrontations, but even just basic running around. You'd be trying your patience too if you were trying to jump to another platform only to have the camera jerk off into another angle, disorienting you and making you start over again from the beginning multiple times. The enviroments were unnecessarily large, and I often think they only did this to give the consumer the illusion that this game is bigger and badder than the first one, as advertised on the back of the box.
As far as replay value goes if you're willing to re-endure your disappointment, I suppose there is plenty to offer here. I felt very little satisfaction finishing the game, but at the same time, didn't really crave for more. At this point, if you've set the bar significantly lower for the series after playing this game, you can go ahead and play at harder difficulties to unlock some pretty neat stuff, or try your luck at the Bloody Palace, which pits you against an onslaught of gradually stronger enemies and challenges the higher up you go. Still, there's much I desired for in DMC2 that just didn't get fufilled, and mostly you'll find it altogether a forgettable gaming experience.