SoulCalibur II

"Soul Calibur 2 continues the incredible tradition of the Soul series."

Back in 1997, I played Soul Edge at a local arcade and was blown away by how awesome the game was. It was like Tekken, except you had weapons and you could use the ring itself to beat your opponent, like in Virtua Fighter. I bought it up as soon as it came to the Playstation as Soul Blade. Sadly, I could never get the money to get the sequal, Soul Calibur, when it came to the Dreamcast. So, when I heard that Soul Calibur 2 was coming to all three systems, I was elated. Now I could finally play this awesome series again and I was to not be disappointed by what the game delivered.

Soul Calibur 2 is the story of a number of people whose lives have been influenced by Soul Calibur, a holy sword, and Soul Edge, its dark counterpart. These people have a variety of reasons for seeking out the twin blades, from a desire to use them for selfish means, to seeking out the dark blade for noble, but doomed, purposes. This lends to a tragic feel for some of the characters, as you know that they are heading into a very bad situation and that they are mostly unaware of what they are getting themselves into. While the story isnt so in your face that it gets obnoxious, you get just enough to keep you interested if you care about such things. There are very few differences between this game and the originals, most notably is the cast. All of the returning characters and even the new ones look and play incredibly. The only weak points are Spawn and Necrid, who really feel cut and pasted into the game. Spawn's use of projectile attacks and mild flight abilities really make him feel out of place in the mostly realistic fights while Necrid is just a copy of all the best moves of the other characters in the game, having no real redeeming qualities to speak of, besides being cheesy and flatly silly.

The opening cinematic for SC2 is great looking and it only promises the graphical treat that is to come. All of the character models and weapons look great, the backgrounds are a visual treat and the fighting animations are all smooth to watch. This applies to even the fighting, as there are usually very good reactions to hits, producing mostly realistic reactions when being hit hard enough. While there are some minor clipping issues, such as with Nightmare's hair in his Siegfried outfit, there is very little in the ways of slow-down problems during the matches. The particle effects are also very cool during the fights and they replace blood, as the Soul series has never used blood. While this is odd in a weapon based game, it never really matters as you dont even notice it.

The sound is also a treat to listen to as well. The music is very epic sounding, but oddly enough it doesnt come off as cheesy. All of the weapon sounds as well as the grunts and groans of pain are pretty spot on and only serve to immerse you in the game more. Even the announcer, who delivers some pretty cheesy and melodramatic lines is nice to listen to. If there is any weakness in the sound in this game, its the before and after fight lines that your characters mutter. The translation for some of it is kind of odd and it makes me wonder just what exactly the original line was.

The game itself plays very frantically and the fights are very rapid paced. You will do a good bit more damage in this game than you do in most fighters, leading to short and harsh fights. The more agressive, but strategic, you are, the better your chances of winning are. And strategic you must be, as this game has a plethora of options at your disposal during the fight. With a variety of combos, counter attacks, guard breakers and pop-up attacks you can come up with a variety of ways to take out your opponent. Beat them senseless with brute force, poke them to death with a weak character or use the ring to good effect and knock them out for an instant win. There are plenty of options for a solid offense or turtle like defense to make any player happy, no matter their playing style. Just a word of warning though, the computer can abuse you with all these options if youre not careful. It took me a good long while to be able to play the harder difficulties with any degree of success.

The only real weakpoint, and sadly its a biggie, is Weapon Master mode. While this mode is meant to increase replayability of the game, as well as providing you the means to unlock characters, alternate weapons, stages and videos of the fighters doing kata's, it is incredibly boring. There is alot to read, due to the modes' storyline being line after line of text and the missions arent all that much fun. To "enhance" the difficulty, I guess, they decided that it would be fun to set a bunch of annoying parameters, such as making the opponent only beatable by ring out, poisoning you so that you lose health constantly or having to fight a series of enemies within a small time period. Its frankly annoying and I still have yet to complete it to one hundred percent, after owning the game for a year.

Soul Calibur 2 is a great game to own, especially if you have some friends who will be willing to play with you. While the computer can beat you silly, the variety of gaming modes, characters and weapons makes for a good time. If youre playing solo, its still a great game, but be careful. The computer can be prohibitively hard at times, so go to the easy difficulty levels and I guarantee you a good time playing this bad boy. Give Inferno one for me, that hard to beat punk.

Pros: Rapid fire combat, a variety of characters who all mostly play different, many different combat options and plenty of game modes to choose from.

Cons: Weapon Master mode is not as much fun as it could have been, This game is HARD!

Score: 9

Recommendation: If youre a fan of fighting games or just the Soul series, this is a must own. Even casual gamers can enjoy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07