The best way to describe Devil May Cry 2 is "aggressively mediocre."
I knew about this game's reputation long before I got to it, which is why I took so long to eventually get around to playing it, but I had the HD Collection and I figured it was high time I play it, just for shits and giggles, see if it's really that bad. However, when Mission 1 started and I was messing around with the controls and saw that Stinger animation, I already knew just how the rest of the game was going to pan out. If you want the definitive DMC 2 experience, just play until that god awful Infested Chopper boss fight and exit, because it stops being funny after that point.
For a game with a 6 month development time held together with duct tape and spit, it's a miracle the game even functions, but that's the most charitable thing you could say about it. The enemy AI is brain dead, the guns are so powerful that they will single-handedly carry you throughout the entire game, and the plot is just a series of random events and non-sequiturs that happen while Dante performs his best Two-Face impression. Nothing is overtly broken or outlandishly terrible, but it rarely ever ascends past the stunning highs of "Okay, I guess". I eventually gave up around Mission 14 when I just got too annoyed and bored to bother finishing it.
But above all else, Devil May Cry 2 is a testament to Hideaki Itsuno's ability to find the best qualities in even the worst games. Dante's moveset is very free-flowing, since he not only starts off with Air Hike, there's now a dedicated dodge button that functions as a wallrun/dodge roll, which would later be implemented as the Trickster Style in DMC 3. There's also the Majin Devil Trigger, which acts like a prototype to the Sin Devil Trigger in DMC 5, as well as minor things, such as Rebellion being introduced in this entry or the first instance of a playable Trish.
In a way, I'm glad it exists, since Devil May Cry 3 wouldn't have been as great as it was without the failure of DMC 2, but outside of its historical context within the series, DMC 2 is not worth your time in the slightest.
I knew about this game's reputation long before I got to it, which is why I took so long to eventually get around to playing it, but I had the HD Collection and I figured it was high time I play it, just for shits and giggles, see if it's really that bad. However, when Mission 1 started and I was messing around with the controls and saw that Stinger animation, I already knew just how the rest of the game was going to pan out. If you want the definitive DMC 2 experience, just play until that god awful Infested Chopper boss fight and exit, because it stops being funny after that point.
For a game with a 6 month development time held together with duct tape and spit, it's a miracle the game even functions, but that's the most charitable thing you could say about it. The enemy AI is brain dead, the guns are so powerful that they will single-handedly carry you throughout the entire game, and the plot is just a series of random events and non-sequiturs that happen while Dante performs his best Two-Face impression. Nothing is overtly broken or outlandishly terrible, but it rarely ever ascends past the stunning highs of "Okay, I guess". I eventually gave up around Mission 14 when I just got too annoyed and bored to bother finishing it.
But above all else, Devil May Cry 2 is a testament to Hideaki Itsuno's ability to find the best qualities in even the worst games. Dante's moveset is very free-flowing, since he not only starts off with Air Hike, there's now a dedicated dodge button that functions as a wallrun/dodge roll, which would later be implemented as the Trickster Style in DMC 3. There's also the Majin Devil Trigger, which acts like a prototype to the Sin Devil Trigger in DMC 5, as well as minor things, such as Rebellion being introduced in this entry or the first instance of a playable Trish.
In a way, I'm glad it exists, since Devil May Cry 3 wouldn't have been as great as it was without the failure of DMC 2, but outside of its historical context within the series, DMC 2 is not worth your time in the slightest.