Devil May Cry is one of those games that made me love my PS2.
It was, at the time (and still is), as close as one is going to get
to a Castlevania type adventure on the PS2, only amped up on
steroids. When Capcom confirmed there would be a Devil May Cry 2,
I waited in anticipation for the next chapter of Dante's adventures.
DMC featured John Woo style action with a Gothic flare that had me
going back to beat the game time and time again. It was with this
fond love of the game that I hoped for something bigger and better
from Capcom. Especially seeing as how the Resident Evil
series had been revamped and taken to a new level in their new Game
Cube versions, it left me hoping for something great from the DMC
series.
Story Time
For those who’ve never played the original, let me give you a short
version of the story: Long ago A demon lord named Mundus wanted to
take over the mortal world, but lo and behold a powerful demon
knight by the name of Sparda felt pity on humans. Sparda defeated
Mundus, thus taking away Mundus' chance to overrun the world with
demons. Fast forward a few hundred years or so and we meet Dante,
Spardas offspring with a human woman, making Dante half-human
half-demon. Somewhere down the line his father was taken out and
Dante vows to get revenge. In the events of DMC, Dante is forced to
face his father’s old foe and make the world safe again for boys and
girls.
Fast forward to the story
of DMC2. We find our demon slaying friend on the hunt for some
baddies, who has been joined with Capcom's version of T&A for the
game, Lucia. Lucia is a Guardian; a member of a cult of priests
sometimes called upon to protect the gods and their worshippers. She
has the ability to channel power from her god to whoop as much, if
not more ass than Dante himself. The story is the standard defeat
the bad guy ‘cause he wants to take over the world bit, which has
been beaten to a bloody pulp by just about everyone and their
grandma. But the game's main focus isn't story; Shenmue this ain't
folks. If anything, it's there for filler to the action that takes
place. Sadly enough, most of that action is spaced sparingly
throughout the game.
The Devil you say
From the moment you pop in the disk and view the opening intro it's
apparent that a lot of hard work went into making the graphics
really stand out. With new designs for Dante and a very posh looking
partner, style is the name of the game. Gameplay is almost exact to
the original. I guess they said if it ain't broke don't fix it, and
it works incredibly well. While automatically locking onto
characters took me a while to adjust to, it in the end it works out
well. Except for those moments when random enemies and a boss both
inhabit the screen; one has to press the R2 button to manually lock
on to your foe of choice.
One big grievance I heard from people was the difficulty of the
original. For myself it was never a concern, I felt it was well
balanced. At times tough but never control crushing, which I liked.
With DMC2 it seems that the developers heard peoples’ complaints,
but to my dismay I now found this version to be too easy. At times I
just stood in the midst of enemies to see how much they attacked. In
the first three missions I had maybe 2 foes attack me. Now mind you
this is with me standing still in an area, something that if
balanced correctly would have meant I would have had my butt handed
to me. Never once did I find the game difficult, I felt as if I was
just going through the motions of shoot that, and oh it's dead. Once
beating the game it did open up a harder difficulty setting; but
where’s the fun in having that option after beating the game on a
mandatory easy setting. That’s just not right.
Fans of the previous game will notice immediately that Dante seems
to have slowed down a bit. He still has his usual attack combos but
the speed has been slowed down, (no doubt to enhance the eye candy)
but in an action/adventure game of this type speed and frenzy are
integral parts to the game. In their place is a slew of acrobatic
moves that would make Jackie Chan jealous. I have to admit I loved
the matrix inspired moves, and wall walking all come off really cool
at first, but in actual gameplay I found no real uses for it other
than to enhance my style score.
My complaint with the gameplay is that the action is very spread
out. Unlike the original, (where it was a nearly constant onslaught
of monsters to take out) DMC2 sometimes clutters along at a snail’s
pace, making it seem more like an adventure game than an action
game. Dante’s moves are also slowed down. Which can get pretty
annoying when you’re focusing on one enemy and two more just gang up
on you, all because your main character is taking five seconds to
finish three sword swipes. Another is that all the moves are
immediately accessible from the beginning, unlike the original where
one progressed and gained new moves through upgrades. You’re only
able to upgrade your sword and weapons by leveling them up, and in
truth seem to make no additional difference in combat at all. To top
it all off there’s no sign of ifrit (fire gauntlets) anywhere in the
game, which was one of my favorite weapons. The once very original
and fresh weapons from the original have been replaced with a ho-hum
line-up. You even start the game with a very plain sword called
Rebellion. What happened to Alastor?!
I was expecting the return of Alastor and ifrit, spiced up for this
new installment and instead was offered a second rate substitute.
Although throughout the game you do get new swords, but never as
sweet as the powerful Alastor from the original. As I mentioned
above, the new upgrade system is similar to an RPG level up system,
but are bought through the collection of red orbs. Where previously
you were able to buy new moves for your sword, this has been removed
in favor of just making it stronger. I for one miss the old system.
Part of the fun was purchasing those upgrades just to see how cool
the moves were.
The Devil is in the details
If there is one thing that sets DMC2 apart from it's predecessor,
it’s the graphics. This game oozes atmosphere from every inch, and
the textures have been doubled from near as I can tell, if not more.
Capcom seems to have the gothic look down pat in their games and the
legacy continues here. Looking like something out of high-budget
horror/action flick than a game really brings one into the game. The
environments here are massive, while scurrying from rooftop to
rooftop one can see on for what seems like miles. A glimpse around
the environments will show that a lot of work went into making these
levels, down right massive but not overwhelming. The reddish and
sometimes darkish grey skies overhead look absolutely jaw dropping,
and in my humble opinion are some of the best effects I've seen on
the PS2 thus far. Adventuring around the towns and cities makes one
feel a bit uneasy at times, with destruction and debris littering
the background and no-one around it almost seems as if one was
placed in a real apocalyptic place where a showdown with the forces
of darkness were taking place.
Dante and his
counter-part Lucia are rendered beautifully. With Lucia really
taking away the prize with her smoothly animated martial arts moves,
which are just stunning. Not to mention the new Devil Triggers,
which have been redone and made as slick as a can of WD-40. Dante’s
DT is a sight to see, with glowing red and black electricity flowing
through his body and demon like wings protruding from his back,
giving a menacing look to an already outstanding design. Don't
worry, because Lucia doesn't suffer from any DT envy as her
transformation is even more impressive with an almost luminescent
and angelic look to her, which really stands out.
Case in point: these are
some of the nicest graphics out there for this genre of game. My
only hope is that this series continues pushing the limits of design
and textures on the PS2.
Sounds of Fear
Much of the music is remixed classics of the original with a
techno-type beat backing most of the in game music. My favorite
track had to be the classical, almost Symphony of the Night-type
music gently playing from the menu screens. Sound effects were dull
and at times almost lifeless. Dante and Lucia’s sword swipe effects
wouldn't scare a kitten, and the gunplay was too high pitched,
missing the essential boom effects needed to propel the action
elements of the game. All in all the sound is standard and nothing
to really work yourself over about. I definitely suggest Capcom pay
attention to music and sound in the future it could have really
elevated this game to new heights. Instead we have a mediocre
soundtrack with a glimmer of the heart it could have had only heard
in the menu and sub screens.
Conclusions
Devil May Cry 2 is by no means a bad game, in fact it's a
great game... just not as good as the original. I'm all for the
evolution of a series and it's characters, but when it means slowing
down a character so he/she will look cooler is just plain
ridiculous. DMC2 has the look and feel of the original, but just
seems to miss a certain something from the original. This is (like I
said) a great game, just don't go into it expecting mind blowing
changes. The developers wanted to stick with what worked and fine
tuned some of the game play, unfortunately for us it meant less
action, slower moves, and a step backward in the upgrade system. My
hope is that the next installment to the series goes back to more
action, the original upgrade system and a more story driven
experience. With all that said DMC2 is a darn fine action game with
some replay value, offering three playable (one hidden) characters
and a steady eight to ten hour adventure. Is it worth the cash? That
I would say is a matter of opinion, give it a rental first and then
see for yourself.
