Fierce Gaming: Your Multiplatform Head Quarters

Home

*E3 News*

News Archive

Xbox

Xbox 360

Gamecube

Playstation 2

Screenshots

Become Staff

Contact

Gamecube

Xbox

Playstation 2

PSP

Xbox 360

Playstation 2

GBA

Xbox 360

Xbox

Gamecube

Chatroom

Store

Forums

Review by: Nick and Nate
Official Site Wow, this game is so addicting, I finally stopped playing it to write this review. This is probably one of the best fighting games I have every played. It’s got it all, loads, and loads of game modes. Everything you want in a fighter you got it with Soul Calibur 2. The game modes are never ending. When you play more and more in the weapon master mode, you can unlock certain modes and characters.

Characters There are quite a few characters; one of my favorites is Spawn. The Gamecube version has link, and I forget what character ps2 has, anyway; Spawn has some nice looking weapons in weapon master mode, such as the misery, reaper, and vengeance. The other characters include: Charade, Mitsurugi, Nightmare, (one of the main characters) Astaroth, (has huge ax) Yoshi Mitsu, (weird, looks like a joker) Cervantes De Leon, Hong Yunson, Taki, Talim, Kilik, Maxi, Raphael Sorel, Voldo, Cassandra, Ivy, and Chai xianghua, and more. All the characters from the original Soul Calibur for Dreamcast have been added in the lineup and then some. If you liked Soul Calibur for DC, you will like the Xbox version even more because of the new modes and characters. We thought the Dreamcast version was the best fighting game around when it came out, now we see this, and there is nothing more to say other then this game is brilliant.

Games Modes The game modes include: Original mode, which includes: Arcade, V.S. battle, Time attack, (standard, alternative, extreme) Survival, Team battle, and practice are all in original mode. Extra mode includes: Extra attack, (standard, alternative, extreme) Extra time attack, Extra survival, and Extra practice are included in the Extra mode. The thing I like about in extra mode is extra arcade because you can play verse your friends and choose the weapons you bought in Weapon Master Mode. This makes the game more interesting and more enjoyable with multiple players. Soul Calibur 2 has great game modes, definitely keeping you busy for a while. Although Weapon Master Mode is relatively easy, nevertheless there is always Extra Arcade mode to play with friends. Another thing about Weapon Master Mode that you may want to know is: every time you win a battle you earn gold, if you play multiple people in matches then you will receive more gold then if you just play one character in just a single match. After you pick up a certain amount of gold you can go to the shop by hitting start on the world map and going down to shop. Here you can buy weapons for any players you are playing with, keep in mind you can be any character in Weapon Master Mode, your gold is shared by all the players in the game. So if your Spawn for example and you switch to Raphael you will still have the same amount of gold. After a chapter map is cleared you move on to a new one.

Graphics Soul Calibur 2 is pretty up to par when it comes to graphics. The character models are smooth, sleek and detailed. Nice arena designs, everything is well detailed in the background. Very impressive textures, the environments could use a little more improvement, I am not saying they suck, in-fact they’re just the opposite. The only thing that looks kind of bad is when a player is tossed into the water of an arena, it is rather fake. The splash effect is ancient, possibly that could have been improved, other then that the graphics look fairly good.

Sound The sound is amazing, everything you want, from the clashing of swords to the splash of an opponent flying into water. The music is very well composed for the game. Its up to beat, sounds good while playing the game. You can even here player’s chants to each other like “Get the hell out of my way” (Spawns line). Which to me is a very good addition. Although if you’re playing a character and they keep say the same thing, it can get rather annoying. Other then that, the sound is top notch and you will not be complaining or asking your self why they didn’t make the sound effects better. The sound is truly fantastic.

The Moves/weapons Heihachi Brings all moves from the Tekken series for Ps2 to Soul Calibur 2. The Thing that makes this game so unique from other fighters is that each character has more then or up to 70 moves they can perform. Also there are so many different weapons, from nightmares “Soul Edge” to “Spawns Reaper”. Another thing I like is that you can perform brutal combos, which can knock your enemy down to his feet. There are also special moves you can do such as; if you hit Y+B and hold it Spawn will go up into the air. Then you can hold Y and Spawn will come down holding his weapon above his head and slamming it down on his enemy.

Different ways to win There are some different ways to win while playing. You can either Knock Out your enemy by chopping off all his power with your moves. Or if your lucky you can get a Ring Out, a Ring Out is just what it says, if you knock your opponent out of the ring you will instantly win the match. Or if you are having trouble knocking out your enemy and you have come up to the last ticks of the clock you will get a Time Out and will have to play the match over. Surprisingly enough you can have a Draw (Both players knock them self out simultaneously) or a Sudden Death, (which is when you both knock each other of the ring). Or if you lose the battle you will get a Game Over sign, it occurs when a match is lost, In modes where there are rankings, such as survival and time attack, qualifying players are able to enter their names into the rankings.

The Costumes/Levels If you don’t like how a characters clothing looks you can always switch to the other costume. On any mode hit “Y” and it will switch there clothing. You can also buy new clothing and costumes in Weapon Master Mode. Which I find being a nice feature in the game. The levels are enormous compared to Soul Calibur for Dreamcast. They are beautifully textured look absolutely astonishing!

Closing Comments Over all Soul Calibur 2 is the best fighter I think to have ever come out. It’s got awesome graphics, very smooth nicely textured, very well done. It’s got moves from the Tekken series from the PS2, over 70 moves for each player to master. Something that will keep you playing is: the 10 modes you can play, for hours and hours on end of game play. I will Simply say that Soul Calibur 2 is the best weapon-Based fighter out there, Period, its also one of the best games in the fighting genre. There is a well-balanced diverse range of characters to choose from Including Spawn, the popular comic book character by Tod Mcfarlane that appears exclusively for the Xbox version. Namco pushed the boundaries on this title; pushing the boundaries can be a good thing, it was for this game.

please note: This is not an average rating

Presentation The presentation to Soul Calibur 2 is very nice, the story makes sense, the game's setup very nicely.	9.0
Graphics The graphics are phenomenal in this game, the enviorments could use some work but overall good graphics.	8.9
Gameplay The moves are sweet, the control is super, it works very well with the game.	9.0
Overall Overall this game is presented very well, the graphics are extremely well done, nice textures, overall this game is a must buy for your xbox collection.	9.0