Chaos Raiden
Avid Gamer & Reviewer
This is a review for Devil May Cry 2 HD, which is a part of the games collection in Devil May Cry HD Collection.
Story
This game takes place after Devil May Cry (and for some reason, after Devil May Cry 4 as well). Dante is asked by an enigmatic woman called Lucia, to come to an island called Dumary Island. Dante reached there, and met with an old woman called Matier, and requested him to take care of Arius, the owner of Uroboros company. Dante agrees, and he is on the quest to find him.
The storyline is pretty mediocre. Nothing much interesting going on between both Dante's and Lucia's scenarios. If I must say which one is better, Lucia's scenario is a bit more interesting because her true identity is a bit surprising. Playing both character's scenarios will provide you more understanding as to how does one person gets there and etc. Dante's new personality did not shine much in this game, and I much prefer his personality in other Devil May Cry games.
Gameplay
Replay Value
This game pretty much have a moderate replay value. If you have played Dante or Lucia as your first playthrough, try playing the other character to see how different the experience is by playing Dante or Lucia as your second character. If you have completed Dante's Hard mode, you will unlock a familiar secret character to play in the game.
You may also play harder difficulty modes in the game, and the harder modes can provide some challenge to you if you are cocky and not careful. A good motto in playing games is to not underestimate your foes in the game, whether you are playing against the computer or real-life opponents.
Secret Missions in this game are called Secret Rooms. Secret Rooms are scattered around in most Missions, and can be completed to obtain Blue Orb Fragments. Unfortunately, the Secret Rooms objective is all but one, which is to defeat all enemies in that room. The Secret Rooms in this game are dull and not-creative compared with Devil May Cry's Secret Missions.
Bloody Palace is a survival mode that allows you to challenge various enemies at various difficulties. There are many floors, and you can ascend to higher floors by defeating enemies and choose a certain portal. Each portal will advance to a certain number of floors, and each of it will have different difficulty of challenge. Depending on how well you do in each floor, choosing an appropriate portal is important to progress smoothly in Bloody Palace.
Conclusion
Although this is one of the best looking Devil May Cry HD game, this game have sub-par storyline, weak overall gameplay system especially the combat system, as well as mediocre voice acting. I would normally advise any average gamers to skip this title. But as a DMC fan and gamer, I would advise them to play this at least for one playthrough. Although this is the weakest Devil May Cry game in the series, that doesn't mean that this game does not deserve a play. As an action game, this is a decent action game that features some stylish moves and combat. As a Devil May Cry game, this is a weak Devil May Cry game that features easy combat and not much challenges.
Score
Story - 6/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Final score: 7.0/10 or 28/40
HD Remastering score: 9/10
Pros
- Both Dante and Lucia have different unique fighting style as well as Missions.
- Dante's design is one of the best looking Dante in Devil May Cry series.
- Easy to learn gameplay.
- Excellent soundtrack.
- Enemies and bosses have much more darker tone of design, emphasising more demonic side.
- Some memorable boss fights, such as Dante's final boss.
- Good blend of both melee and ranged combat
- Realistic looking movements by characters while in combat, running, and jumping.
- Creative Amulet system.
- Stylish evasive moves by Dante and Lucia.
- Excellent in-game remastering to high definition.
Cons
- Backtracking to certain areas are cumbersome.
- Unmemorable voice acting.
- Weak storyline.
- Game difficulty is toned down compared with Devil May Cry.
- Enemies are not as aggressive as in Devil May Cry enemies.
- Under-developed characters.
- Dante's personality in this game is bland and dull.
- Some camera issues.
- Boring upgrading system.
- Characters do not learn any new moves except one.
- Recycled gameplay stages for both characters' scenario.
- Not much challenge.
- Boring Secret Rooms.
- Overpowered Dante's firearms and Lucia's ranged weapons.
Story
Dante is back, with a brand new heroine that is playable in this game.
This game takes place after Devil May Cry (and for some reason, after Devil May Cry 4 as well). Dante is asked by an enigmatic woman called Lucia, to come to an island called Dumary Island. Dante reached there, and met with an old woman called Matier, and requested him to take care of Arius, the owner of Uroboros company. Dante agrees, and he is on the quest to find him.
The storyline is pretty mediocre. Nothing much interesting going on between both Dante's and Lucia's scenarios. If I must say which one is better, Lucia's scenario is a bit more interesting because her true identity is a bit surprising. Playing both character's scenarios will provide you more understanding as to how does one person gets there and etc. Dante's new personality did not shine much in this game, and I much prefer his personality in other Devil May Cry games.
Gameplay
Play as the son of the Legendary Dark Knight, Dante, or play as the protector of Vie de Marli, Lucia.
This time, you get to control two characters in a separate game file, which are Dante and Lucia. Each character has their own sets of skills.
Dante has access to a variety of swords and modern firearms. His firearms include twin handguns and submachine guns, as well another two firearms. His swords however do not have much differences, other than length and attack power.
As for Lucia, she has access to a variety of twin curved swords, and a variety of ranged weapons such as darts and claws. Like Dante, her melee weapons do not differ much other than appearance, length, and attack power as those curved swords share the same functionality.
Like the first Devil May Cry game, this game features mission based structure, requiring you to complete certain objectives to complete a mission. Dante have separate unique missions than Lucia, and vice versa. Although their missions may share certain maps, objectives and progression of the missions are usually different, creating unique feeling of playing as both characters. Exploration and puzzles are almost similar to the first Devil May Cry, but Devil May Cry 2's puzzles are less difficult to do, and the exploration is quite linear. However, you do not have a pointer to show you where are you supposed to go in the current Mission, unlike the first Devil May Cry game.
Unfortunately for the combat section, it is mostly revamped to much more simpler combat than the first Devil May Cry game. First of all, you do not need to Lock On a target to Roll. Instead, you can press the Circle button to Evade enemy attacks. You can use Evade many times to avoid most attacks endlessly, until you stop using it or hit by an unavoidable attack. You can also use the EVade button to run on walls for quick escape. Both Dante's and Lucia's melee combats are simplified that you just need to press one Directional Button to change their combo attacks. You will not learn any new moves in the game, except when obtaining a certain Devil Heart in the game.
Combo attacks are rated similarly in Devil May Cry, but the new feature is that once you are hit by an enemy during a combo, your combo will be reset. Chaining good combos and earn Showtime!! ranking will net you more Red Orbs when killing enemies compared with lower ranking combos.
You will encounter various types of enemies while playing the Missions. Each of them have their own attack patterns, and can be defeated by any means necessary. Bosses however, are much more difficult than regular enemies, and require a bit of strategy to beat them easily. Most of the time however, regular enemies will not move much, and only react to your presence when you are close enough. With the exception of certain bosses, these enemies are noticeably slower, weaker, and dumber than Devil May Cry's enemies, easily allows you to unleash hell on them. This also means that the game is much more easier to play than Devil May Cry.
Both Dante and Lucia can change to their true forms, which is called Devil Trigger. A new feature introduced in the game is called Amulet, which allows you to customise your Devil Trigger's abilities by using Devil Hearts. Devil Hearts can be found while playing Missions in the game, and some of it are mandatory to be found in order to proceed in the game. You can mix and match up to three different categories of Devil Hearts to augment your Devil Trigger abilities, such as a heart that imbues your attacks with fire element, and a heart that boosts your health regeneration. This is a great new feature, and some of it allows you to overwhelm enemies easily when used appropriately.
After each Mission, you will be graded appropriately with five criteria, which is time completion, Stylish combo ranking, number of Red Orbs you obtained, item usage, and damage received. Depending on how well you do in these criteria, you will be ranked accordingly and will be rewarded with Red Orbs. The higher the ranking, the more Red Orbs you will be rewarded.
Orbs return in the game, such as Red Orbs, Blue Orbs, Yellow Orbs, Purple Orbs, and Green Orbs. All those Orbs has the same function as in the first game, but Yellow Orb functions differently as it allows you to be revived immediately after dying in battle. A new Orb is introduced in this game, which is called White Orb. When you picked them up, they will restore your Devil Trigger gauge. However, obtaining them while defeating enemies are incredibly rare, and most of it can be obtained while playing Secret Missions in the game.
There is a weapon upgrading system in this game. You can upgrade your swords, firearms and ranged weapons by spending Red Orbs. As the level of a weapon increases, the cost of Red Orbs required to upgrade them further will increase. As in the first game, those weapons can only be obtained while finding them in the Missions. Unfortunately, we did not get to learn any new moves while upgrading a weapon, and this is a huge mistake made by Capcom.
Of all three DMC games in the collection, this game has the weakest combat gameplay around. Dumb enemy A.I., not learning any new moves, many unmemorable boss fights, lack of variety of weapons, dull combat, and toned down difficulty compared with DMC1. Most DMC players will regard that this game is much more easier to play and dull compared with DMC1. The only few things I like in the game is the friendly Evade button, Amulet system, and some boss fights.
Graphics
The best looking remastered Devil May Cry game out of all other Devil May Cry games in Devil May Cry HD Collection. However, menu screens in the Start menu and Mission menu are still window-boxed.
Surprisingly, this is the best looking Devil May Cry HD game in the HD Collection, and it even surpasses Devil May Cry 3's HD graphics. Unlike DMC1 and DMC3, the FMV scenes are rendered in full screen. Also, in-game engine cutscenes and gameplay stages look amazing. The character designs in this game also look much more nicer. In terms of remastered in-game engine graphics, I will say Devil May Cry 3 wins in that area. But as for overall HD remastered graphics, Devil May Cry 2 wins in that area in small margin, due to it's better quality FMV scenes.
Sound
Again, moderate voice acting. However, the gothic soundtrack really shines out in this game.
As in the first game, this game's voice acting is mediocre. Nothing much to remember about the actor's voice acting and lines, as they are pretty bland and mediocre. The lines delivered by them are appropriate to the game's tone, but not memorable enough. Devil May Cry however, has the better voice acting than this game. But, Devil May Cry 3 is the game with the best voice acting.
The soundtrack is gothic styled, with rock, ambient and electronic themes played. Most of it are good, and I like a number of themes played in the game such as Dante's final boss theme, Dante's battle with the Infested Chopper, and many more.
Replay Value
Play the game with another character, play the game in harder difficulty modes, or play the Bloody Palace.
This game pretty much have a moderate replay value. If you have played Dante or Lucia as your first playthrough, try playing the other character to see how different the experience is by playing Dante or Lucia as your second character. If you have completed Dante's Hard mode, you will unlock a familiar secret character to play in the game.
You may also play harder difficulty modes in the game, and the harder modes can provide some challenge to you if you are cocky and not careful. A good motto in playing games is to not underestimate your foes in the game, whether you are playing against the computer or real-life opponents.
Secret Missions in this game are called Secret Rooms. Secret Rooms are scattered around in most Missions, and can be completed to obtain Blue Orb Fragments. Unfortunately, the Secret Rooms objective is all but one, which is to defeat all enemies in that room. The Secret Rooms in this game are dull and not-creative compared with Devil May Cry's Secret Missions.
Bloody Palace is a survival mode that allows you to challenge various enemies at various difficulties. There are many floors, and you can ascend to higher floors by defeating enemies and choose a certain portal. Each portal will advance to a certain number of floors, and each of it will have different difficulty of challenge. Depending on how well you do in each floor, choosing an appropriate portal is important to progress smoothly in Bloody Palace.
Conclusion
One of the best looking of HD remastered Devil May Cry game, but is terribly held back by flawed combat system and unmemorable storyline that still exists from it's original PS2 version.
Although this is one of the best looking Devil May Cry HD game, this game have sub-par storyline, weak overall gameplay system especially the combat system, as well as mediocre voice acting. I would normally advise any average gamers to skip this title. But as a DMC fan and gamer, I would advise them to play this at least for one playthrough. Although this is the weakest Devil May Cry game in the series, that doesn't mean that this game does not deserve a play. As an action game, this is a decent action game that features some stylish moves and combat. As a Devil May Cry game, this is a weak Devil May Cry game that features easy combat and not much challenges.
Score
Story - 6/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Final score: 7.0/10 or 28/40
HD Remastering score: 9/10
Pros
- Both Dante and Lucia have different unique fighting style as well as Missions.
- Dante's design is one of the best looking Dante in Devil May Cry series.
- Easy to learn gameplay.
- Excellent soundtrack.
- Enemies and bosses have much more darker tone of design, emphasising more demonic side.
- Some memorable boss fights, such as Dante's final boss.
- Good blend of both melee and ranged combat
- Realistic looking movements by characters while in combat, running, and jumping.
- Creative Amulet system.
- Stylish evasive moves by Dante and Lucia.
- Excellent in-game remastering to high definition.
Cons
- Backtracking to certain areas are cumbersome.
- Unmemorable voice acting.
- Weak storyline.
- Game difficulty is toned down compared with Devil May Cry.
- Enemies are not as aggressive as in Devil May Cry enemies.
- Under-developed characters.
- Dante's personality in this game is bland and dull.
- Some camera issues.
- Boring upgrading system.
- Characters do not learn any new moves except one.
- Recycled gameplay stages for both characters' scenario.
- Not much challenge.
- Boring Secret Rooms.
- Overpowered Dante's firearms and Lucia's ranged weapons.
