The Last Blade 2: Heart of the Samurai

"The best ambiance in a fighter EVER"

This is a port of a Neogeo 2D fighting game made by SNK. But this is *nothing* like Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom or even King Of Fighters. Here, most the characters have weapons and know how to use them. You can lose a game in a few seconds and your opponent is good... But you can also win easily. As always, there are two sides to a sword. This game takes place in the Medieval Times, and all kind of fighters are to be expected: both Oriental and Occidental. In this game the characters fight for honor and are all inspired by sword and kung-fu flicks. This game is the sequel of Last Blade 1 (!), an excellent and technical fighting game inspired by the Samurai Spirit/Showdown (US name) which sadly did not encounter as much success as SNK expected. However, most hardcore fighting fans have known this series from the beginning, and generally consider it as the true sequel of the SS series. This DC port has been announced as SNK's last DC game, some kind of gift to the fans... But considering the old age of the system it was developed upon, is it still a good game today?

graphics/animation 6

I can already hear the complaints... ''BillyKane, you're the archetype of the SNK fanboy (=an ''in'' word on the gamefaqs message boards), how come you only gave LB2FE a 6 in graphics?''
Allow me to explain myself: I think this game looks insanely good. It is a 2D title, and I'm in love with most 2D fighters... They got that nostalgia factor which makes me play them over and over, and look at the characters and their backgrounds over and over to make sure I have not missed an important detail. Every old-time gamer will tell you this as the obvious truth: 2D rules.
This game has very original graphics, and if you look at the backgrounds you will truly feel like you were in Asia in 1864 A.D.. In some way, this is not only a fighting game: unlike most games, it seems to be inspired by real facts or characters. SNK spent a lot of time on the characters, and that is easy to see: they all look great and interesting. Even more, they are very charismatic. Setsuna is the best example: he is a dark swordsman with an owl, and looks very intimidating. He looks a bit like Iori Yagami from the KOF series, but seems even more evil. Kaede, the hero, was inspired by Dragon Ball Z: he has a transformation which makes him become stronger and (*gulps*) blonde. Rip-off you say? Maybe. But it is done so nicely that it makes you want to applaud the SNK designers for doing it. Honestly the character design in this game is insanely good. Another obvious reference to Asian culture is the character of Lee: he's a ''rip-off'' of Fei Fong Wong, the character played by Jet Li in ''Once upon a time in China'' (I'm not sure if this is the US title). But he looks GREAT.
The backgrounds are very impressive, too. They feature a waterfall, a mountain, a battlefield, a burning house, a forest... They're very classical, but still impressive. Each of them is introduced by a small cut scene and a small speech (in English!). While they do look pixelated, they contain lots of animation (especially Akari's stage: there's an elephant in it!). The same goes for the characters: they don't look that great compared to the characters of Guilty Gear X, for instance. This is a direct port from the Neogeo, and the original game is already a few years old... So you probably understand the dilemma, now. As much as I would love to give this game a 9 in the graphics/animation area, that would be lying and ignoring that the game has graphic flaws. The animation is great: there are no missing frames from the Neogeo version and all the characters move smoothly. To be honest, this is probably the best port of an SNK game ever. If SNK had bothered to polish and update the graphics, this could have been the best-looking 2D fighter on DC. But it is only decent.

gameplay 7

As usual, the most important part of the review... This game play very well. There is no major problem with the controls. To simplify, it feels like a cross between the Samurai Showdown and KOF engines. There are 4 attack buttons which all correspond to different types of slash and kicks.
This game is original, to say the least. It feels very fresh and deep, and I bet the Capcom developers must be jealous of SNK for having such a great franchise.
The original idea is the ''repel'' button. It works like a regular counter (see SF3 parries). If your timing is right, pressing this button will give you and edge over your opponent... But it is quite hard to master. The good point is that this system doesn't make the fights boring: the risk/reward ratio is tight enough to force the players to play offensively. Of course, you can run and throw your opponent as most fighting games.
Another innovative idea is the choice of your ''fighting style'' inspired from Samurai Showdown. There are 3 options: ''power'', ''speed'', and ''hidden'' (this one was an extra option on the original version). The ''power'' option is quite classic: it lets you use 2 different super moves (also referred to as Desperation Moves). You can use the first one when your power bar is full and the other one only when your power bar is full AND your life bar is flashing (meaning it is low). This style is recommended for beginners. The ''speed'' option only gives you the ability to use one super moves, but it lets you use a custom combo system, very useful once you master the game. The last style is a combination of the two modes, but it makes you take damage like a sissy... Make your choice and prepare to fight!
I recommend the use of an arcade stick for this game, as some special moves require pressing two buttons at the same time... Now there is one thing I dislike in this version of the game: shortcuts. SNK decided to make things easier for beginners, so you can perform Super Moves by just pressing the right trigger instead of doing a complicated move. You might see this feature as a good thing... But it somewhat makes this game look like the VS series if you abuse it. And the worst thing is that you cannot disable this option. So you will have to tell your friends not to use it... Other than that, the game plays perfectly: as usual, practice makes perfect.

audio/video 8

This is a very interesting part of the game... But I will try to make it short because I could easily get carried away while trying to describe the tunes. A surprising fact: some of the stages have no music. Yes you heard me right: NO music. This emphasizes on the sounds effects and creates a great ambiance. You can hear the wind blowing, the wood of the burning house slowing falling down... It is original and it is a total success. There are tunes on certain stages, though, and they are pretty good too. They sound very ''epic''. The sound effects are perfect... The sound of the blades is extremely convincing and there is a lot of voice acting. The voices are easily the best I have ever heard in a game: while they are in Japanese, they sound very clear. It can be argued whether or not the first episode had better music: I personally think that they both have great tunes.

story 9

Last Blade2FE has a nice story. It is the direct sequel of the first episode, and it is nice to see that you can even use the 2 bosses of the first game. The story involves a holy weapon which gives a great power to its owner. The original fact is that all the stages are tied in some way to the story: the whole game takes place in a short amount of time, and all the backgrounds are some kind of trip... The hero has to fight different characters on his way to fight the boss. In a certain way, this game feels a lot like a movie. All the characters have personal endings and there are a few pre-fight dialogues (with real voice acting). But everything is in Japanese and there is no English option in this game. We can still pray for a US release made by Agetec, though.

replayability 8

This game has a fairly good replay value. It is higher than those of most modern fighting games anyway. There is an ''art gallery'' mode with VERY good artwork from the two games of the series (anime-style for the most part). There is a ''hanafuda'' game, too: it is a Japanese classic card game. It is pretty entertaining, and you can unlock other stuff if you finish it. Sadly, you cannot play against a second player in this mode. You can view the ''Demos'' you have already seen in the game in the ''Demo viewer'' mode, and you can even unlock the original endings of the first game. The game itself should keep you busy anyway. I also have to mention the fact that the manual is very nice: it is by far the best manual I have ever seen. It contains tons of artworks... Even the box looks great, hence the ''Final Edition'' in the title.

rent or buy?

As you probably know if you have had the courage to read the whole review, I love this game. I think it is a must-buy for every fighting games fan and even for casual players: it has a unique feel. But to be honest it does not look especially impressive... If you like 2D graphics, you will love it. It has solid gameplay, too. If you can find the game, I suggest you give it a try, just to see what SNK is/was able to do. The fact that the game is an import probably means that you will not be able to rent it anyway. I gave this game a 7 because it could have looked better considering it is a DC title. But I must admit I have had a lot more fun on this game than on Guilty Gear X, for instance.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/01, Updated 02/02/03