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Everybody’s favorite demon slayer, Dante, is back in Devil May Cry 2. With the huge success of the previous game, Devil May Cry 2 had some high expectations, but unfortunately it fails to deliver in many ways. It's a decent action game, but fans of the original are likely to be disappointed.
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One of Devil May Cry's weakest points was in its story, which I'd hoped would be fixed in the sequel. To say this game's story is weak would be a pretty big understatement. An evil millionaire is trying to gather ancient artifacts to unlock a great power that will allow him to take over the world and Dante has to stop him. It is more of an action game as opposed to an RPG, so a strong story really isn't expected, but the attempt at a story here was almost funny. The cutscenes generally serve to relay the storyline, but such a poor job was done that you either can't tell what's going on or it's so lame that you don't care. There's little mention of what the artifacts are, what powers they grant or who Dante's new friend Lucia really is.
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Speaking of Lucia, Devil May Cry 2 added the bonus of a second playable character, so if you can't get enough of the game you can play through again. Lucia's part in the story is pretty poorly explained, but what's even worse is that Dante is just as bad. He's got dialogue that would make even James Bond look less cool, and he just seems like a different character than in the first game. But, if all you care about is the action then you may still find yourself pleased.
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Gameplay in DMC2 is similar to the first game with lots of monster slaughtering and intense action-packed battles. Dante can do plenty of cool new things, like run up walls and wield new weapons (unfortunately the weapons aren’t nearly as interesting as in the first game). Like the first game, you collect orbs, which have different purposes depending on their color. Collecting 4 blue orbs will increase your max HP and red orbs can be used to buy items and traded in to increase the level of your weapons. You can also equip amulets that you'll find throughout the game, which will give you different abilities when you transform into Devil mode. There are multiple different amulets you can equip and they do everything from increase your HP to allowing you to fly! The new weapons customization was a little dull and not nearly as creative as in the previous game, but the amulets were a welcome taste of something new.
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The game's action is pretty good, and both Lucia and Dante can perform several moves and use an arsenal of different weapons. Dante smacks enemies into the air, double jumps with ease, levitates while blasting his guns, and does all sorts of crazy acrobatics while slaying monsters. Unfortunately the game provides little challenge, and simply firing your pistols or merely swinging your sword around will be enough to get you through most areas. The bosses have obvious patterns that can be learned quickly, and since the whole game can easily be finished in less than 10 hours, it's not exactly something that's going to occupy a lot of your time. There are a few different modes to play in though, and the second character playthrough may be of some interest.
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The graphics are one of DMC2's highpoints, with beautiful cutscenes, detailed backgrounds and fluid character movements. The backgrounds may not be as impressive to behold as in the first game, but DMC2 has open, larger environments with a lot of attention to detail. Watching the characters move is perhaps most impressive of all, and the amazing detail that was put into every motion is quite impressive. Somehow this game allows you to run up walls and do other crazy stunts and make it look real. The game is a visual treat...except for the camera, which is best described as awful. Often you cant' even see the enemies you’re fighting, and making jumps can be tough because the camera switches on you halfway through the jump. Fortunately there's an auto-lock so you can keep track of the enemies even when the camera starts acting up.
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The music was very similar to the first Devil May Cry, which is a good thing. There's the same old mix of heavy metal and opera music playing throughout the game, and it really seems to fit in well. Other than that the background noises are good, but with all the noise from hacking and slashing enemies, it's hard to hear what else is going on. The voice acting was of mixed quality. The actual voices sound all right, but as mentioned earlier, the dialogue is horrible. Gone is the cool dialogue between Dante and the bosses he's going to slay. Now Dante says "cool" things like "Don't speak, just die." (that was an entire conversation he had with one of the bosses!).
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When not being compared to its predecessor, DMC2 is a decent action game. If you're looking for some good action in a game then you might want to give this game a shot. It's certainly not worth purchasing though, and renting it for a few days should be more than enough time to get your fill of it. People who played the first game will probably be disappointed by this one, and those who haven't played the first one would be better off playing that instead.
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