Devil May Cry 2 (PS2)

The addition of a second character (Lucia) was a good idea. It means you can follow both Dante and Lucia in their mission to stop the evil Arius. Unfortunatly, the missions for each character don't differ enough. It seemed that I was doing the same mission again.

The graphics and environments really are a great improvement. So is the fighting. You can target two enemies at the same time with your handguns, which is very good in a tight spot. Unfortunatly, with the new targeting system you can only target enemies that are directly infront of you. Which isn't good if there's something getting a little to close behind you.

The upgrade screen is good. You can now use your red orbs to upgrade your swords, and firearms, as well as buy items. This is a good addition, as it means you can now make short work of your foes. The downside is that you need to collect a lot of orbs before you can upgrade or buy anything. This makes it a little frustrating, as you nearly have enough to upgrade your sword, but then find you need another yellow orb. Which takes away your hope of a weapon upgrade.

Dante's costume has also had a stylish makeover. He now wears a fitted trenchcoat, buttened up with cool buckles on the collar. Actually, his costume looks a little like Neo's in The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. His charcter is now more of a mercenary than a hero, and is less witty than in the first game. He's slightly more of a guy that lets a toss of a coin decide weather he'll fight or not. If he has to, then he doesn't seem to care about it. Unlike the first game, where every enemy was in his way, and he WAS and HAD to get rid of them.

This really is a good game. It's a very worthy sequel to a mighty game. Though where improvements have been made, there are also some sacrifices. Fans of the original will enjoy this less than the first, but enjoy it all the same. Those that have never played the first game may find this a little dissapointing. If this is you, then you should either buy the origianl aswell as this, or settle for the original for now, then get this later.

Essentially the gameplay is the same: run around looking for the exit to the mission while killing some evil demon types (Bloody Goats! grrr....) along the way and collecting items to power you up. There's a few niffty moves you can pull off such as back flips and wall runs (Matrix style) and a few extra items/weapons to pick up which spices it up a bit. It's also a lot harder to string combos together to get that all important S rating. Fans will be disappointed to discover the new amulet system, although it provides a bit of flexibility, doesn't include lighnting attacks in Air Raid form. And where's Sparda? Dante doesn't even get the option to use it, you'll have to unlock a hidden character for that one.

Despite this its quite easy to complete first time off, players of the first game will only find "Dante must die" difficulty level, or higher levels in the Bloody Palace challenging. If you've played the original DMC then you'll enjoy this for the chop-socky action and not the strange Japenese slant on things. The original DMC is buy far the more polished of the two.