Devil May Cry 2 Review

The first game worked because it was hostile. It demanded you learn enemy patterns, punished sloppiness, and rewarded style with a grading system that publicly judged your taste. The sequel deletes all of that. Enemies rarely attack, they stagger from chip damage, and the pistols do enough that a competent player can clear entire levels by walking backwards and holding a button, which turns a combat system into a chore. Dante becomes a silent brooder with none of the arrogance that made him worth watching, and the plot is a corporate demon summoning affair nobody can recall an hour later.

The levels are drab industrial spaces without the gothic architecture the original leaned on. Lucia's campaign is thinner still. Development reportedly changed hands late and it shows in every seam, from the empty environments to the boss fights that amount to shooting a large shape until it falls. Capcom's response was to hand the series to Hideki Kamiya's successor and start over, which was correct.