Devil May Cry 2 is the black sheep of the franchise—a rushed, watered-down sequel that lacks the original’s gothic flair or Dante’s signature swagger. The combat is slower and easier (gun-spam wins everything), the level design is bland, and the story is forgettable. Still, Lucia’s campaign adds variety, and the core mechanics are functional, if uninspired.

A couple perfunctory "puzzles" and some awkward hopping around searching for health expansions notwithstanding, this is at heart a very straightforward callback to the days of "belt scrolling" beat-em-ups. Slog through a few hours worth of mandatory waves of the same half dozen or so enemy types over and over and you'll be rewarded with some cool-looking bosses to circle strafe around for a while.

The black sheep of the franchise. Devil May Cry 2 took what worked from the first game and took a giant shit on it. The levels are overly big and empty, which makes fighting enemies way too easy. Not to mention the enemy and boss design is so horrible there are times you can literally just stand still and win by just shooting off your pistols. It's actually amazing that they went from a piece of trash like this to the masterpiece that was DMC3.