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Platform: Xbox Genre: Fighting Publisher: Namco Developer: Namco ESRB: T (Teen) Released: August 26, 2003 Support AE! Buy Games Here:
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Soul
Calibur II
Score 9.3 / 10 |
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Pros: -
Beautiful, beautiful graphics with not a jaggy in site -
Lots of cool characters with a multitude of weapons Deep,
fun Weapon Master Mode
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Cons: - Outside of the Weapon Master mode, the A.I. doesn’t provide much of a challenge for experienced fighters
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Related Links: Action Figure: Soul Calibur II
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"...one
of the best fighting games of all time.
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Soul
Calibur was the best reason to own the now defunct Dreamcast.
It was a gorgeous fighter with a great combination of depth and
intuitive, pick-up-and-play simplicity.
One of the saddest results of the failure of the Dreamcast as a
platform was that not enough people got to play that little gem of a
game. Personally,
as a huge fan of the first game, I knew I’d be buying a copy of Soul
Calibur II (SC2) for myself whether I was assigned to review it or not.
The problem was deciding which version to get because each
version has a character unique to the platform, and the Xbox and
Gamecube versions sport real doozies: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn and
Legend of Zelda’s Link, respectively.
In the end, I went for the Xbox version, mostly because it was
likely to feature slightly better graphics and, with the official Soul
Calibur II arcade controller being compatible with all three systems, I
wouldn’t have to deal with the Xbox controller’s clumsy button
placement.
So,
now that I have had a chance to put the Xbox’s version of Soul Calibur
II through its paces, what do I think?
Well, it is as gorgeous as I had hoped it would be.
It features amazingly smooth and fast game play, and it has an
expanded version of the excellent Weapon Master mode that was one of the
best features of the first game.
Add it all up and SC2 is a remarkable game and one every fighting
fan should own.
Still, expectations out there are very high for this one.
People seem to expect that the game will be, hands down, the best
3D fighter of all time.
For some of those fighting fans, SC2 might be a slight
disappointment because it lacks the depth and sense of accomplishment of
the Virtua Fighter 4 games.
For my money, it is the second best fighting game of the year and
of all time.
(Three guesses what I feel is number one, and the first two
don’t count against you—the intials are VF4:E).
The
first thing players are likely to notice when they fire up SC2 is the
stunning visual display.
SC2 looks great.
The character models seem to be made up of, oh, I don’t know,
say a billion polygons.
Well, not really, of course, but the characters are well-modeled
right down to tiniest of details.
More importantly, they animate with an unprecedented degree of
realism and style.
Not a single frame of animation has been glossed over, despite
the temptation that must have presented itself when the developers
realized just how quick their new engine was.
It would have been simple to give an attack or two a few less
frames here and there without anyone noticing.
As it is, every move seems to have been given a tremendous amount
of attention.
The result is a fast, smooth fighting experience. As
good as the game engine is, the fighting mechanics might be even better.
Soul Calibur veterans will feel right at home with the majority
of the moves.
The big difference is the speed.
The smaller, quicker characters are simply blindingly fast.
I started with one of my favorite characters, the speedy Xiangua,
and was able to blast through the Arcade Mode without a single continue
by simply running in, slashing, and running out.
Part of that was because the arcade mode is too easy, just as it
was in the first Soul Calibur, but mostly it is because in SC2, speed
kills.
The effect of speed is accentuated even further by the fully 3D
nature of the game, a first for a fighting game of this type.
It is especially cool being able to dodge an attack and run
around behind the opponent to unleash some punishment. That
is not to say the slower character can’t hold their own.
The big guys take a while to get most of their attacks off, but
once they do, most of them stagger the opponent or knock them down to
the ground.
If a player isn’t quick to roll away or pop their character to
his or her feet, the big guys will simply pummel him or her into
submission.
I can be incredibly frustrating how fast a character can go from
full health to fully dead.
The
speed of the characters and the multitude of powerful attacks might
taint the game in the eyes of pure fight game fans.
When Soul Calibur was on the shelves, the term
“button-masher” was being thrown around pretty regularly.
For the un-initiated, the term simply means that a player has as
much chance of winning by just “mashing” the buttons quickly and
randomly as they do by learning the long list of moves for each
character and by practicing them to perfection.
The term was being misapplied then, and it is even more
inaccurate now.
If a player only ever plays the A.I., maybe SC2 is a
“button-masher”, most fighting games are.
It is during head-to-head that the depth of the fighting system
reveals itself.
I experienced a tremendous series of butt whippings at the hands
of a tournament-winning Soul Calibur player back in the day, even though
I had already turned the game inside-out fighting against the computer.
The game doesn’t have the depth of Virtua Fighter 4 (no
fighting game does), but a match between two experienced players is
still a marvelous ballet of attacks, dodges, and counters. SC2
has all the expected modes and tons of bonus ones to un-open, but the
highlight of the game, for me, is the Weapon Master mode.
It is hard to overestimate the value this mode and its over two
hundred un-lockable features hold.
The Weapon Master mode is played on a map land with new
destinations opening up as the player completes each mission and
chapter.
The tale being told is not particularly original or compelling,
but the individual missions have tremendous variety and, unlike the
arcade mode, the Weapon Master mode provides a serious challenge.
The dungeon levels especially made me thankful for the unlimited
continues.
I would seriously hate to be ten rooms into one of the larger
dungeons and have to start from the beginning after a loss. Soul
Calibur II will satisfy most fighting fans with its smooth play and
brilliant graphics.
It stands easily among a handful of other games as one of the
best fighting games of all time. - Tolen Dante (September 10, 2003)
A Word on the Strategy Guide If you've ever thought yourself above buying a strategy guide, BradyGames gives you a good reason to get their guide for Soul Calibur II. It covers all three platforms, with complete run-downs of each character (strengths and weaknesses), their moves, and available weapons. Although the text is on the small side, the guide is packed to the gills with information (especially for fans of the series. But maybe the biggest reason, the official soundtrack is included with the guide! So, besides being an indispensable resource for SCII, it's also a collector's item.
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