I've been playing for about an hour, and here are my early impressions:
-The normal mode is easier than DMC's normal mode. It now has the "Easy Auto" feature with normal play. I.E.- You can just hold down Square and he'll keep firing(although he will fire FASTER if you repeatedly hit Square). This was only available in the Easy Auto mode in DMC
-The environments ARE huge. The textures aren't less detailed, theres just less OF them(I.E.- Same texture re-used more often). In some levels, theres multiple ways of getting to the end, as in the second mission, you can run and jump across rooftops, or you can just run through the streets. Theres also more to explore, meaning you're rewarded with more orbs/secrets if you look around before just plowing through the level.
-I haven't played as Lucia yet.
-The music is pretty much the same guitar/industrial sort of sound. Although there is a lot more ambient/atmosphere music and its actually quite nice.
-Gunplay is incredible to watch. When you press R1, a purple targeting reticle will appear on the nearest enemy, but by pressing L3 you can switch between targets. If you're between two approaching enemies, you can press the left analog stick in the direction of the NON-targeted enemy thats coming toward you, and Dante will then fire at both enemies at once. Depending on how they're oriented, Dante's pose changes (shoots behind his neck, crosses his arms, spreads them out, etc)
-Dante now dives. When he's near a wall, the dive button starts the wall-run, which is finite, NOT like Shinobi where Hotsuma can just chill-out all day for as long as he likes.
-Of course, everything is ranked (ugh) at the end of the level.
-The combo system seems to be less forgiving this time around. Several times I've gotten no combo ranking at all, whereas in DMC it rarely happened.
IGN's review seems to be really short-sighted in my opinion. The battle system is WAY more complex and open, meaning you can string together any set of moves in any combination and still get the job done. I don't know how much credibility I have as a reviewer, but to be honest, I wasn't all that addicted to Devil May Cry. I beat it I think at MOST three times, and didn't go back to unlock all the secret missions, etc. But I really liked the game, and so far I really like this game. So there you have it.
And for people who like to see some kind of score:
9/10
Bear in mind this after a mere hour. I'm pretty sure the game only gets better from where I'm at right now.
<small>[ January 29, 2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Buro Destruct ]</small>
