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Review: Capcom vs. SNK 2 |
The fans cried when Capcom vs SNK was released. Their favorite SNK fighters were butchered, their favorite Capcom brawlers missing two attack buttons. Fireballs looked like translucent loogie’s flying across the screen. Controls were iffy at best. The game had enormous potential, and it came across as mediocre, and the outcry of “CAPCOM AND SNK HATEZ DA FANS!!!!!!!” Also, when you beat the game, you saw a picture of Dan and Joe Higashi winning the tournament, but they aren’t even in the game!
Enter Capcom vs SNK pro. Add in Dan and Joe, that’s about it. Huzzah
Enter now, Capcom vs SNK 2. I will say that this is what the fans have wanted, what we have dreamed of ever since the rumors began of THE two fighting franchises going head to head. I put the game into my Dreamcast, booted it, and began my first battle. I swear I was ready to cry. I assembled a team of Kim Kaphwan and Rock Howard, and let them loose. I never thought Rock could be made more of a bad ass then his Mark of the Wolves appearence. I was wrong, very wrong. This game is on such a grand scale, I barely know how to begin this review.
First off, the gameplay. You have three modes and a whopping FORTY SIX FIGHTERS (plus 2 hidden bosses) to choose from. Ratio battle, 3 vs 3, and single player. Ratio battle uses a similiar system to the first game, however, instead of characters being a designated ratio, depending on how many fighters you choose, you can alter their ratio. If you pick one fighter and go to end, you have a ratio 4. Yes, I did play a Ratio 4 Kim Kaphwan and proceeded to slaughter the computer left and right. If you pick 2 fighters, you can have 2 ratio 2s, or 1 ratio 3 and a ratio 1. If you pick three fighters, you have one ratio 2 and 2 ratio ones. Let me tell you, nothing is sadder than a ratio 1 Evil Ryu. This is the funnest way to play I think, as you can tweak your team as needed. With 3 vs 3, it’s KoF style gameplay. All fighters are equal, Ratio 2 as near as I can tell. It’s a good way to play and might make the gaming session last longer. Single player, well, duh, you pick one fighter and go at it.
Gone is the EX version of the fighters. Now they are more or less a hybrid of their normal and past EX modes. It works quite well, and all the fighters seem balanced. Also the SNK fighters have nearly their full complement of moves, instead of being toned down to match the Capcom style of 3-4 specials tops.
Also, the Groove system. Unlike the CvsS, where you had Capcom or SNK being your only choice, you get the the best of both worlds in the second outing. There is Capcom groove, which is Alpha 3 style (3 level super meter, built by attacking, air blocking) A groove, V-ism from Alpha 3 (custom combos, no supers) and P groove, which dumps you into SF III mode (parries and one super meter level). On the SNK side, there is S groove, Extra mode from the KoF games (charge your super meter by holding down buttons, release 1 Super move when full, and unlimited DM moves when your life meter is red), N mode, Advantage mode from KoF (up to 3 stored supers, build meter by attacking, you can go into Max Mode using 1 Advantage point and release a Super DM if you have another Advantage point). Lastly there is K mode, or Samurai Shodown mode. The meter builds as you are attacked, and you get angrier and angrier, turning red. Once maxed, you do a ton more damage and can use a DM move. You also have just defend in this mode, SNK’s answer to parrying.
As with the first game, you fight through and earn groove points. Depending on how many groove points you aquire, you will end up with one of these scenarios
1. Fight the midboss, Vega[M. Bison] or Geese Howard, depending on your selected groove, then go on to the finals, then game over, your team on stage with a generic “A WINNER IS YUO!!!!” type situation. I call this the lamer ending
2. Fight the midboss, then after the final tournament match, you are challenged by either Gouki[Akuma] or Rugal. You defeat them, they basically tell you off and go to fight each other. Big explosion, everyone dies. This would be the bad ending.
3. Fight the midboss, then after the finals you spy on the roof Gouki and Rugal standing off. They fight, explosion, and either Rugal infuses Gouki with the power of Orochi, or Gouki fills Rugal with the Satsui no Hadou. So you being the final battle either against Shin Gouki (white hair, new kanji on his back, 2x air fireballs and a 33 hit Shun Goku Satsu) or Omega Rugal (insane priority, speed, and a Shun Goku Satsu to boot). Upon defeat you get the good ending, which is individual character endings. Yes, all forty six fighters have an indivudal ending.
This is more or less speculative, since this is what I gleaned from the pictures. My um, evaluation copy is in Japanese.
The computer AI is challenging, without being mindnumbingly cheap, save the last bosses, Shin Gouki and Omega Rugal. I think SNK handled the boss side of the game, because in classic KoF style, the bosses boast insane power, speed, priority, and combos which are only ‘technically’ possible for humans to recreate. I shall not tell you how many fights it took me to defeat Shin Gouki on level 8 the first time, but my Groove points went from 1300 to 40.
Next up is the graphics. Early naysayers whined about the sprite rips from the respective SNK and Capcom games. Except for Morrigan all the characters look a million times cleaner and sharper. The sprites are big and take a good portion of the screen, without giving them a Godzilla effect. Their movements are fluid and crisp, colors bright, all in all good stuff. A few characters even have completely redrawn sprites (Dan, Eagle and Haohmaru come to mind immediately). The impact sparks from hits are a tad overdone and flashy, but don’t detract from the gameplay nor on screen long enough to be an annoyance. The projectiles ditched the fruity translucent garbage from the first game. Although they still look a bit different than their usual forms, especially the Hadokens. I guess the best way to describe them would be anime like. Bright, colorful, and quite painful looking. Case in point, Ryu’s red hadoken has flames surrounding it and flicking off the tail like a comet. It is a beautiful sight to behold. And I have never seen the Kusanagi Flame look better then when I first executed an Orochinagi on Iori. The graphics are gorgeous, don’t listen to anyone that says otherwise. The internet is a forum for people to talk shit about something just to talk shit. CvsS2 am pretty!
Now, the controls. CvsS2 is leaps and bounds better than the first outing. Although I do have a slight dislike of the DC D pad. I find it sits way to loose in it’s setting, you can be pushing right, twitch a hair, and it will register and angle, also it seems a bit too thick. Regardless, moves are quite easy to execute, even ridiculous commands like Geese’s raging storm can be done with minimal thumb burn. However I find the game plays much better with my DC Arcade stick, or a Playstation or Saturn pad plugged in through a converter. This is what brings me the most joy, the classic 6 button layout is back! No more of that light attack into a medium crap, no sir. Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Fierce and Roundhouse are all there. And I must say the SNK brawlers translate beautifully into the new control scheme. Their medium level special attacks don’t seem forced, and fit into their arsenal nearly flawlessly. Even the normal medium strikes work well, adding a whole new dimension of combos.
I have been playing this game nearly every spare moment that I have. It is absolutely wonderful. The play mechanics, the character roster, moveset, AI, everything is bloody grand. This, my friends, is what Capcom vs SNK was MEANT to be.
Now excuse me as I take on Omega Rugal with a Ratio 4 Dan Hibiki…
