Devil May Cry 2 (PS2) Review

By RyThom

Disappointing.  Yes, that's pretty much the word everyone is using to describe the sequel to one of last years hottest PS2 titles, but I can't think of another that captures the feeling Devil May Cry 2 gave me during my entire experience with it.  I had extremely high hopes for this title, anxiously reading every article, drooling over every new screen shot and replaying every video clip of it ever since I saw the first trailer at E3.  When I actually sat down with the game though, I was let down.  Maybe even heartbroken.  Alright, alright.  So maybe it isn't that bad.  I'm probably making the game sound like its much worse than it actually is.  In truth, I had a lot of fun with Devil May Cry 2.  In fact, its some of the best action to be had in a modern video game.  However, there isn't any substance behind the action, and severely less "meat" than in last years version.

DMC2 plays almost identically to its predecessor, with a few enhancements to control and bunches of new little additions.  Players control either Dante - one of video gamings' baddest asses, or Lucia Dante's semi-attractive sidekick who is basically Dante with knives instead of pistols wearing a bit tighter fitting clothing.  Your hero of choice spends most of the game running through 3D environments through a semi-fixed camera perspective as they encounter all sorts of demonic bad guys and dispatch them using some very very very cool moves (more on that later).  To break up the monotony of fighting, simple fetch quests are thrown in, giving Dante a chance to work out his simple brain, as well as his sword arm.  The puzzles are just a tiny part of the overall game though - Devil May Cry always has and always be about pure action.

The fighting in DMC2 is much improved over the originals.  You have the same wide assortment of sword fighting moves with special moves as you did in the original as well as four different firearms used to spice things up.  Using both the guns and sword can create some awesome looking moves.  Picture this:  Dante is standing in the middle of a group of hungry undead, sword drawn, pistols at the ready.  All of a sudden, he lunges towards the closest deadite with his sword in front of him like a lance.  Once he skewers him, he sweeps the sword over his head, knocking others to the ground.  With a wide upwards cutting motion, Dante is able to lift one of the bad guys high into the air.  When the enemy is still floating, the badassed one whips out two pistols and starts juggling his foe with bullets for a few seconds before whipping the sword out yet again to finish him off, even though he's probably been long dead.  That's the kinda stuff this game is made of.  In addition to those martial moves, Dante can use his guns much more flexibly.  He can now double jump into the air and swan-dive into an enemy with guns blazing, target two enemies at once (even enemies behind you!), and run and flip off walls Matrix style.  All this looks and controls absolutely flawlessly thanks to beautiful animation and a tight control scheme.  Some of the best action in any video game, ever.

So, up until now the game sounds alright, right?  Well, it should as I've just hyped DMC2's strong points.  Now...the ugly.  First, if you're expecting two totally different games with Dance and Lucia, don't.  There is so little variation in the quests that I really question Capcom's decision to put this game onto two DVDs - I don't see what you need all the room for.  Secondly, there is absolutely positively no redeemable story line to this game.  The first one opened with a very cool intro of Dante at his day job.  You got a good taste of his tough guy personality and of his female sidekicks, and also of the atmosphere of the game world.  In this one I think Dante might speak five times, and when he does, it's never of the same caliber his one-liners were in the first game thanks to crummy writing and a new voice actor.  The sequels atmosphere, an abandoned city could have had such potential for a great story also.  When I saw the screen shots of the city for the first time I imagined streets full of screaming people and burning cars trying to avoid the swarms of demons as they warped in, Dante striding through the crowd like they weren't even there hacking away at the baddies.  Unfortunately, the city is all but lifeless sans for one very forgettable NPC in a very forgettable cinema.  The game also feels a tad unfinished with levels ending abruptly, weak submenus, and its terribly low difficulty.  The first Devil May Cry was really hard, I'll give it that, but that's no excuse to allow a game to be torn through in only 4 hours.  Yes, that's four hours for Dante's disc my first time through it.  I'm really glad I didn't shell out the $50 for a game much more suited to a rental, unless you want to re-play the game over and over again to get all A's or find the secret missions.

© 2003 GameAlliance.com Lett/Thompson contact e-mail