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Dec 20, 2009, 3:20am

ө DOATEC HQ/ PIONEER 2 HUNTERS' GUILD FORUM ө :: General :: Game Reviews :: Soul Calibur 2

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Topic: Soul Calibur 2 (Read 24 times)

Asif
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Soul Calibur 2
« Thread Started on Oct 7, 2003, 3:04pm »

Soul Calibur 2 for Xbox

by Asif

(This is the same review I wrote for doa2hc.com)
For those of you haven't played the original Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast or arcade, Soul Calibur 2 is a weapon-based fighter. You can play over 20 different characters with different weapons and fighting styles. You can also choose from many different modes including the new team battles, which were not in the original and of course the weapon master mode, where you play different quests where you unlock a bunch of different features (characters, arenas, costumes, weapons and other quests).

Graphically, Soul Calibur 2 is one of the best looking games I've seen on XBox. The character models are the best I've seen, along with the ones from Tecmo's Dead or Alive games. The character models have a great level of detail, right down to the facial expressions. Shading is done in real time. Particle effects are used to animate fire and hair. All this is done without any slowdown.

All the dialog is done through voice acting. Each character has about 90 different things they say, from different dialog options to different sounds they make after being hit or performing different moves. Some of the English dialog sounds funny at times but is usually good.

The controls were just as in the Dreamcast version, with 2 extra buttons. While these black and white buttons are available, they don't have any function you wouldn't be able to do without the A,B,X and Y buttons. You can also see complete move lists for all the characters by pressing start in the middle of a fight or in practice mode. The controls were easy to get used to, but I didn't find the controller S as comfortable as the Dreamcast controller, especially when using the analog stick. Otherwise the controls were fine. They respond well and you shouldn't have trouble getting used to them especially if you've played Soul Calibur on Dreamcast. However one thing missing in Soul Calibur 2 is the timing of the depression of the different buttons to perform moves shown in practice mode. That was a useful feature when it came to learning new moves, but unfortunately isn't in the sequel.

With the unlockable modes, characters and weapons, Soul Calibur 2 has plenty of replay value. You unlock different characters, weapons and modes by winning certain battles and you gain gold, points that you can use to purchase extras such as costumes, weapons, pictures in the gallery and demos, where you see the different characters showing off their moves. In weapon master mode you encounter many different conditions including environment effects. There are some quests you fight in quick sand, or with wind and my personal favorite, the icy floors. It’s always fun to watch your opponent charge towards you to attack and then watch him and her slip over the edge and fall out of the ring because you dodged their attack.

All in all Soul Calibur 2 is a great game. It has pretty much the same gameplay as its predecessor. There are few minor things I would have liked to see different in this game:
- More interaction/history between characters. The way it is now, you only see some story related interaction between characters before the last fight in arcade mode.
- FMV endings, instead of the kind they had in the original Soul Calibur, where you see still images and some story.
- Seigfried. Unfortunately he's not in this one.
- A 4-player tag team mode.
Anyone who enjoyed the original should definitely give this one a try.

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