Devil May Cry 2 HD

Devil May Cry fans and I have our differences of opinion, but they’re totally right about DMC2. This game is fascinatingly bad. Despite being nearly identical to its predecessor both mechanically and aesthetically, it still manages to be vastly inferior in literally every aspect. The camera and lock-on functions are delegated to an incompetent AI, while the shallower combat makes the controls feel more overcomplicated than ever. The enemies are so brainless and easily stunned, and your ranged weapons are so overpowered, that most skirmishes are resolved by simply mashing or holding the attack buttons until everything else is dead. The exceptions are a handful of boss fights which swing the difficulty to the other extreme with bizarrely unfair strategies. The only worthwhile gameplay contribution here is a dodge button; the new wall-running ability is so spectacularly useless that it doesn’t even count.

The two campaigns share 90% of their content, most of which is aimless, interchangeable levels full of arbitrarily respawning enemies. Playing through both is the only way to have the story make any kind of sense, although it doesn’t get very far in that regard. The plot plays out without any regard for internal logic or coherent structure – there’s no real beginning or ending, and the events of the first game apparently never happened. Dante’s one-off dour personality here is a rightful sore spot with fans, because it erases the unique juxtaposition of gloomy gothic atmosphere and ridiculous anime action, on top of being boring. The HD port fixes nothing, only adding some anti-aliasing and widescreen presentation to visuals that mostly held up anyway. At least the voice acting is so comically horrendous that it lands in “so bad it’s good” territory.