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Soul Calibur 2 |
by Chad
4/12/2003 |
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Soul Calibur 2
Review By Old_Skool
At last Soul Calibur 2 is here (well the Japanese version any way). After so much hype and countless hours staring screens and videos, I finally got my chance to play the game that is being hailed as the next definitive 3D beat' um up of the next generation consoles.
When the PS2 version of Soul Calibur 2 was launched, the majority of people waited in excitement to see just how far the 3D beat' um up genre could be pushed. Historically the high hopes and anticipation of each release was met with disappointment by most gamers. They continually received tarted up version of what they had before. Tekken had failed to add any thing but higher resolution polygons to its predecessor. Game after game, the 3D beat' um genre has failed to bring anything new to this generation. Would Soul Calibur 2 be up to the task?
Unfortunately, Soul Calibur 2 is not innovative and adds nothing at all to this generation of console fighters. It is basically the same game released on the Dreamcast some years before. That's not to say the new Soul Calibur is a bad game. In fact, it’s the opposite of that. It's what you would expect from the next game in Soul Calibur series. It plays almost the same as it did on its older Dreamcast brother. The controls are sharp and responsive; the characters move seamlessly from one move to the next; the action is always fast and frantic.
Games like Mortal Kombat and Tekken can only dream of play this well. Soul Calibur 2 is in a league of it's own when it comes to basic gameplay. It is a must buy for any hardcore beat' um up fan. With hours of game to be had, unlocking the multitude of extras Namco have included in the game and the multiplayer modes, this game should keep the punters going for some time.
However, the game is not without its problems. Any real beat' um up fan will find the single player game far too easy to complete in any of its difficulty modes. The in-game graphics are also far from the level we have seen on the Xbox previously. DOA3 quite simply looks far better then Soul Calibur 2 in every single way. This was to be expected, as the game was originally made for the arcade rendition of the PS2, and subsequently ported to all major consoles, including the Xbox. The graphics are still solid enough that they do not interfere with the look of the game too much! Clever uses of 2D and 3D back-drops have helped to keep the game running on slower consoles. The game runs at a rate of knots on the Xbox (60fps at all times). The backgrounds themselves can become annoying. Three sides of most of the arenas are blocked by walls, giving only one clear view of the backgrounds.
Soul Calibur 2 is every bit the game Soul Calibur was. It will give almost any gamer many hours of multiplayer fun. But the fact remains that Soul Calibur 2 suffers a serious let down due to a lack of innovation and cross-platform graphics. Soul Calibur 2 had the potential to be the game to own all others, but in the end it turned out to be more of a data disk for Soul Calibur, which for many is not a bad thing.
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chexy1999
Heckler
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gutted
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Posts: 0
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IP: 217.36.16.240
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Nitsua
X365 Member
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Well, they are upgrading a few things for the American release...
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Posts: 564
Member: 488
IP: i.am.a.member
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damaged
X365 Member
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why are there 2 soul caliber reviews?
seems odd to me and out of place.
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Posts: 60
Member: 3021
IP: i.am.a.member
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game master
X365 Member
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i have beatin this game in 1 week its a good game but it needs to be a little harder the graghics are good and sound is awsome there are cool charicters and lvls but the wepon mater needs more lvls
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Posts: 1
Member: 3262
IP: i.am.a.member
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RUBBERBAND_MAN77
Heckler
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THE GAME WAS STRAIGHT. BUT SPAWN SHOULD OF HAD SOME GUNS YA DIG ME!!!!!!!!!
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Posts: 0
Member: None
IP: 209.175.47.162
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