Devil May Cry 2 (PS2)

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Devil May Cry 2 (PS2)
pub: PlayStation 2 computer game: pub: Capcom. Price: £39.99 (UK). 1 Player ELSPA: 15

check out website: www.capcom.com

For those of you who haven't played the first 'Devil May Cry' game, a quick recap. Developed by the director and the producers of the 'Resident Evil' games, the first game was a refreshingly new blend of game styles.

Dante, a devil/demon fighter the son of a devil knight, stopped the Devil emperor from destroying humanity is placed in the same position as his father. He again is pitted against the Devil emperor and his puppet minions.

The first game blended old style 2D gaming into a 3D environment with fixed camera angles. What lifted it though was the control system, graphics and storyline. Dante, both equally adept with guns as a sword, was easy to control through a series of missions based in a gothic landscape.

Onto its sequel, we now meet Lucia and, like later 'Resident Evil' games, she has her own disc and 13 of her own missions (18 in total on each disc). Both Lucia's and Dante's path cross periodically and some of each version of the game share similar environments and bosses, etc.

The Devil trigger has been improved (the devil trigger is a mode where you morph into a 'devil' form and have improved abilities and moves. A bar slowly increases as you fight until when you have enough on the bar you can use the trigger). You can run up walls 'Matrix' style and there is still a range of moves available to you like shooting in mid-air. There is also a new amulet system that with pick-ups throughout the game open up new abilities such as increased speed and flying but only in devil trigger mode.

Graphically, this is still above most games (with fixed camera angles, it should be) but although animation and particle effect are good the background textures are not quite up to par sometimes. The cut-scenes are still artistically impressive but this brings me to one major point I'd like to make. The storylines are not as good as the first. They just don't seem to captivate you in the same way as the first game did. The intro cut-scene is just down right confusing and it doesn't get much better later on.

All the meat and two veg are here in this game, but to me it just doesn't engage like the first. Yes, there are new impressive moves, the environments are bigger but they just seem a bit of a mishmash of styles and locations. You go from a gothic castle (with barbed wire fencing) to a New York-style street and skyline. It seems to me to have lost that cohesiveness of the first game.

To get anywhere with this game, you need a strategy guide and get an S rating for each mission. You need to find secret rooms to get the best pick-ups. If not, you're left with extremely long battles with bosses and very sore thumbs.

There is plenty of longevity to be found: two discs extra missions and there is always trying to improve your mission ratings.

You may after all this think I really didn't like this game. No, I still enjoyed it but I think it's unfortunately a missed opportunity. We know Capcom can do better and I think this pales in front of the first game and the 'Resident Evil' series. Fans of the first will still enjoy it. It still has incredibly fast gameplay and control system.

On the whole, graphically it's very good. I think it has just drifted away from what made the first game so good to play. If this was a school report for Capcom it would read, 'Must try harder.'

Phil Jones

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