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Soul Calibur II Review for GameCube
Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 @ 08:11:40 pm E.S.TWhen Namco announced that a sequel to its immensely successful weapons-based fighting game was in the works, gamers were instantly filled with anticipation. Just think: a sequel to the best fighting game, not to mention best Dreamcast game, of all time on all three of the next-gen consoles. What more could a fighting fan ask for? How about the addition of many new characters including Nintendo’s own Link from the Legend of Zelda series? When this announcement was made, Nintendo fans all over the world squealed with glee, and were filled with more anticipation. And finally, they got what they wanted when Soul Calibur 2 was released. So, does Namco’s new title live up to its massive expectations?
Let’s start by looking at its gameplay. Like the original game, Soul Calibur 2 features many characters each wielding their own specific weapon. For example, Mitsurugi, a samurai, uses a long-ranged katana, while another character, Maxi, uses a short-reach pair of numb-chucks. The types of weapons are very diverse, leading to strategy for picking characters. If you prefer power over speed, you would pick a character like Nightmare, or if you prefer a speedy attacker, you might decide to pick a character like Taki. This forces you to learn techniques for defeating different types of characters, which adds a great deal of strategy to fighting.
Link is still beating people down with the Master Sword.
Each character has his or her own set of attacks and combos to learn as well as simple techniques. For example, before you can learn a complicated attack, you must first master simple things like vertical and horizontal slashing as well as kicks and blocks. Luckily, the GameCube controller works and feels very comfortable so after a few matches you’ll become accustomed to the control set-up. After you’ve got the controls and simple moves practiced then you can start to move on and learn the most effective grabs attacks against different enemies.
The single player experience is great and presents you with a large amount of options. First you have your classic Arcade Mode. In it you choose a fighter and go through eight different fights with eight different competitors. What makes Arcade Mode on GameCube better than Arcade Mode in an actual arcade is the fact that every time you lose a match, you do not have to dish out quarters to continue. Instead, you just hit the start button when the continue screen pops up.
This is always a fun mode of play, but the real standout in the single player experience is Weapon Master mode. In it you play through a series of chapters, each containing a series of diverse missions ranging from defeating an enemy by only using grabs or battling your way through a dungeon full of enemies. But what really makes Weapon Master mode so special is the fact that you can buy and unlock new items such as new weapons, costumes, modes of play and characters. Not only that, but there are tons of extras to buy and unlock so you’ll be playing Soul Calibur 2 for a long time. The only real complaint I have about both Arcade and Weapon Master mode is the fact that most of the time you are really only playing to earn gold so you can buy new weapons. Although this might not seem to be a problem, much of the time it leads you to fighting the same matches over and over again which can become tedious. Also, the dungeons in Weapon Master mode can really get boring at times. You are not allowed to switch your character at any time in the dungeon. This can sometimes make combat become boring because you can not experiment with different characters.
Hot chicks going at it. What's not to like?
Though the single-player modes are great, the multi-player modes are the real standout of the game. Now, of course beating your friend in a regular vs. match is always fun, but the game also offers a few other great multi-player options. You can unlock the Extra vs. mode in which you can choose a weapon from all of those that you have unlocked in Weapon Master mode. Or you can have a Vs. Team battle in which you pick a team of 2 to 8 characters. When the match starts your first characters fight. The one who loses has his next character come out to try its luck at the opponent. This goes on until one player is out of characters. All of the multi-player modes are great fun whether you’re with one friend or at a party. To cut a long story short, this is one of the best multi-player games available for the GameCube.
To compliment the game’s awesome gameplay, Soul Calibur 2 also sports some beautiful visuals. Character models are all packed with detail and are simply amazing. From every piece of Mitsurugi’s armor to Necrid’s scaly skin, the details are stunning. For the most part, the arenas also look nice, but some, dungeon arenas in particular, look utterly identical to others. The most major problem concerns the fact that these arenas look boring to begin with and that there are so many of them. However, everything else looks great and runs with an extremely smooth 60 frames per second.
The sound is also impressive. The music is truly exceptional and really has a battle feel to it. The soundtrack even has a wonderfully orchestrated version of The Legend of Zelda theme song! The voice acting in the game, in addition, sounds outstanding. However, some of the character’s lines get repeated far too many times. For example, it seems like Xianghua always says “Here’s another!” and after a while it can get a little annoying. Most likely, the voice acting would have been better off had it been left in Japanese. Many character’s phrases sound corny and I’m sure they would sound better if you weren't aware of what they are actually saying.
Where's the pool table?
Overall, Soul Calibur 2 is a great experience whether you're alone or playing with friends. Although you can unlock many of the game's extra characters and modes in one sit-in, there is still enough to keep you coming back for more. Whether it’s collecting every costume and weapon, or raising your experience level in Weapon Master mode, you’ll be playing Soul Calibur 2 for a while. Once the single player becomes stale, there is always the multiplayer, which is always great fun. This is the best fighting game you can buy for GameCube. Highly recommended. Review By: MarioPrime - 1233 Reads
Soul Calibur II Review Scores for GC :
| Gameplay |
| 9.5 |
| Graphics |
| 9 |
| Sound |
| 9 |
| Replay |
| 9 |
| Overall |
| 9 |
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