GAME CLEAR No. 47 -- Devil May Cry 2

Devil May Cry 2 (2003, Multiplatform)

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Clear Date: 8/20/2021
Clear Platform: Switch

Back in early 2014, I beat Devil May Cry on the 360 HD Collection. I thought the game was all right but wasn’t super motivated to play further for whatever reason.

Anyway, last month I beat Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster, which of course famously features Dante from the Devil May Cry series. In particular, it features him as he appears in Devil May Cry 2. I saw this as a perfect reason to revisit the series.

The questionable quality of Devil May Cry 2 was something I was aware of heading into the game, and I’m here to say its reputation is just about accurate. This game ain’t great. It went through a pretty hellacious and rushed development cycle in which it saw its struggling director replaced by the man who would eventually direct the rest of the series, Hideaki Itsuno. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough time to right the ship, and I reckon Capcom didn’t want to extend its development time.

The result is a game with a pretty bad-feeling action engine, a lifeless protagonist, and a bad story. Really very little going for it. On Switch, it’s in 1080p and runs with out a hitch of course, so I guess that’s something, but beyond its performance specs, there’s little to praise.

And I’d really like to praise something! I guess another morsel I can throw it is that it wasn’t so bad that I didn’t finish it. It’s very easy, so I was able to blast through its ~6 hour length with almost no effort while watching baseball (frankly, a wonderful way to pass the time). But even that is a demerit in its own right. In a series that would become known for its challenging enemies and bosses and blood-pumping action, the fact that you can tackle this game while only devoting partial attention to it is damning. Probably the most egregious examples of this is that there are multiple bosses that can be beaten entirely with Ebony and Ivory (Dante’s dual pistols). Just stand far away from them and hold down the gun button. Bad!

I guess at this point I’m probably overdue to describe the game’s premise, eh? Basically Dante’s a demon hunter that gets asked by Lucia to help her fight an evil businessman named Arius, who wants to raise a demon named Argosax to take over the world or whatever. This is all explained in a handful of stiff cutscenes. I hardly remember what happened, but anyway, you ultimately Dante and Lucia succeed in defeating him. Both characters are playable in their two separate but mostly-overlapping storylines (originally separate discs on PS2). Nothing really memorable about it.

I don’t wanna review this game anymore, so I’m just gonna leave this writeup half-baked. The game was!

Oh! The final thing I’ll mention is that this was the first game I played with the Hori Split Pad Pro, which is an outstanding handheld controller for the Switch. It makes a device I used to only use in handheld mode begrudgingly much more inviting. Can’t recommend it enough for people that find the joycons to provide a mediocre handheld experience. Only caveats to this great device are that it does not have motion or rumble support, and it cannot be used to play games while the Switch is docked. All cost-cutting measures that I hope went into improving the build quality of what is there.