Battle Arena Toshinden 2

"More fighters, more moves, little improvement."

-Visuals 6/10-

From the opening screens, you'll notice an immediate change in the look of Battle Arena Toshinden, starting with the live actress playing out a part through the introduction screen, and brighter colors with some slightly different detailing for the characters of the game.

Unfortunately, where Battle Arena Toshinden needed to improve, it seemed to fail in terms of the way the visuals flowed across the screen. Yes, there are new characters, yes, the moves are slightly different, and yes, the game does have a slightly darker tint to it, but when it comes down to it, the flow of the game is supposed to improve, not the cosmetics.

There is still breakup with some of the characters and the special moves that they perform in various spots. You'll run into missing frames of animation, image break-up, and again, moves that don't seem to flow from the characters, but rather appear on the screen in a slow floating manner. This is disappointing to see, considering that at the point of it's release, other 3-Dimensional fighters where coming onto the market for a wider varity of choice.

-Sound 6/10-

Again, little improvement. You still had the guitarish-dance mixes from the first Battle Arena Toshinden, thrown in with a couple of new ones. While this may seem alright, it didn't improve on the sound in the slightest, and even gave it a piece-together feel. You still had the cut out of music tracks, and the missing, mismatched sound effect problems of the first game returning into this one.

Still, the sound effects didn't match what they were supposed to belong to in terms of people yelling, screaming, fireballs being thrown...none of it seem to fit together in the slightest, and some of the newer sounds, didn't sound as though they belonged with the characters they were programmed to.

A major disappointment in terms of what needed to be improved on with a seqeul, not just adding more fuel to the flames.

-Control 6/10-

Cumbersome still. Yes, there were new moves added, and yes, some of the specials did come off easier...but where the harder hitting combinations are, there was much in terms of finger-twisting, trying to reach all of the buttons across the control that needed to be pressed or hit to make the move come off.

This can make for some serious problems if you're in the middle of a battle, have a full power bar, and want to finish off your opponent, but can't because the control is sluggish and nearly unresponsive. Even with the various controller configurations that you can select, you still don't have a good handle on what the game needs.

-Gameplay 6/10-

More of the same from the first Battle Arena Toshinden, with a few new characters added, and newer special moves. There was much needed in the terms of giving the players something other than just bashing the head of his/her opponent in, and then making it to the next round. Yes, the story was changed, but only to pit it a few years after the first Battle Arena...no improvement here.

The in-game physics still remain the same, giving you the movement of dodging an oncoming attack, and countering with one of your own. There is nothing new in this, as playing through the first game, you'll be tempted to look at the box cover of this one, and see if it really is a seperate game or not.

-Overall 6/10-

Sequels of games are supposed to bring improvements...but this time, that thought and ideal failed in all aspects. Yes, it gave a more clear picture of the characters in terms of brightness and detail, but it left out fixing the major problems of the game, including the image-break down, the sound problems of fading, and sometimes cutting out, and even left the cumbersome, and non-responsive control.

This game, unfortunately, gave itself away to being overtaken by Tekken, which was already released on the market, and it lost a good following due to the continuing problems of the in-game visuals, sound, control and gameplay..sad, but true.

This game, is worth a rental at best, and again, if you're a beginner in the fighting game arena, then this game is a great teaching tool for those that wish to learn. Other than that, if you're a Tekken player, looking for a shift of pace, try something else...this game wouldn't be for you. A purchase option if you're a game collector, hell bent on having every Playstation game on the market today would be the only reason to pick this up from the local gaming store.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/00, Updated 04/04/00