Let me first start off by saying I was a huge fan of the first Devil May Cry. It was the second game that I had bought for the PS2 and I was immensely impressed by it. The story, the sheer coolness of the main character Dante and his array of ass kicking moves. With that out of the way, I expected a lot from Devil May Cry 2. While it delivers on some aspects, I think it’s a step back from the first installment.

Let’s start off with story, there’s not that much of it in here, bad guy wants to take over the world with the help of demons. You, being the superior bad-ass that you are, want to stop him. Devil May Cry 2 lets you play as Dante or newcomer Lucia. Both have different weapons, Dante fights with the old standard guns and swords, while Lucia fights with throwing daggers and twin knives. In addition both can run up walls, and Dante can do a crazy kamikaze dive with guns blazing straight down.

Graphically the sequel takes a different approach by giving us larger environments with lower quality textures. The end result is a very drab looking world but with twice as much to explore and destroy. You still collect orbs along your journey, red ones are used to purchase upgrades and items, blue ones extend your vitality meter, and gold ones bring you back from the dead should you happen to die. One of the faults of the game is that the transition from sword to guns isn’t as smooth as the first game.  Along with the camera, which at times is horrible and leads to many moments when you can’t see what you’re shooting at. It is minor annoyances such as these that bog down Devil May Cry 2 from being a great game.

The sound is still very rock driven, with loud guitar driven rock coming on every time you have a battle. It can be repetitive. The voice acting is adequate - another thing that’s missing is Dante’s one liners, he doesn’t say half as much as he did in the first game. Control is very tight, you’ll be able to slash and shoot things with ease, run up walls, double-flip-jump, and generally kick stuff's ass.

Overall I was satisfied with the game. It seems to me that Capcom rushed it a little too much and graphics and style were given higher priority than story and gameplay. Still, it’s a very fun game, and well worth your 50 dollars.