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Review: Soul Calibur II |
“Transcending history and the world, a tale of swords and souls, eternally retold”
-Anonymous
A nice, epic quote to open up the third game to one of my all time favorite fighting series. Soul Calibur II is an amazing combination of eye dropping graphics, fascinating characters, grandoise story, and all around fun wrapped up in one spiffy package. The game featured a simultaneous release on the big three systems, and each one a specific character. Of course everyone and their cousin already knows that, so I’ll leave it there. Myself, I went for the Gamecube version. As much as I love Heihachi, there was just something magical about seeing Link face off against Cervantes with the main theme of “The Legend of Zelda” that sealed the deal for me. I had actually intended on getting the PS2 version right until I arrived at the store to recieve my preorder. I may eventually give the other two versions of the game a spin just to see what Hei and Spawn are like, but for now I’m very happy with the GC version.
Graphics, wow, where to start. They are just so clean and crisp, and there is an amazing attention to detail. Wisps of hair move in the breeze, clothes ruffled, their lips are perfectly synched to the text, no matter which language you are in. The weapons gleam in the light, everyone moves fluidly, it is all just a sight to behold. The ladies seem to have recieved an extra bit of bounciness and fanservice since Soul Calibur I. I’m still having mixed emotions on this. On the one hand, I love me some fanservice. On the other, I think they could have done without it. Still, there is something fun about going into the game’s profile mode, loading up Taki, and tapping the top buttons to make her twist back and forth. She could seriously knock somebody out with those bouncing twins. I could go on and on, but any 2 bit reviewer can spend an entire review just going on about the graphics alone, and plenty do, but that’s not why you guys are here at HerV now is it?
Sound and music are quite spectactular. The music is as grand and powerful as always. Each theme sucks you in, providing a perfect soundtrack to each match, without it distracting from the battles themselves. The sound effects themselves are chock full of grunts, groans, battle cries and insults. The clash of weapons striking each other is perfect, I can almost feel the shiver of the impact in my arm. The voice acting is top notch in both languages, although I noticed my beloved Seung Mina sounds like a schoolgirl being tentacle raped. Add in the fact that they made her outfit even more skimpy, and you get some doujin potential right there. Her voice aside however, it’s all great great stuff.
Now the controls. This is probably what has most people wary of the Gamecube version. I’ll tell you right now, don’t even consider using the D pad, it’s a joke unless your thumb is the size of an average pinky. Using the analogue stick is tolerable, but any double tap motions are hit or miss. Still, the game is quite playable, and there are adapters and joysticks out there, so don’t let that stop you. The game’s controls are nice and basic, consisting of the Horizontal Slash, the Vertical slash, kick, and guard. A parry, wait sorry, Guard Impact is exectued with forward plus guard. The controls are nice and intuitive, and very easy to pick up.
That is probably the nicest thing about Soul Calibur series. For beginner’s, it’s fairly masher friendly, but as you play more and more, you pick up the subtleties of the game engine and the higher tactics, and the game becomes even more fun. No matter what group of friends I am with, I can load up this game and everyone will play it and have fun, and for the most part, everyone has a chance of winning, whether they are simply poking the buttons at random, or mastered every trick in the book. Sure, the more advanced player is much more likely to win, but that plucky masher may get in some combo that totally decimates, without really knowing what was going on. Some people love the game for this reason, and others hate it. Personally I think it’s one of the strongest traits. It’s just flat out fun and nobody has to feel left out of it. Games like this are few and far between, and I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t become entranced when seeing two warriors going at it, the clash of weapons heavy in the air.
The replay value of this game is very high as well, especially since they included my favorite mode from Soul Edge/Blade, but was left out of Soul Calibur I, WEAPON MASTER MODE. The ability to change up weapons that carry different traits, while questing around a map doing different tasks was one of my favorite things about the original game, next to the interactive and animated endings. I was very disappointed when this feature was left out of Soul Calibur. Now it has made it’s triumphant return, and is just as fun as ever. The missions are not very hard, although the dungeon missions are a bit annoying if you are pressed for time. The mode is necessary as well, since it seems to be the quickest, if not only, way of unlocking the hidden characters. I’ve still not gotten Berzerker(Rock), Assasin(Hwang) or Lizard man, but I will very soon. Also awaiting me are each character’s joke weapon, and I’ve yet to purchase the Exhibitions. Also available are art and weapon galleries, and possibly other things I’ve yet to discover. A nice feature in this particular Weapon Master mode is the ability to switch characters before each fight, allowing you to use whoever is most suited for a particular mission.
This last section I’ll use to attempt to describe Link. What I’ve been asked by most people is “How does he play/who does he play like?”. Well, he really doesn’t play like any of the other characters. MAYBE a sort of cross between Yunsung and Rapheal, but, really not :S. Maybe it’s just my lack of experience with the game, but I cannot equate him to anybody else, save Adult Link in Super Smash Brothers Melee, but converted to work in the SC engine. All his trademark attacks are there, including the up and down slashes from Zelda 2, the spin slash, the aerial spin slash from SSBM, and he can even toss his boomerang, shoot an arrow or drop a bomb. You’d think that would give him an unfair advantage, but it really doesn’t. All three are easy enough to sidestep, and it takes a moment to even get them out. He has to go into a “stance” for each individual weapon, but once in a stance, you can switch between them. Like if you hit A(H slash) and B(V slash) for the Bow Stance, you can hit A to switch to the Boomerang, or K to switch to a bomb. Yes, the bombs can blow up in your hand. There is something quite satisfying about sending Maxi spiraling into the air with a bomb, or taking a huge chunk of life with a fully charged arrow. Still, the chances of hitting with any of the weapons is pretty small from my experience.
I won’t say the Gamecube version is the definitive version of the game, especially having not played the others but if you are dying for a great fighting game, or even a great game period, for your little Nintendo lunchbox, by all means go for it. I highly recommend finding a control alternative though, whether it be that Hori Digital pad, an adapter of sorts, or maybe even a homebrew joystick (I don’t know how feasible that is, or if they are even being made, but if you have the know how and the time, get a third party POS pad and give it a go). Also, I’ve yet to experience the slowdown that seems to appear on the PS2 version, at least during combat. During vs mode, on the character select, sometimes it seems to hang on loading up the image of the fighter, but I could really care less. Still, maybe I will at some point, or maybe the cube just handles it better. ax
