Slashdot Mirror
Soul Calibur II Sparks Subdued Joy
Thanks to GameSpy for their (similar, and in descending score order) Xbox, Gamecube, and PlayStation 2 reviews of the newly-released Soul Calibur II, plus a detailed Soul Calibur II: Pile-On! article, where-in "...a battle royale of GameSpy's biggest SCII fans pick apart a hit." Opinions? One editor suggests: "It's a fabulous game, but the original Soul Calibur wasn't just an excellent game: it started a new age for fighters. On the other hand, SCII - no matter how good it is - is just an incremental upgrade, a fairly routine fighter sequel."
Ya know I would start to believe that the X-Box title is a *little* better than the Gamecube title which is a *little* better than the PS2 title if they didn't rate EVERY multi platform game that way. Its almost like a rule because the games SHOULD look better on the X-Box.....
PaleHour
Direct X has standardised the drivers, so you can plug a joypad and play but there is no guarantee that the developers of the game took the time to see that the game would be enjoyable using the controller of your choice. I can especially see why fighting games would be a greater problem than most other game types.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
That pile-on thing was a load of crap, Fargo was the only one to get it right. They're sort of blasting the game - not because it's bad, they all said it was super - but because they expected it to "revolutionize the genre". Uh-huh.
I seem to recall an earlier Slashdot article (from yesterday?) discussing whether people want original games or not. Well, this is a prime example of a sequel that does absolutely everything right. It keeps the controls and the feeling that worked so beautifully in its predecessor, spices up the graphics, adds new characters and new playmodes and a ton of unlockable goodies (oodles of weapons, kata theater, concept art gallery, new costumes, etc etc). This is a must-have game, beyond excellent... and still it catches flak because "um, you know, it didn't radically change the way we view fighting games". Feh. I don't WANT Namco to change Soul Calibur. Yeah, I want them to sharpen it, refine it, make it better... but keep the meat, the stuff that makes it legendary. Which is exactly what they have done.
Anyway; I imported the Japanese SC2 for my cube several months ago, and I can only say buy this game now, whichever platform you're on. I fired up the old SC next to it, just to check the difference... and no matter what the cracksmokers at GameSpy have to say, it's a HUGE upgrade. It's the best fighter available, and I have a feeling it will stay that way until the next iteration (at which point the GameSpy editors will yammer about how SC3 STILL won't brew coffee for them).
The only way to play more fighters for your PC is to download mame32 and arcade fighting game roms. Problem solved.
I think the funniest part about all of this fuss is that SC2 has been in the arcades for quite some time, so they at least had a good idea of how the game would play and look if they did a perfect port of it. Sure, there's the single player element to look at, and the additions made for the consoles, but overall they should've known what they were getting if they had taken the chance to look. Of course, the last time I saw an SC2 cabinet was over a year and a half ago, but that's mostly because I haven't been to an arcade and most of the game rooms at theaters where I now live (as opposed to 16 months ago) are off to the side and a bit closed off from the lobby.
That being said, I have a DC and bought SC for it the day after I bought the console (because the place I bought the console at didn't have the game, and it was 11PM). I'm wondering at this point whether or not SC2 will be a solid replacement, but I'll buy it anyway, once the arcade stick is released. Despite really liking my DC, I'll be glad when I've replaced all of the games I own on it and can safely put it away or in another room.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
But aren't the scores representative of the other games on that specific console? Meaning a 96 on the XBox one means of all the XBox games, it's in the top 4% of the good games? Comparing the same game three different times, seperated only by HDTV support and minor slowdown, with the PS2 ranking lowest means there's more quality titles on the PS2, then. Right? Or is the slowdown that bad?