Second Look - Devil May Cry 2

Note: This review contains spoilers for Devil May Cry 2

Near the end of the production of the original Devil May Cry (DMC1), Capcom struck while the iron was hot and greenlit a sequel. Unfortunately, this sequel faced a very troubled production under its original director, who remains anonymous to this day. When Capcom assigned the second director, Hideaki Itsuno, to the project, he was shocked by the lack of any real progress, which amounted to almost nothing aside from the Stinger animation. With only a few months left, he built pretty much the entire rest of the game from scratch. The end result, Devil May Cry 2 (DMC2), released on the PS2 in 2003 to poor reviews, though it still established some series conventions and had high sales numbers. The game’s development disaster also motivated the team to improve their work, with most staying on for future entries. In fact, near the end of development, Itsuno successfully convinced Capcom to let him direct Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening from scratch because he didn’t want to be forever known as “the guy who directed DMC2.”

In the years since its release, DMC2 has gained a reputation as the worst game in the series, even more so than the controversial reboot, DmC: Devil May Cry (DmC). It really is. However, I’ve also felt unsatisfied with my coverage of the game in the past, both in my review of the original PS2 version and the other when talking about the Devil May Cry HD Collection as a whole. Since I re-reviewed DMC1 in the context of its origin as Resident Evil 4, I decided that even though DMC2 is certainly the worst game in the series, it deserved a better and more in-depth look. As with my re-review of DMC1, this re-review is based on DMC2 as presented in HD Collection.

In a museum where an artifact called the Arcana Medaglia is stored, Dante meets a woman named Lucia. After defeating a group of demons, Lucia invites Dante to her home in Vie de Marlie, where she introduces him to her mother Matier. Matier tells Dante about how she once helped Dante’s father Sparda defend the island against demons and asks him to help fight Arius, an international businessman who seeks to use conquer the world with demonic power. After flipping a coin, which lands on heads, Dante agrees to help and takes off. When he does, Matier and Lucia discuss the Arcana, sacred relics required for Aruis’ plan to summon the demon Argosax.

Dante (right) agrees to help Matier (left). Screenshot from Devil's Lair.

 

Since DMC2 gives Dante and Lucia their own discs, I will discuss the experience of each of them separately. Before I do that, however, I’d like to go over the shared gameplay elements between both of them. It’s also important to know that as of Devil May Cry 5 (DMC5), DMC2 officially takes place after DMC1 and Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, but before Devil May Cry 4. Although DmC takes place in a separate continuity, it’s also funny how much the core premise of that game has in common with DMC2 (DMC2’s main antagonist is an international businessman seeking control through demonic power while DmC sees its version of the demon king Mundus seeking control under the guise of an international investment banker).

On a core level, DMC2 plays like the first game, but with some differences. Apart from having two playable characters (three if you count the unlockable Trish), this is the only entry that lets the player augment each character’s Devil Trigger by setting Devil Hearts (of the Movement, Attribute and Support varieties) within slots of an Amulet (e.g. The Aerial Heart enables flight and the Chrono Heart lets the user slow time while attacking). Players must augment the Amulet in certain ways for certain missions, but can otherwise customize it to their liking, which adds some great variety, enough that I wish a future entry could have expanded on the concept. In addition, there’s a secret second, more powerful Devil Trigger mode that activates when Dante uses his Devil Trigger at <10% health (this mode goes unnamed in the game or its manual, though fans colloquially called it “Desperation Devil Trigger” or “Majin Devil Trigger” before DMC5 reintroduced it as “Sin Devil Trigger”). Outside of the Devil Trigger changes, this game also introduces dodging, which adds some much-needed movement tech alongside the wall run.

While the player still fights enemies with a combination of ranged and melee weapons, their utility and balance feel different in this game. Unlike the other games, including DMC1, there aren’t any real melee combos to speak of, rather the melee weapons all have the same move set. The only difference at that point is range, damage output and, in Lucia’s case, speed. Melee weapons can be effective against regular enemies, but many bosses are designed around attacking them with ranged weapons, which makes them far more effective in that situation. Actually, from my past experience, it’s possible to get through the entire game just by spamming ranged weapons, particularly on Normal difficulty, though this is admittedly a tedious process, more so when none are upgraded. On the upside, this game improves on the lesser-known weapon swapping feature from DMC1 and lets you do so on the fly, but only with the ranged weapons (you must otherwise swap melee weapons through the Pause menu).

Screenshots can make the game look more exciting than it really is.

Mixing up your attacks a bit more helps with the game’s Style rankings, as just spamming ranged attacks will only get you a D at best. When I tried using melee more, however, it felt like it took longer for the Style ranking to appear at all compared to other entries, which indicated a harsher system than expected. The only time I reliably saw an S rank using swords was when a number of enemies were crammed in a small elevator. Even then, however, it didn’t feel rewarding apart from the brief dopamine hit from hearing a new PS3 trophy ping over a decade later.

One unique feature of DMC2 is how mission profiles are delivered as passages from an in-universe book. While some may consider these passages confusing, it’s really not that difficult to figure out what you’re supposed to do once you think about them for a moment. As such, these not only give the game a flavor that other games don’t, but also adds some subtle worldbuilding through the book’s existence.

Dante’s story follows his quest to reach and infiltrate the building where Arius resides so that he can take him down, which includes some neat action scenes. Compared with DMC1, however, this half of the story doesn’t feel very coherent. Though Dante faces many obstacles on his journey and some of them make some amount of sense for their presence, many don’t and are never addressed, which can make it feel more confusing than necessary. Occasionally, Dante will also run into Lucia, though in a way that makes it clear that you’re not getting the full story from just his perspective. The biggest example of this would be that the Arcana are suddenly important to his story with no prior context unless you have knowledge of the Lucia disc. Although Dante does encounter Arius more than once, the antagonist’s personality in his earlier appearances contrasts heavily with his late game appearance, coming off goofy and hammy rather than intimidating.

Speaking of personality, a big sticking point for existing fans is how Dante acts more stoic than his DMC1 counterpart, who had some emotional depth but would regularly crack wise. While I would agree that it’s a jarring shift if you play this game directly after the first (and watch Devil May Cry: The Animated Series), I did notice more on this playthrough that as the game continues, you can catch glimpses of his usual self. Near the end of the game, in fact, he sounds much more confident and delivers a couple of pretty badass lines (e.g. “A false coin, for a false god…”). Not as much as fans may hope, but I appreciate that there is some subtle development there. Plus, I liked the post-credits scene.

A surprisingly badass moment. Screenshot from Devil's Lair.

Dante’s gameplay, sadly, leaves much to be desired. Although some mainstay mechanics got their start here, they’re hardly utilized to their full potential, as the end result doesn’t feel very rewarding. I didn’t have any problems with how you can dodge roll past many of the encounters (it ends the game faster, even), but I didn’t like how too many of the environments felt large and empty without any real justification, which meant dodge rolling for a bit too long just to get to the next area. While there are some neat enemy designs and concepts, just as many feel bland and uninspired, including some of the bosses and the infamous Infested Tank and Infested Chopper. Speaking of the Infested Chopper, the game doesn’t properly communicate that you’re not supposed to fight each time it appears, but instead run away from it until the big rooftop showdown, where you just stand around and shoot it. In fact, many bosses are designed around spamming ranged weapons, which makes them too unengaging.

Some bosses actually offer a real challenge, however. One such boss was Bolverk, a demon based on Odin from Norse mythology accompanied by the twin wolves Geri and Freki. Bolverk’s wide range and spammy attacks could get annoying, but tracking him and his wolves forced me to move around more frequently and almost felt fun dealing with. By comparison, the later boss Trismagia, who had a unique design and attack pattern, didn’t feel rewarding because Dante’s auto-aim worked against me a lot of the time and switching targets felt inconsistent, resulting in one of my few Game Overs. The one boss that felt the most like a traditional DMC boss, however, would be The Despair Embodied, which follows the unremarkable Argosax. Its attack patterns had me moving around a lot more and observing its movements so I could figure out the best time to attack. That boss alone isn’t enough of a reason to play the game, but credit where it’s due.

Bolverk felt more interesting this time.

As for Dante’s arsenal, it’s true that the only difference between his melee weapons is range and damage output (in that case, just use Vendetta). His overpowered guns, however, actually do have some tradeoffs. Ebony & Ivory have some good damage output and can easily stunlock enemies, making it ideal in many situations for spamming ranged weapons. The Submachine Guns have a high rate of fire, but very low damage output and are immediately powercrept by the Devil Trigger. The Shotgun has a slower rate of fire, but has a wide range and good knockback. Finally, the Missile Launcher does a lot of damage, and is the ideal weapon against certain bosses, but has lower accuracy and prevents Dante from moving. When not using the Devil Trigger, I fell back on Ebony & Ivory and the Missile Launcher the most often for their utility.

At the same time that Dante goes after Arius, Lucia searches for the last of the four Arcana. Compared with Dante’s story, there’s a bit more going on with Lucia’s side. It not only feels more coherent by comparison, that is to say less random, it explores her nature as a creation of Arius versus her own humanity. The resolution, also seen from Dante’s perspective on his disc, echoes the sentiment from the first game that “Devils never cry,” meaning that since she has the capacity for emotion, she’s human. In a vacuum, this is a rather emotional moment that shows some respect for one of the major themes of the series. Additionally, the reveal that Dante had made his decisions with a two-headed coin says a lot about his helpful and caring side, even if he doesn’t always come off that way.

Of course, there are still come issues with the presentation. Although Lucia’s disc provides some answers about what’s going on, it still doesn’t feel like we know enough about certain details like the Arcana. I’m not expecting super deep lore, but it wasn’t clear to me if stopping Arius’ plan simply required keeping the Arcana away from him or if they had some alternative use apart from summoning Argosax. When Dante and Lucia’s stories cross paths again at the end, Dante’s second encounter with Arius feels completely glossed over, which doesn’t matter as much if you played Dante’s disc first, but comes off rather jarring in the context of Lucia’s. A bigger issue is that while Lucia does have a more compelling story that would make her worthy of a future appearance, we don’t see enough of her caring side and mostly see her prickly and serious side, which would have helped her leave more of an impact.

As for Lucia’s gameplay, it’s more of the same from Dante’s, but I feel more mixed. There are some positives, like the effort at making her feel distinct from Dante in some small ways. Although her default Throwing Daggers are the equivalent of Ebony and Ivory, her other ranged weapons have more noticeable differences: the Darts are more spread out and eventually comes together in an arc; she has a Bow Gun that she can only use underwater, much like the Needlegun in DMC1; and her Cranky Bomb can be set or thrown for good explosive damage. Her Devil Trigger form’s ranged attack fires multiple feathers as projectiles that more quickly come together in an arc, allowing for some crowd control or dealing major damage to a single enemy. I also like the flavor that her mission profiles are labeled as passages from “Guidepost for the Protectors” instead of Dante’s “Guidepost for the Hunter”, as it highlights the difference in their roles.

A pretty neat detail.

Unfortunately, those are all the good things I can say apart from how her disc lasts roughly two hours instead of three. When I say that she feels like more of the same, I mean that her melee weapons also feel the same (only differing in range, speed and damage output) and most of her levels are the same as Dante’s, even with some variation like taking a different path or putting key interactable objects in different spots. Among the few unique levels, her water levels are marred by the swimming controls. She also mostly fights the same bosses, but some of them stand out like the select few that I kind of liked from Dante’s disc. Although she does have two unique final boss fights, the first one feels tedious even when spamming Devil Trigger and the second feels too anticlimactic in both design and solution, ending her journey, and thus the game, on a sour note.

Considering all of the recycling, as well as the rather short length of Lucia’s campaign, I’m not sure how splitting both characters between two discs had any practical justification. I can only conclude that it was a marketing ploy to make players feel like they got a lot of bang for their buck when they really didn’t. It must have still worked, however, considering that the game still proved a commercial success, even if it didn’t sell as much as Capcom had hoped.

Got to have some kind of selling point, I guess.

After beating both Dante and Lucia’s discs, you can squeeze out some additional replay value with the Bloody Palace mode, introduced through this game. In this mode, you fight your way through 9,999 floors of semi-randomized enemy groups, with the difficulty rising as you ascend; Floors ending with “0” have a boss fight. Completing a floor reveals three portals that advance you one, ten or 100 floors. Outside of replaying campaign missions, this serves as your primary method for earning additional Red Orbs (the in-game currency), as you get to keep whatever the enemies drop and you also earn more based on how far you progressed. For the sake of this review, I made it to floor 801 just to see how long I could last. While I liked how many Red Orbs I could earn this way, it didn’t really change my mind that much on the game’s combat (and it likely won’t change whatever opinion you might have either).

As for the graphics, I remember the HD release feeling like an improvement, but it only helps so much. I did like some of the enemy designs and concepts, but not all of them land and, at worst, feel generic and unremarkable. Though this isn’t the only game in the series with visible health bars, it’s the only one where you can see health bars with the names of the currently targeted enemies. While I feel indifference towards that change, I didn’t like how I sometimes fought the fixed camera angles for a better handle on combat, not helped by the terrible auto-aim that has a mind of its own no matter how many times you try changing targets. Although Dante and Lucia have good costume and Devil Trigger designs, the unlockable Diesel brand clothing looks out of place (not in the fun way) and the iconic Stinger attack lacks the same power in its animation compared with other games.

The voice acting is also decent for the most part, with Matthew Kaminsky turning in the best performance he could with his rather brief tenure as Dante, as did Françoise Gralewski with Lucia. Sherman Howard wasn’t the worst choice for Arius, but I would blame the writing more for the jarring change in performance near the end. Then there’s the music, which I didn’t mind as much this time around, but not as much stood out as other games. Still, I wouldn’t mind owning it on CD at a decent price if the opportunity presented itself.

Although I’ve mellowed out on this game with time and can recognize its merits in light of the knowledge that it was Hideaki Itsuno’s attempt at making lemonade out of the lemon he was given, I still find it easily the worst game in the series. It’s definitely not one of the worst games I’ve ever played, mind you (I’ve certainly played worse), but if you were a newer Devil May Cry fan, I may still advise skipping Devil May Cry 2 unless you want to see the origins of a few series mainstays.