During production of “Devil May Cry,” game director, Hideki Kamiya and his team didn’t return to work on a sequel. Due to scheduling conflicts, they develop “Viewtiful Joe.” A beat ’em up platform game later earned critical acclaim. With no other choice, Capcom hired a team of developers to produce “Devil May Cry 2.” Unlike Hideki and his crew, the other team only worked on arcade fighting games, they lack experience on console games. What do you get? An unworthy follow-up.
Released in 2003 (same year Jak II came out) on PlayStation 2, it received mixed reviews from critics and gamers alike. Devil May Cry 2 managed to sell a million plus copies worldwide. Before I watch Netflix’s anime adaptation of Devil May Cry, I’m going through each game. (minus the 2013 reboot) I already reviewed the first game. It was great. Give me some time to play 3-5.
It doesn’t matter if SPOILERS are listed. This game isn’t a good. If you’re curious on production problems of Devil May Cry 2, I highly recommend Matt McMuscles discussing this stinker within his YouTube series, “What Happened?”
Powerful & Weak Qualities
Powerful: Graphics are pretty good for a PS2 game.
Gameplay/Mechanics retain core elements from the first game. Here’s what’s new. Dante and Lucia can roll by evading attacks and switch weapons without pausing to the inventory screen. For the first time in the series, Bloody Palace. After you beat the game, it’s a mode to kill enemies on levels 1-9999. The higher the difficulty, the more red orbs you get. Bloody Palace was later included in later games.
Devil May Cry HD Collection features the sequel’s concept art along with the first and third entries.
Weak: Unlike the first game Dante has a one-dimensional personality. He had more emotion as a laid-back demon hunter last time.
Storyline wasn’t engaging. I’ll sum it up in one word. Forgettable. It lacks substance.
Developers behind the sequel are a team of people who only worked on arcade fighting games, not console games. They were tasked to finish the game on a tight schedule. Which pretty much explains why Capcom solely relied on making a cheap buck.
Trish was never brought up. She’s supposed to be Dante’s new partner. She gets replaced by Lucia.
Lucia wasn’t an interesting character. She’s completely bland like staring at wet paint on a wall while waiting for it to dry.
Camera doesn’t let you turn to know what the heck’s going on. Make matters worse? You can’t lock on a specific target. Same flaw from the last game.
One of the dumbest boss fights I have ever seen is a demonic helicopter. Only way to beat it is to use your guns. That’s not all, using your guns on bosses makes it a little bit easy. You fill up the devil gauge by shooting the boss countless times. Activate the gauge lets you take a portion of any boss’s health firing rapid bullets. Using the exact same schtick gets mind-numbingly repetitive lacking variation whatsoever.
It took me three hours to beat the game. Sadly, I have no desire to replay a mission to improve my grade. Which is the game’s biggest sin. After playing as Dante, I refuse to play as Lucia. I have no choice but to Triple Down Points for making feel miserable. It’s the video game equivalent of “Billy Madison” and his pals pulling a prank on an old man by burning a bag containing dog poop. The old man puts it out with his boots. Begins to sniff on his boo shouting, “THAT POOP AGAIN!”
The Final Verdict: D-
Devil May Cry 2 serves as an example for a video game company on what not to do when you’re making a contested sequel to a hit game. I refuse to replay the second game going through that torture I went through. Do not waste your spare time one this stinker. If you bought Devil May Cry HD Collection, skip Devil May Cry 2 in favor of “Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening: Special Edition.”
Nickthemoviecritic.com 