PS2 - Soul Calibur II review

| GAME FEATURES |	Developer : Namco
A.) Detailed graphics. Better looking then any RPG that came before it.	Publisher : Namco
B.) You play a movie, it's not a movie, it's always got a cut screen with spoken dialog. And cinimatic videos aren't uncommon.	Released August 26, 2003
C.) A very convensing story
D.) It's really over rated. People say the game is perfect. The game is awesome, but it's not perfect.	Type : Weapon Based fighting game.

[ Prelude ]

I went out the other day thinking that I would buy Virua Fighter 4 - Evolution for PS2. I changed my mind and got this game instead. I was fortunate to buy this game on PS2. I didn't know whether I should buy the PS2 version or Xbox version. The Xbox version has Spawn guess star I read on the Internet how this game kicks ass. It's practically in every message board on the Internet. Since all the 32 bit fighters were re-born on the PSone, the PS2 is no different, correct? Things have not changed since 1995 in terms of the controller you use. The GameCube and Xbox controllers are not so good with fighting games. The PS2 controller is much smaller and can better support fast paced action. In case you weren’t familiar with Soul Caliber, it was originally a damn cool arcade coin-op game. I’ve played it a couple times. I don’t see why I don’t see more of it. I mainly played the Soul Caliber for Sega Dreamcast. It is suppose to be the best fighting game for Dreamcast until its demesne. The coin-op machine is 7 years old by now. But the joystick hasn’t changed. This game would be stellar on a 2 player joystick pad.

Soul Caliber 2 was in development for 2 ½ years and Namco already had a basic idea of what it should be about. All of the same characters are playable on it. It’s not quite like the awesome graphics of Dead or Alive 3 for Xbox. All they had to do is make pretty graphics, high polygonal characters, and new arenas to play in. I picked the Soul Caliber 2 PlayStation 2 version because I knew that the controller would be better. Both GCN and Xbox have better graphics, but many people say, the PS2 duel shock is the best controller for 3D weapon driven fighting games. In Japan uses A, B G, and K while in the States, we use circle, triangle, square and ex. B = Y, G = B, K = X, Most of the time you can fight a few battles using only single style fights like blocking with X then hitting triangle to jab. You can do this with moving the right joystick or dpad. I grew up with using a joystick in 2D and 3D fighting games. So I never use the D-pad ever anymore.

Hmm, I may not be far on my review. Many would say that this game is a pretty fighter with a tenaticy to button mash through all the fighting arenas. But most of the time you don't get away with it. But the previous game was a game of chance. he music is wow! There isn't any difference between the Dreamcast and the PS2 in turns of sound. The game already sounds mega great. It sounds like the epic sequences in Lord of the Rings. Once I get Virua Fighter 4 Evolution, I will compare the two for all my friends.

[A little about the Dreamcast game]

The original was the first fighting game to go 128 bit. When the PS2 came out in August 2000, Soul Caliber vs. Tekken Tag Tournament was basically to measure the power of the Dreamcast against PS2. Some argue that the argument was unfair. Soul Caliber was on the top 50 games of all time posed by both IGN.com, Gamespot and Videogames.com. So naturally, the sequal should follow in th foot steps of the first. But everyone knew that Soul Caliber had more potential then Tekken Tag. Not just it’s graphics, it looked a generation a head of any Dreamcast game at the 9/09/99 launch. The game had a lot of stuff to do. Survival was where you fight against characters until you get defeated. Time attack was where you had so much time to complete a round before you Knock Out (K.O.) the opponent, or likewise he/she K.O. you. The Dreamcast game was a bit easier then the sequel, not much. Maybe in this game you an survive a extra round when you play Arcade. The coin op machine was based on score. The faster and extra attacks you’ve done you get a better score. I find one fault in this game that is pretty cool. You play Stephia (her character is the hot blond in the game) and you hit the Y button on the Dreamcast several times, and the opponent is defenseless most of the time. Jab. Jab. Jab. Until you feel that you jabbed your self to victory. The game had epic music during the game, in my opinion, even more so then Soul Caliber II. (posted August 31, 2003 rev 1.0)

Summing up Soul Caliber 2
Graphics	9.5	About as good as the first. The PS2 added some polygons. A lot of fan sites gave this game a 9.0 because it compares well to Virua Fighter 4. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't. Sometimes the web graphics can look better then what the resolution on your television could be. My televison is six years old, I use to play my old N64 games on it. It has good quality. Y ou can get nicer televisions then what I have for a few 100 dollars.
Control	9.0	Soul Caliber 2 is like the orginal except it's gone multiplatform. The PS2 has a bit better handle on this fighter though. I am disappointed that it's a button masher. The game is quicker then the first game.
Orginalism	NA
Sound Effects	9.0	Great Sound. This game, unlike the orginal has English translation. The game pretty much has the same taunts as the orignal. A lot of the quotes follow the anology "I'll kick your ass" but a lot of times that isn't the case.
Replayibly	NA	I don't know yet.