Soul Calibur II
The US gets the game that was a hit in Japan a year ago, but its worth it…
Tags: Soul Calibur II Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Andrew on Sep 8th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Soul Calibur II (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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For those that don’t remember the start of the Dreamcast, the stores were lined up with people waiting to see the new Sega creation, and perhaps even more importantly, the very impressive fighter that made the console’s launch a hit. Soul Calibur, the sequel to Soul Blade (an arcade and later Playstation title) was so impressive that it immediately became the most popular game on the system, and stayed that way until the demise of the system. Today, it remains one of the 3 or 4 best fighters on the market. Namco, building that success and with the success of their Tekken series, released Soul Calibur 2, a port of the very successful arcade game.
To start with, the first thing that you notice about the game is the very smooth graphics. Easily, one of the best looking fighters ever created.
As far as the actual combat system goes, being a Namco fighter, the exact same controls as Tekken make their way here, with a slight adjustment, instead of having a button correspond to each appendage, this time, with each character using weapons, there is a horizontal, a vertical, a block and a kick button. Each move is a direction and a use of one or more of those buttons. The combos are rather easy to pull off, but require experience and timing to master.
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Another part of the game is the parry system, which allows you to make your opponent off balance with a good block. This system quickly becomes the difference between a newbie player and a more experienced gamer. You can also “soul charge”, or power up your character, which gives more damage, and other new characteristics (such as unblockable or quicker moves) depending on the character and the situation.
All of the characters from the original Soul Calibur, save Weaponmaster, Hwang, and Rock, make their appearance in this game, though with some modifications. Cervantes has lost his soul blade, so he now fights with a gun blade to start, making him much less of a broken character. Other changes we find in the preexisting characters from the series is that we now find out that Ivy is Cervantes daughter, Maxi has been beefed up, and Nightmare is even more of a “nightmare” then before (Siegfried form is not part of this game).
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New characters this go around include Yung Sun, a Hwang rip off with some very impressive kick combos. We also have Cassandra, a Sophitia rip off (even though Sophitia is in the game as an unlockable character), Talim, a dancer who uses basically kali sticks, and Necrid, a green beast who manifest other characters weapons in order to attack. The random character this go around is Charade (an appropriate name). Assassin, basically Hwang with a mask and lizard man also make their appearance in the game. Also each version of the game gets its own unique character, with Heihachi from the Tekken series making his appearance in the PS2 version of Soul Calibur II.
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The basic premise of a fighting game is included, along with time attack, survival and team battle modes. One of the great things from the original Soul Calibur, the weaponmaster/quest mode, is included this time, with many different missions and quests. Basically you play the story of a fighter searching to stop the evil soul edge, along the way, you must do all sort of challenge matches with different conditions and effects in place. As you proceed, you win experience and money which allows you to purchase different weapons for each other characters. These weapons, available in the “extra” modes of the game, range from different effects such as double damage or taking life away or healing, to wacky items which make weird sounds or make no since as a weapons, such as Sung Mina using an oar as her weapon (to an accompiament of duck sounds on each hit).
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The challenges quickly become harder as you proceed, and even after you defeat the original story line, there are more challenges and story line for you to discover.
Overall the game is easily one of the best (if not the best) fighting game on the PS2 and may yet prove to be the best fighter on the market – regardless of console. The controls are simple, the graphics eye catching and very smooth and the game play addictive. There still is nothing quite like using Ivy and lassoing your opponent and you make them kneel in front of you.
A small warning as I finish to cross platform gamers, The timing of the moves is very different from console to console, so take your time to get used to it before jumping into different combos.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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GRAPHICS Different weapons Combo system |
9.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
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Necrid and Berzerker NO Sigfreid |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
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Just picturing what it would be like to have Ivy wip me, I've been a very bad boy... You like fighters? GET THIS GAME regardless of console choice |
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Tags: Soul Calibur II
Posted by Andrew on Sep 8th, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
