Devil May Cry 2

"Gamers Don't Cry, It's Still A Solid Game"

Devil May Cry 2

The original Devil May Cry was one of the first titles to really showcase the graphical horsepower that the PlayStation 2 possesses. With it’s innovative gameplay, jaw-dropping visuals, lovable character, and replay value DMC was labeled instantly as a PS2 classic. 1 year 3 months and 7 days after Devil May Cry made it’s impact on the action genre, it’s successor Devil May Cry 2 was released. This review will take you deep into the gothic atmosphere, which DMC2 creates magnificently.

Graphics- 8.5

DMC was a title that showed just how much advanced PS2’s technology really was, with it’s solid texture work, high poly character models, great animation and particle effects it fed the appetite of graphics whores everywhere. Fortunately DMC2 makes DMC look ancient in quite a few respects. DMC2 has some truly amazing animation; Dante’s motions are so fluid it’s like watching a sausage slide across a grease pan!

The animations are often over the top, it’s almost matrix like in some respects. The game boasts a higher resolution than its predecessor, and it has better aliasing this time around (still not quite perfect, but getting there). The enemy character models are all unique, with some truly outlandish foes that are unbelievably detailed and immense in size.

As for the environments DMC2’s environments are enormous, with solid texture work in most areas, and then not so solid texture work in others. The majority of the levels are very brown, like the underwear of someone who has been in a baked beans eating marathon, this detracts from the score because it can get you lost easily. Many places in levels look very similar, so it’s not nearly as colorful as the original DMC. Fortunately the particle effects are top notch, with perfect water physics and truly mind blowing fire and projectile effects, you can really tell the team wanted to take DMC2 to the next level in terms of graphics, and they did in most aspects. Even the cinema scenes are of higher quality, thanks to the added resolution, unfortunately though the cinema scenes are not nearly as cool as those encountered in DMC.

All in all DMC2 is definitely a game ps2 owners can be proud to look at, in most respects.

Gameplay-8.5

The original DMC sported truly amazing gameplay, the best seen in the action genre with Dante boasting unbelievable combinations as his infantry. I admit that the first time I saw him slash an enemy into the air with his sword and proceed to juggle them with bullets I soiled myself, and unfortunately that day I wasn’t wearing my Depends. ;)

In DMC2 Dante sports even more shocking maneuvers, such as the ability to run across and up walls, the ability to fire at multiple targets without looking. Throughout most of the game you’ll eventually find yourself using the same moves again and again, which can just get this game to turn into a boring hack and slasher, the wow factor eventually wears off. Other than that complaint, there are truly so many drool-inducing moments in DMC2. I love diving down off a wall headfirst pumping bullets into the exploding skulls of my foes, nothing is better take my word for it.

The game revolves around a style ranking system, which is devilishly difficult, and not as clear as the original game’s system. It’s practically impossible to get an ‘S’ ranking for style on any mission, even though most enemies are fairly stupid and easy to dispose of, which is disappointing. Fortunately CAPCOM added “Hard Mode” as an extra, which provides more challenge for hardcore DMC fans.

The red orb collecting system has returned allowing for you to purchase weapon upgrades and items, new combination/special moves are not purchasable in this game, you start off with all of Dante’s moves. In the last DMC Dante could transform into multiple demon forms, in this game he has two.

The first is the standard dual machine gun toting winged beast and the second is a much larger beast that fires large projectiles, this form can only be achieved when your life bar is nearly depleted completely. You can really tell that your transformations are stronger than Dante in his original state.

A new addition to the gameplay is the amulet, the amulet can be filled with glass shards, which give new abilities to your Devil Trigger transformation, such as the ability to fly, increase attack strength, increase your speed, etc. Unfortunately there isn’t too much switching of the shards in the game, so you could find playing through the entire game without changing them more than twice.

Devil May Cry 2 is a double disc game, giving you the ability to choose between two characters to play through the game as. A mysterious woman named Lucia accompanies Dante in DMC2. Lucia plays similarly to Dante she is faster (but weaker), uses two swords and throwing knives instead of firearms.

Fortunately Lucia can transform into a demon just like Dante, but her form is less gargoyle-like and more angelic. Her disc isn’t as long as Dante’s and it consists of many of the levels you play through as Dante, I personally found Dante to be the more stylish/fun to play as out of the two, but I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Lucia, despite her..precarious accent.

The most obvious drawback this game has in the gameplay department is the camera, CAPCOM seems to have made a few modifications to the original games camera system, but there are still evident moments where you get hit cheaply by an unseen enemy, or the occasional instance where the camera fails to swing with the action leaving you temporarily vulnerable to your foes.

Quirks aside, the gameplay seen in DMC2 offers a few new twists to the series, but nothing truly innovative or nearly as monumental as CAPCOM promised (similar to Onimusha 2), hopefully in the next installement we’ll see the innovation that was absent from DMC2.

Story- 6.5

The original Devil May Cry wasn’t revered for it’s deep as the Pacific storyline, in fact the dialogue and plot was one of the weaker aspects of the game. If you thought DMC’s story was as cheesy as your Grandparent’s jokes, Devil May Cry 2 will take you to the new level of cheese. The basic plot in this action title is a man named Arius is using demon powers to create an industrial empire, so he himself can be come the pure incarnation of evil.

As the newly formed, more mature and darker Dante, you must set out with your loose connection Lucia to stop Arius from fulfilling his goal of becoming a demon lord. Expect very lame lines such as the famed “Devils Never Cry”, which brought to my eyes with laughter, and not the sad kind.

Sound- 7

This game easily has some of the coolest rhythms and tunes in an action game, some of the electric guitar riffs and techno sounds seem to be taken straight out of the Matrix, and can compel you to pull off unbelievably cool stunts.

Other than the solid soundtrack Devil May Cry 2 sports some solid sound effects, excellent gun and explosion noises, blood curdling war cries from your enemies and the occasional grunts and screams form Dante and Lucia.

If there were one thing that really kills this game in the sound department it would have to be the voice acting. What in the blue hell happened to Dante?! This guy used to be so cocky and taunt his foes before splitting their skulls with his sword and filling their brains with hot lead! In DMC2, Dante sounds like a deprived and rather bored character. A complete 180-degree from his last outing in all honesty I’ve never been so disappointed by voice acting in a game, I was expecting a lot, seeing as Dante is one of my favorite characters of all time.

Now that I’m into my lashing out mood, I’ll get started on Lucia…or should I say Goldmember? Lucia’s character undergoes so many accent changes throughout DMC2! At first I thought she was French, then halfway through the game her accent switched to Dutch hence the label “Goldmember”. I at one point in the game expected her to pull her rubber-like legs over her shoulders to kick her enemies in the face, but was sadly disappointed when even this never occurred.

If I had any advice for CAPCOM’s next installment of the series, it would be to re-hire the old voice acting crew from the original game, and release those mistreated torturous excuses for voice actors in DMC2, into the wild to never return. Dante will needs some desperate retribution for the way he was portrayed by his terribly tortured voice actor, one hopes that Drew Coombs will come back and kick some more demon ass with some actual style!


Controls- 10

Easily the strongest part of the game is it’s control scheme, DMC2 has extremely responsive controls, and an easy learning curve (it takes about 5-10 mins to completely master the controls and pull off outstanding maneuvers. The basic layout is: O-roll/run up walls/interact, X-jump, Square- secondary weapon (pistols/knifes), Triangle- slash, R1- lock-on and R2 allows you to switch secondary weapons on the fly. There is no longer a taunt button, which is missed, but was never really used or did much. As long as the controls are magnificent I couldn’t really care, and DMC2 is a complete success in that sense.

Fun Factor and Replay Value- 7.5

Devil May Cry 2 is a lot of fun to play, it has a cool battle engine, and it’s truly a treat to see a friend’s face light up when he/she dodges a gigantic boss’ projectile attack. Pulling off moves and tricks is satisfying to the most part, despite the fact that the ranking system is unbelievably difficult. As for the replay value DMC2 adds more replay than was even evident in the original game with a secret mode (which I won’t spoil), the ability to play through the game a second time on the ‘hard’ setting, the ability to select specific missions and it’s just plain cool to start from the beginning of the game with juiced up weapons you couldn’t the first time around. I myself am going to find myself playing this game for quite a while, thanks to it’s solid replay value.

Overall- 48/60= 8/10

Despite its flaws DMC2 sticks closely to the successful formula of its predecessor. If you love action games this is a solid rental, it’s disappointingly short (7-9 hours to play through both discs) which can deter you from a purchase. But I can’t implore you enough to at least rent this game. Although not nearly as innovative as promised, DMC2 offers fans a fresh twist to the franchise, sporting stellar graphics, sleek gameplay, excellent control and effective soundtrack, it is truly sweeter than the sappy nectar known as Aunt Jemima’s Maple syrup, which is saying a damn lot.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/03, Updated 03/10/03