In "Devil May Cry 2", the player guides either Dante or Lucia through an urban environment, fighting groups of monsters in fast-paced combat. The game consists of missions with specific goals in the play area of the game itself. The player's performance in each mission is ranked from D (poor/"Don't Worry") to S (excellent/"Showtime") based on the time taken to complete the mission, the amount of Red Orbs collected, the overall "style" displayed during fights, item usage, and damage taken. In contrast to the rest of the gameplay, the style judging system used in the game has been cited as being the harshest in terms of how it judges the player's performance.