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Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Fighting
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 27 Aug 03
User Rating
10 (5 votes) -
- Mix the finest weapons-based fighting title with the Cube's most celebrated hero, and you get an instant classic. Simply brilliant!
Overview
Soul Calibur II, the sequel to Soul Calibur is a promising title that is available for all next-gen consoles. Each console has their own exclusive character - the GameCube is headlined by Legend of Zelda's Link, while Spawn and Heihatchi make their appearance on the Xbox and PS2 respectively. Even so the game has high standards that need to be met to make this game a hit. Soul Calibur II might have done just that, with a new Weapons Master mode, and various other fun and exciting modes to choose from. This game will keep you playing for hours on end. So sit back, grab a slice of pizza and some popcorn then be ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
Gameplay
In Soul Calibur II there are eight different game modes. There is Arcade, vs. Battle, Time Attack, Survival, Team Battle, vs. Team Battle, Practice and Weapon Master. Each mode has a different type of gameplay involved. For example, in Arcade you fight against a certain number of CPU opponents to clear the game, where in Weapon Master you collect numerous weapons and clear various missions while adventuring throughout the world. Also the player has a choice to set the difficulty of the battles in everything except Weapon Master Mode.
There is a lot of reading to do in Soul Calibur II. You'd think by this day in gaming it would have been at least narrated. Of course there are some voice acting involved, when a battle begins and ends. That is done well, except the Japanese translations aren't that well done, so sometimes you'll find the characters saying funny things after and before a battle. Like when Nightmare defeats an enemy he sometimes simply says "Go away" this is rather entertaining. The game does however have an option to change the voices back to the original Japanese voices. Which most people wouldn't want to do unless they speak the Japanese language, sadly enough there's not to many Americans that can speak Japanese. So that is probably out of the question, unless you like to listen to voices that you cannot understand.
For each platform version the controls are different for this game. Though GameCube has the worst controls out of all the systems, it still manages to be decent. Pulling off combos is a bit tricky mind you, with all the different buttons in different places. It gets confusing when more then one button does the same thing, and some buttons like R and L do nothing at all. Still the controls could be worse and are manageable as they are. As far as camera work goes, that is also fine. It could have been a bit better since sometimes you get stuck in a corner then get knocked out of the ring simply because you couldn't see where you were, other then that there is nothing wrong with the camera angles.
The two player mode is interesting, to say the least. You can play team battles where each player gets up to eight characters, or you can just play normal battle mode where you vs. each other with one character. This gives the game more to do once you have finished everything else. We all know that two player battles are never dull.
There is a story to this game. It's a bit hard to understand, unless you've played the first games though. Nonetheless it's still an intriguing story with side quests to keep the game going on and on with no end. Even after beating the game through once in Weapon Master Mode, you will be given the chance to start on extra missions with every item you got from the first time around, and collect new ones while you are at it.
Graphics
The graphics are great, not as good as the Xbox version, but noticeably better then the PS2 version. The character models are amazing for this style of game. It has to be said that Soul Calibur II is the flashiest fighting game to date. The lighting is very realistic, you can tell the difference between a dungeon underground's lighting compared to a windy rooftop's lighting. Each new weapon looks cooler then the one before it. Some weapons are quite plain and boring, basically just a blade attached to a handle. While other weapons look like a magically fairy did something to them to make them look so fantastic and mystical. The backgrounds of the fighting arenas are almost as good as the character models. Some games put a lot of effort into making the characters look good, that they lack in the backgrounds. That's not the case with Soul Calibur II, where everything is beautifully done.
Fun Factor
Soul Calibur II will have you playing for days or maybe even weeks on end with its two player modes, extra missions and a whole array of different modes to play and beat. There's so little that could possibly be bad about this game. Its replay value is amazing since you can't say you've beaten the game until you've beaten it with each character. It's one of the best fighting games this year that's for sure.
Overall
This one shouldn't be missed if you like fighting games, or even if you don't. The battles are great, the storyline is interesting and mysterious, the graphics are amazing and two player battles just add to the fun. Everything about this game is good so there's no reason not to play it. It will keep you occupied for quite some time, unless you get bored of it, which is almost next to impossible. So it must be said "Great job Namco."
- Gameplay
9.0 - Graphics
9.0 - Fun Factor
9.0 - Overall
9.0
