Price: £34.99 Players: 1 Widescreen: No NTSC 60Hz: Yes DTS sound: No Devil May Cry 2 is the sequel to a gave I never got to play, with you as Dante, a half-man half-demon who is the son of Sparda and must defeat the evil that's lurking in the town over 18 missions - and this time you're accompanied by a French female friend, Lucia, who has an unlucky 13 missions to accomplish herself on disc 2. As you run about, you must collect orbs to replenish health, give special powers and strengthen your weapons, guns or buy further items to help you on your quest. You'll get to fight weird monsters and use the Devil Trigger to bring out the demon in you. Between the action comes glorious cut-scenes that set the tone of the place including, in Mission 2 on disc one, where an old lady tells you to go after Arius, the owner of a big corporation who exerts his force using evil power - so, an earlier version of Rupert Murdoch, then?

Graphically, this game looks fantastic and, while not quite as good as some Xbox games doing the rounds, that's due to the limitations of the PS2 which few games can seem to overcome. The setting is like a gothic version of Prague, as if it was set a few hundred years ago. Hacking and slashing isn't adverse to a bit of gore, so it's not one for the younger gamers. Devil May Cry 2 pays a partial homage to the Resident Evil series, in that horrible things can come at you from all sides and with little warning, but the camera movement is more pleasing and follows you to a degree rather than simply being static the whole time. That said, there are times when you won't get to see all the enemies around you in an enclosed space until you're a little too close to them... the grinding music informs you, however, that the battle is not yet over. I would've liked to add a use for the right-joystick in being able to look out from your own eyes at the city as occasionally it can be a bit tricky to find out where to go next. One other nice addition is that, although the camera angle can change, meaning that the direction of the joystick is different to the way your character is now running, for a second or two it will still allow you to run in the correct direction until you realise - this stops you accidentally going back and forth between two rooms while you figure out the new area.

Soundwise, the music is nicely effective in creating the atmosphere and, at times, reminiscent of even The Orb. The sound FX are functional although decent and, overall, there's nothing to complain about. You could complain that the gameplay is linear as you walk from location to location, but this isn't a problem as it saves the game from being too repetitive and you will certainly have a good blast along the way. There's striking Matrix-style fights to be had as you leap about the town, including jumping into the air and shooting on the way down - which keeps you up in the air the longer you blast away. I found you can even destroy what look like TV aerials on the roof - someone's not going to be pleased when they get in from a hard day's work... Overall, this is a game worthy of checking out if you like any kind of action, couple with a lot of gameplay over the 31 missions if you're going to stay the course. That said, those who haven't played the original title may wish to rent this one before they buy.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2003.