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Soul Calibur II Review |
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Soul Calibur II
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If you are a fan of arcade and console fighting games, I’m sure you are well aware Of Namco’s reputation in this genre. Moreover, you are probably aware of Namco’s fighting marvel Soul Calibur on the ill-fated Dreamcast. And now, after a few years of anticipation, the legend returns with a full-fledged sequel.
Soul Calibur 2 continues the saga of an evil blade Soul Edge forged in the pits of hell. Anyone who wields this sword, will be corrupted by its power and shall turn on the path of destruction. Soul Edge is currently possessed by a dark knight Nightmare who roams the earth destroying everything in his path. Many powerful fighters from around the world are out to find the blade and it’s wielder. Each has goals of their own, some wish to destroy this evil, while others wish to possess, or be possessed by it.
storyline sounds a lot like something you would regularly see in an RPG rather than a fighting game. Soul Calibur takes a stand between both genres. You are able to choose from “original” modes such as Arcade (where you just have to beat all the opponents until you reach the boss), time attack, survival, versus and so on. There is also Weapon Master within the “story” mode which is the RPG portion of the game. In this mode, you will pick a character and explore various areas of the world in pursuit of Soul Edge. Each area will offer a different challenge, other than just beating up your opponent. Challenges include defeating an opponent in a strict time limit, winning by ring out, fighting against an invisible opponents or fighting a series of opponents. At the end of each challenge, you will earn XP and Gold which will allow you to gain levels and shop for different weapons, costumes and locked features. While this mode is cool and unique, it will not last you too long. The majority of challenges tend to be rather unchallenging even for inexperienced players. Regardless of the downsides, the extra play mode gives the game a unique flavor, as most fighting games only have traditional(versus, arcade, time attack) modes of play.
The Soul Calibur 2 combat system is quite different from the other familiar fighting games. In SC, you may move in any of the eight directions, 8-way run makes it possible to evade and attack from different directions. Such flexibility of movement plus the diversity of characters allows a special style of play. For example as slow, but mighty Astaroth you are unlikely to stun your opponent with swift combos, however one well-placed strike of his axe will slice off a quarter of opponent’s life. If you are playing as Taki or Kilim, you will find yourself running up close to the enemy to conduct combos and then quickly retreating back to keep distance. Playing as Maxi may get a little tricky as he tends to go into long combo attacks, unable to stop when needed. Each one of the characters has their own martial style and their own weapons. With enough practice, each one is as deadly as the next. Since we’ve started talking about characters, I should mention that there plenty for you to choose from, as well as some lock characters which you can get by completing weapon master. Plus each separate platform gets its own exclusive character. For XBOX it is the axe wielding badass, Spawn.
In addition to innovative and well balanced gameplay, the graphical side of Soul Calibur 2 looks simply beautiful. Game environments look amazing, for example the cherry blossom tree at Sakura-Dei Gate, drops pink petals down on the arena. One of the cavern maps has glowing bugs floating in the background while Talim’s stage, the big windmill overlooks the nearby hills and village windmills. All stages look very diverse and equally good, but characters themselves look even better. All fighters and their weapons in the game look exceptionally cool. The costumes and weapon design precisely outline the attitude of the character. The moves, throws and other character animations look very smooth and realistic. You will notice the menacing faces of the combatants when they perform various moves or say their lines. Generally, the designs and the effects such as wind in the players hair, make the game look superb, possibly best looking fighting game on Xbox. Music haven’t changed much since the last installment, its still the same epic battle tunes, the characters however got a lot more phrases and dialogues. Pair awesome graphics and sound with the lack of any serious bugs, throw in un-lockable costumes, weapons, stages and characters, and you’ve got a shot at GOTY, at least in the fighting cathegory.
In the end, Namco has stood up to all the expectations placed by the fans, and produced yet another smash hit. Soul Calibur 2 has everything a genre fan could wish for, oodles of diverse characters, costumes and weapons. Great looking character models, and solid gameplay. The only thing that is missing is the much needed multiplayer mode, perhaps at later time Namco will follow Tecmo’s example and release a version with Live support. But until then, we’re limited just to a local versus mode.
Review By: Arty T.
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Fernando Medina
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