Everyone knows the story on how Devil May Cry 2 being one of if not the most infamous sequel in all of gaming. It's well disliked among the fandom of the franchise and gaming in general. When you think of "bad game sequel", someone will mention this game. You'll most certainly hear a collective groan in any gaming discussion by it's mere mention or presence. As someone who has long since gotten over how much of a mess DMC2 is, I can't help but find it to be a fascinating title when viewed from afar. There's no doubt worse PS2 titles and games in general than it. On top of that, there's nothing for DMC2 to fallback on when trying to find praise for it. The gameplay isn't very good, the game never looked that great visually, and the story? There's one here? I suppose there is but it's more of a vague outline than an actual story. On top of that, DMC2 isn't part of some ongoing narrative where you have to experience in order to understand later entries either. DMC5's recap only acknowledges 2 for about a few seconds at most. If you were to remove from compliations of the PS2 games, no one would care if it was omitted. Gametrailers quote on "Top 10 Disappointing Games in the 00s" sums up the game adequately, "this isn't just some movie tie in game from 2003, this is the sequel to Devil May Cry".
Long rambling on the game's legacy aside, I decided to do something many wouldn't do when playing DMC2: play as Lucia. The game is really short if you do one run as either character and that makes me much kinder on the game as a result. Any longer and I would be much harsher on it.
I already know that playing as Dante is a sleep inducing borefest with how you can stand around firing his pistols all day in the wide open spaces as enemies struggle to hit you or have a hard time even figuring out where your position is. This all changes up until the fight against the Despair of the Embodied but most won't even get there.
Playing as Lucia on the other hand isn't as bad, not good but the lack of Dante's quick firing hitscan pistols does mean you have to close in the distance more by comparison. Lucia's throwing knives are projectile so it'll take a little while before the attack reaches the enemy. Thanks to how much slower it is to deal damage with the throwing knives, it now encourages the player to not rely on one tactic and start trying to get more upclose and personal. Her Devil Trigger still gives her throwing knives travel time before they hit enemies so it's not as easy abuse as Dante's DT is. As a result, this does allow some much needed "depth" to DMC2's combat.
With all this said, the problems that were there when playing as Dante are still here like the needlessly wide open enviroments and the camera not doing a good enough job at keeping all the enemies in focus. It can become an easy game of mashing the knife throw button due to how wide open and poorly placed the camera can be.
It also doesn't help that the combo system isn't based on what direction you are facing but also on how you flick around the left stick which adds needless confusion since the rest of the series and many action games using directional based inputs don't follow this.
Some of the bosses are a little better since throwing knives aren't hitscan like Plutonian but still suffer from the wide open areas problem.
The music is fantastic. It's a shockingly really good OST and despite the game's reputation, I still listen to random tracks from it to this day. The thing is that good bgm is only fondly remembered when everything else around the media in question lines up. If everything else is lacking except the music, it won't be enough to save it. You can look up the "filing dark souls with light" scene from the first Devil May Cry for proof of that.
There is more of a motif this time around with Lucia exploring various underground tombs all though it doesn't really mean much when the story in question is...uhh there is one?
The best way of describing DMC2's story is that it's an outline that has no body paragraphs.
To give some examples, the game's opening cutscene never establishes what the player or Dante is supposed to do. It just ends with Dante and Lucia exchanging names and that's it next thing you know, Lucia's in a village somewhere. Another example is how Lucia's in an abandoned city ravaged with demons then the mission ends with her running into a black void...and then she's in an oil rig? Arius sends Lucia down a portal and then she ends up in some tombs? She meets Dante at the end of the tomb missions and then it suddenly cuts to her obtaining a disguise and already infiltrating Arius' HQ.
It's more of a bunch of vaugely connected jot notes then it does seem to be anything resembling a plot.
Overall, there's worse games to find but due it to be associated with a popular game franchise with nothing substantial to fallback on even at it's best, there's nothing you can't find done better elsewhere. At least it's short
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