Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001

"Capcom Vs. SNK 2 - So very good, but a few shortcomings"

Ahhhhhhh... Capcom Vs. SNK 2. I've wasted quite a few hours on this game, on the import version and the US PS2 version.

We got the best of Capcom (more like the best of Street Fighter, but hey....) and a lot of the best of SNK (but not all) beating each other senseless. That's 44 (mostly) unique characters we're talking about here (48 if you count the secret ''enhanced'' versions of some characters).

So let's do this by the books.

Graphics:

Superb, awesome, spectacular. That's the 3-D backgrounds. Now we get to the character sprites. The character sprites and animations are actually quite good. The problem comes in when they're put up against the backgrounds. Don't get me wrong, some of the new drawings of old favorites are great (Ryu and Ken were given a great facelift, with a nice ''Zombie'' like theme to Evil Ryu (hold all 3 kicks for that color), M. Bison doesn't look like he swallowed a truck anymore like in the Street Fighter Alpha series, and the SNK characters (which obviously had to be redrawn) look spectacular and fit in well with the Capcom crew as well. These characters NEED a Hi-res facelift, and Capcom really should step up to the plate for that (Anyone seen the graphics on Guilty Gear X? Those sprites look great because they're in HI-RES.) Plus, some points knocked off for sprites that should have been redrawn a LONG time ago. Hello? Capcom? Morrigan has the same sprite she's had for SEVEN YEARS. She looks really pathetic in this game. Also, the special effects of when a character connects on a move can be really bothersome in their size. Sometimes less is more, Capcom. We'd like to actually SEE the character get hit sometimes, instead of a big flashy blue disco ball where their face was.
I'll give graphics a rating of 7/10.

Sound and Music:

No complaints on sound effects. Everything sounds just like you'd expect it to. From Rock's ''RAGING...... STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORM!'' to Terry's ''ARE YOU OK ?!? BUSTAAAAH WOOOLF!'' to Ryu's ''SHINKUU... HADOOOOKEN!'' sound right on the money. The hits sound painful and meaty, just like they should. One thing that bothers me though.... the lack of the sound effect ''FINEST KO!'' on a dramatic KO finish. I really, really liked that in the import, and it's strangely missing here in the US version.

Music on the other hand... is iffy. It's sort of a mixture of a bunch of stuff with some Japanese guy rapping on the New York stage *chuckle* and some attempt at Soul on the London stage. For some reason though, it started to grow on me, especially that weird London music. Your mileage may vary. And because of the music and the possibility that you may think it's horrible, I'll give the Sound a rating of 10/10 & the Music part of the game a rating of 7/10.

Controls:

Well, the controls are as good as they're going to get on the Playstation 2 controllers. Can't really ask for better without buying a quality joystick for your system (which I REALLY need to get around to doing.) Warning, doing a Double Half-Circle motion on the controller consistently can really be tough, especially with the PS2's mushy d-pad (probably because of it's analog functions in other games). That's more the fault of the controller though, so that game isn't at fault for that. The rating here is 10/10.

Gameplay:

Here we go. The REAL meat and potatoes of 2-D fighting games. I have to say, that this is just the most FUN fighting game I've played from Capcom in years. If this game had the World Tour mode from Street Fighter Alpha 3, it'd probably be my favorite 2-D fighter ever. Everything is incredibly balanced in this game. Firstly, you divide your team according to your 4 ratio points. So you can have 3 characters (1 ratio 2 and 2 ratio 1s) 2 characters (2 ratio 2s OR 1 ratio 1 and 1 ratio 3) or you could be a tough guy and pick ONE ratio 4 character. It's all up to you. Or you can play this game King of Fighters style, with 3 characters on each team, with the same ratio. Or let's say you hate this team stuff, well that's fine too, since the game lets you play 1 on 1, with the traditional rounds system. Not only that, but you can pick one of SIX different fighting styles from each companies' respective series of games. First you have C groove (from the Street Fighter Alpha series. 3 levels of super bar, which you can use for 3 lvl 1 supers, or a lvl 2 super and 1 lvl 1 super or one big lvl 3 super), A Groove (You can do Custom Combos, like in Street Fighter Alpha 2), P Groove (You can parry attacks, like in Street Fighter 3), S groove (You charge you character's super bar by holding down 2 buttons, then you can unleash a lvl 1 super, or a lvl 3 super if you're almost dead), N groove (You can build up 3 stocks, and break a stock to power yourself up or use a lvl 3 super. Level 3 supers in this groove only use 2 stocks.), or K groove (You can Just Defend like in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and your super meter rises ala a ''Rage Gauge'' like in Samurai Showdown). And that's just the VERY basic nature of those grooves, there are also tons more abilities in each groove (rolling, dodging, running, dashing, safe fall, tech roll, counter attack, and counter movement, among others). Part of what makes the game stand out is that the cast is so deep and so diverse. There's so many characters! You can even create your own theme teams, like the Puffy Pants team! (Todo, Geese Howard, and Haohmaru. Maybe not the best team strategically, but a sweet theme team!)

I can't think of anything that stands out as being over-powered without being compensated for in the name of balance. For instance, one of the secret characters at Ratio 4 has the ability to kill a Ratio 1 character in ONE move if it connects. However, a Ratio 1 can do monstrous damage to this secret character if he hits the Ratio 4. Not all the ratio 4's are like this, just the secret characters are. All in all, Capcom has sculpted a very AWESOME and just plain fun fighting engine, that I plan to enjoy for quite a few years. I give the gameplay a rating of 10/10.

Replay Value:

You know the drill as well as I do. If you don't have friends who play these games, they don't last long. The US version got shafted by NOT having an online component (which would have eaten up SO much of my time if there was) like the Japanese version had, so replay is even less than it potentially could have been. Single player-wise, this game really doesn't offer much (unless beating up on the CPU is your thing. Then I guess you'll have hours of fun here). There's no awesome mission mode (Soul Calibur) or World Tour mode (Street Fighter Alpha 3) to spice things up. Not having online capability REALLY hurts this one. For you poor souls with no 2-D fighting game loving friends, this game gets a rating of 5/10 here. Those of you who DO have friends who are into these games, this game gets a rating of 10/10. Beware: Mass amounts of trash talking ensues in this game.

Overall:

I want to give this game a rating of 10. In my eyes, it really is. I love almost everything about this game (except that Morrigan sprite. Ugh.) But that's because I'm a fighting game fanatic. For the non-fanatics, however, this game gets a straight 8/10. Not on the verge of 10, but not on the verge of 5 either. This game isn't revolutionary, but rather, evolutionary, because it does a whole lot of things right. Those of you looking for the rebirth of Street Fighter, look elsewhere. Those of you who enjoy Capcom's constant entries into this cluttered genre, know that this is one of their best efforts to date, ESPECIALLY in the gameplay department.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/01, Updated 12/03/01