CvS2. What can be said that hasn’t been said hundreds of times already? What can be said that isn’t tired cliché? “The game the first one should have been” … “a real crossover battle” … “giving the fans what they wanted.”

And it’s hard to write anything about this game that isn’t a cliché – because to put it simply, CvS2 is utterly fantastic. I can’t remember the last time I played a game that just brought me such unabashed joy and pleasure.

Right from the start it’s obvious that way more time was spent on the sequel – in every department, and while some of the irritations of the first game still exist in very minor doses, what has been added more than makes up for it.

And they’ve added so much. New characters, new grooves, new moves, new options – a whole new theme and storyline, whereas the first one was restrictive, repetitive and audio/visually average – CvS2 just excels in every department – it takes the original game and just blows it away. Then stamps on it. Then burns it, then shoots the ashes, just to make sure.

Now say what you like about Capcom, but it can’t be denied that they took the four of the biggest complaints about the first CvS and fixed them.

The four-button controls. Fixed. Oh how sweet it is to run my hands over all six buttons. Not only does this mean more moves – a greater choice of pokes, anti-airs etc. but a wider range of combos too. With a couple of exceptions (Iori’s Fierce punch is his KOF CD shoulder charge … ugh) the extra attack buttons are instantly instinctive and extremely welcome. Going back to the first CvS shows how primitive and restrictive it was. Score one for Capcom.

The EX moves. Fixed. No more watered down versions of characters, no more having to choose between versions because you like move A and B, but really need move C to win — the characters get all their moves in one version in a glorious implosion of sheer goodness. Finally Geese can Jaeiken and Shippuken without needing to reset the game in-between. Capcom loves me.

The ratio system. Fixed. Although I didn’t mind the ratio system in the first game, it could have been improved. Oh, look, it was. Now instead of fixed-ratio characters, the player is given four ratio points to distribute as they see fit (although you can’t have four ratio 1’s any more, the maximum is 3 charas) – so team match-ups can be far more diverse than ever. It also adds an extra element of strategy — choosing how many characters, who to make strong, or weak, or whether to go for a 2-2. Oh, and ratio 4 Haohmaru just kicks ass … one Fierce slice can halve a R1 characters’ life bar!

The grooves. Fixed. Actually I don’t know if the grooves were considered a problem in the first game, but this is my list so I’ll do what I like. What’s undeniable is that the concept of different fighting ‘grooves’ has been radically built upon, and has gone from being a neat little diversion, with one or two strategic options, to a fabulous concept that rockets the game far, far above its predecessor.

There are now six grooves, there’s little point me detailing each one, as Jay already did that in his review. However I believe the whole multiple groove thing brings something to this title that the first was sorely, IMO, lacking: depth. After owning CvS:Pro for five days, I felt like I’d seen and done everything. Of course there were combo movies produced that suggested otherwise – but I didn’t really care. However after eight days of CvS2 … I don’t think I’ve even gone through all the character combinations!

There must be thousands of groove/character/ratio setups to make up; and the different offensive and defensive options afforded by the assorted grooves means that there’s just so much to do.

How the grooves affect and alter the way a character can be used and abused comes across as a more advanced version of the “select one super art” restriction from SF3 … only here the different grooves affect all kinds of features and bring up all sorts of different strategies, and I just found myself constantly thinking “hmm, could I parry/cancel/CC/Whatever this into this with this character when I’m doing ____?” over and over again. A quick note on parrying – I personally found it harder to execute here than it was in SF3 … the quicker pace of the gameplay, combined with far less animation frames means attacks come out of nowhere all the time. Still, it’s early days yet, and it’s just as satisfying to pull off successfully. And also, I don’t know why, but it’s just cool to be able to parry things like Honda’s headbutt and Blanka’s roll attack — and just seeing people like Terry and Iori parrying still makes me smile.

And if that isn’t enough, you can create ‘custom grooves’ (once you’ve unlocked the option) – where you pick and choose what your character can do from the other grooves, plus some all-new options like chaining and super-cancelling, and then combine them however you see fit. It’s a neat addition, and only adds to the sensation that I’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done in this game.

And it’s all useful too – no gimmicks, like certain *cough* other fighting games. Every roll, dash, counter, cancel, parry, just-defend, run and sidestep plays a key part in improving your game. The more you use these features, and the more you can recognise and beat them – the more you’ll win.

The same is (sort of) true for the single player mode too. It’s a lot tougher than the previous games; 8-star difficulty is almost a challenge, and the CPU does a few decent attack setups and strategies, and can parry and just defend with the best of them. And as well as the fun of the regular game, there’s also an improved colour edit mode, in which you can even rename the characters, an excellent training mode – which has pretty much every option you could ever wish for, two survival modes and a hidden “boss battle” mode.

Ah the bosses, those now-infamous super cheap bosses – God Rugal (*shudders*) and Shin Gouki (*cries*). Both are insanely, stupidly powerful and over-prioritised, but just when you’re ready to give up and go play Tongue of the Fat Man – you start hitting more that you get hit, and the losses start turning into wins. They’re not impossible, just very tough – the way decent end bosses should be. Getting thrown once and losing 3/4 of your life bar is still a crushing experience though…

Lining up to thrash these inhuman fuckers are forty-six (yes forty-six) selectable characters (and also the two bosses themselves). The majority are carried over from the first game, but there are, of course, new ones too – drawn and animated to a very high standard. Not SF3-level, but certainly better than SFA, which sort of shows up the SFA characters in this game. Never mind.

New to the Capcom side we have Eagle, who was Birdie’s fellow Englishman from Streetfighter 1 – and in this incarnation is an English gentleman (with what sounds like a French accent) who fights by twirling, spinning, rushing and hitting you in the head with two sticks.

Then there’s the rather attractive (and bouncy) Maki from Final Fight 2 who shares some moves with fellow FF’er Guy, fights with two tonfa sticks, and has the worlds’ first ever air 720° super combo (ugh).

Rival School’s Kyosuke makes his 2D debut, playing pretty much the same as always, with a super combo that features Batsu and Hinata. Rolento is … Rolento, as far as I can tell EXACTLY like his SFA3 version, with no new moves or animations or anything. Boo.

Then there’s Yun, from SF3 – looking somehow less realistically drawn (his arms look way longer) and naturally having less animation than before – but still being a decent character given new life by the additional gameplay options available.

Finally for Team Cappy, although she’s not really new as such, Chun Li – no longer a SFA sprite, redrawn to look like her SF3 incarnation – thankfully minus the insanely excessive animations. I feel she lacks moves (no flip kick or rising spin kick) but her super-cute variation of the classic “Gomen ne!” win pose more than makes up for it.

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The SNK side plunders a similarly diverse range of games. A super-cute, super-small Athena has moves bathed in a luscious glowing pink aura, whilst wearing what looks like her KOF’95 outfit; Chang fights with his usual moveset, plus can activate Choi, who follows him about, to do three moves of his own.

Mark of the Wolves’ Rock Howard manages to be as cool and moody as his Neo*Geo version, with the added bonus of a full-screen, instantaneous super combo.

Slightly less impressive is Todo, Kasumi’s father – making his first actual fighting game appearance (not cameos) since the original Art of Fighting. With a bare handful of moves and supers, he’s what I believe would be an “expert” character. Excellent laugh though.

Rounding off the new SNK side, and totally trashing the laws of time are Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown and Hibiki from Last Blade 2. Haohmaru looks great, and is possibly my favourite incarnation of the character of all time. He’s damned fun to play as, and as a ratio 4 chops through ratio 1s like warm butter.

I’m less in love with Hibiki – a young swordfighting cutie. She’s pretty powerful and combo-friendly – but a bit dull and even more out of place than Haoh and Nako.

On top of all this motley crew – there’s all of the characters from CvS and CvS: Pro (Joe got all his moves back! Yay!), with the expected tweaks, alterations and additions in moves and animations. Once more, Ryu gets that towards + fierce dash punch (why does he ALWAYS get this move in the second or third upgrade to a SF franchise?) There are also a couple of strange subtractions – for example Yamazaki lost that RDP+P attack, Ken has all his ‘funky kicks’ (and who coined that phrase?) except the F,DF,D+K one and Chun Li I mentioned – but no real cripplings.

Now yes, there could have been other, more well-known characters put in. People on our message board have been moaning desperately for K’ (not sure if that’s having him in the game or just in general) for ages now – to no avail. Other sites have seen the same sort of thing, just with more posts and worse spelling. I myself would have liked to have seen Alex, or Ibuki or Leona and Gill and Orochi as last bosses – but what’s done is done. They had their reasons, and we can always blame a Japanese poll of housewives and geriatrics.

The hugely expanded roster also means there are many more of those neat little intro animations to see, and I’m still seeing new ones every time I play. Although for every good one, like Rock vs. Geese, or Chun Li vs. Yun, there are six lame ones where the character just does a taunt or something. AND I CAN’T BELIEVE THERE’S NO DAN VS. RYO intro. I would have paid good money to see a simple speech bubble come out of Dan’s mouth and say “Ha ha I was created solely to take the piss out of the company that made you, you gaylord”.

So the sprites look great, but now, unlike CvS (which I’m tearing apart here, but wasn’t really that bad, for it’s time) – the backgrounds are lovely too. What’s more they’re 3D, and still lovely – a rare combination. Packed full of cameos from other fighters and tonnes of incidental detail; they far outshine the first games’ empty, pointless levels. Taking a trip around the world – from the desert rally stage (yes, I tried to DP the cars as they jump over the fight) to the Japanese festival at Aomiri, complete with Honda, Haohmaru and Kyoshiro floats – from the awesomely mellow and peaceful Kinderdiik windmill stage and the typically Capcom-esque England level, complete with red London buses, a Mini parked round the side, the British Museum in the background, and best of all – a sign offering “Finest Pub Grub.” Gold. The only level that is slightly less-than-great is the ice one. It’s pretty lifeless, and the large amounts of white mean certain ground-based projectiles (Iori’s) can be a bit hard to see at times.

The two boss stages are easily the best in the game. The Osaka castle rooftop in the pouring rain just drips with pure, concentrated atmosphere – and the dread-laden, ominous chords that play just add to this feeling. The final stage is just as good – set in burning Osaka, flames as far as the eye can see, buildings swaying ominously, and either a supremely funky remix of Gouki’s SSF2T music or God Rugal’s ominous march playing.

Speaking of the music – I just love, no, adore the soundtrack – one of the best ever in my opinion. Such a wide range of musics, all perfectly crafted to instil either a driving, battling feel, a happy-crazy-tournament feel (remember, this contest IS called “millionaire fighting 2001″) or just plain FEAR in the player. There are several tunes replete with cheesy 80’s style vocals (the London stage is grand, reminiscent of Metropolis Street Racer) – and a couple of aggressively curt and ‘decisive’-sounding tracks.

And the “best ending” sequence music is this short, but incredibly powerful and atmospheric orchestral piece – it really just perfectly captures the scale and terror of the events, and pisses all over any other fighting game music ever, even SNK’s best. I am so buying the soundtrack, if there is one. The accompanying announcer just goes on and on and on and on. Even speaking during the fight. I suppose it could be considered irritating, but for me it just further cements the feel of the game.

And all these things – the great graphics, the funky presentation, the cool characters and excellent music just come together so wonderfully, and really, the icing on the cake for me (and if you consider yourself a ‘high level’ or ‘hardcore’ player you may want to look away now) – the thing that just really boils my potatoes and sends CvS2 soaring high into my list of favourite 2D fighters of all time is the superb atmosphere the game just exudes from every pore – the style, the mood; whatever you call it there’s no getting away from the fact that this game is one of the most slickly presented, engrossing and when the mood strikes it, atmospheric fighting games ever.

Wisely dropping the crappy “collecting data” storyline from CvS1 (with this knife I stab at thee!) and demoting Bison and Geese to mere sub-bosses – the onus is now on a darker, more supernatural feel. Little hints are dropped here and there as you begin to play – the last scene in the “worst ending” sequence shows a mysterious person watching the tournament from afar, and the sky goes an ominous shade of black in the last round. It’s only when you start getting higher groove points that things start getting freaky. It’s a neat touch – the better you play, the more points you score – the higher your GP ranking when you reach the last stage – and the tougher the last fight is.

The crappest ending just shows the winning character sprites (ooh high res) posing in front of a crowd. Some text appears and the credits roll against a black screen. Eh.

Do well enough, and the celebratory posing is interrupted by three flashes of lightning (you’ll learn to love ‘em) and *gasp* there’s someone on the roof of the Osaka castle! It’s either Gouki (scream!) or Rugal (squeal!) – and they’re pissed off and want to hit you, possibly even in the face. This fight takes place against the awesome “raining castle roof” stage – and when you win, there’s a further cutscene, where after beating your opponent, you see the other opponent (Rugal for Gouki and vice versa) behind them, then there’s a huge explosion at the top of the castle and then the credits roll. This in itself is extremely tasty, but the best/cheapest is yet to come. Fulfil all the necessary criteria, and after the victory podium bit, the lighting flashes and, *gasp* there’s two guys on the castle roof! Now Gouki and Rugal are facing off, the castle explodes and randomly one of them will beat the other, and ‘absorb’ their power – both sequences feature lusciously-drawn cutscenes, with that grand orchestra music I mentioned earlier, and I just ate up these highly cinematic sequences like so many crumpets. Nothing like a bit of effort to make the solo player experience worthwhile.

So now you’re up against a Rugal-fuelled Gouki (Shin Gouki) or the demoniacal God Rugal. S.Gouki has a new kanji on his back, snow-white hair, a new super where he falls from the top of the screen making a big spark and cloud of dust, and a high and low counter (woo!) But the prize for ‘the ultimate badass’ has to go to God Rugal — the guy ate Gouki’s Dark Hadou but appears to be having trouble digesting it. His hair’s gone white, his eye(s?) glow red and he has the Ashura Warp teleport and Shun Goku Satsu, as well as a monstrous, nigh-on-insta-kill new super combo. And his second win pose .. where he rips open his shirt to reveal the TEN symbol on his chest … sheer class. It seems that a lot more creative energy was expended on CvS2 … so there’s more than just Capcom and SNK characters fighting, there’s a whole bunch of “hey wouldn’t this be cool?” things about the place .. the cut-scenes, the bosses and the character intros – it’s so very Capcom to not perfect things until the second release … not just the non-gameplay filler, but every aspect – and I for one am just grateful they learned from their mistakes.

Well, almost all of their mistakes … as much as I love the game – it’s not quite perfect, in fact although the faults of the first game have been toned down or eliminated – a couple are still there. The SFA sprites still look like ass (required Morrigan mention goes here) – though the increased roster means they’re in even more of a minority than before. The physics still feel slightly off — the momentum of the players feels a little too light and too loose – not as solid as, say, SF3. The rolls (for the grooves that have them) are less invincible than before, but still annoying. The huge coloured transparencies are still there and the hit sparks are bigger than ever – but on the bright side the projectiles look far better, some even graduate to “good” – Terry’s “Power Wave” is a sparking, crackling, dangerous-looking projectile, instead of the generic day-glow lump of crap it was in CvS. See what a bit of THOUGHT and EFFORT does for a game, Capcom?

But so much else has been improved to such a high standard I’d be a fool to dwell on these things. The good-humoured ambience of the game is contagious, and it’s hard to really be mean to it.

With the recent disclosure that Capcom vs. SNK 2 will be Capcom’s last 2D fighter for some time, I feel a sort of poignancy while playing the game. When the “best ending” credits roll, with that mournful song, and the way at the very end the clouds break up and beams of sunlight stream down over the “CAPCOM” logo; I feel sort of sad, like something fantastic and comfortable has come to an end. Whether this holds true or not remains to be seem – in the mean time however CvS2 is a wonderful, beautiful game, one that would be a fitting finale to the companies’ ten-year legacy.

• Score: 95%
• Publisher/Developer: Capcom