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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."
Methinks it would be interesting if someday they made a variety of Soul Calibur II allowing you to pit the three "exclusive" characters against each other - it might make for a most interesting competition at a big gaming show, like E3.
--- Bwah?
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
...frankly, it's not that much better than the first. New characters, yes, but the textures, at least on the Xbox version (which is the only one I've seen, as it's the one my local game store has the demo for) on the characters are really really flat. The models themselves are smooth, and move just as gracefully as ever, but they look like they're molded out of liquid plastic. Hard to explain, but it feels like they either tried to make it "cooler looking" either out of overzealousness or intentionally. The change is simmilar to the change in the models between Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 4.
It plays EXACTLY the same as SoulCalibur, which again isn't a bad thing, because SoulCalibur is the best fighting game ever, IMHO. I don't blame them for not messing with a proven formula, but I vainly hoped that Namco would switch things up a bit like they did with Tekken 4's gameplay (which is my favorite of the series, by far the most balanced Tekken game yet).
All in all, I'm certainly going to be buying it, but it's not something I simply must have now now please now gimme now. F-Zero GX on the other hand...
*watches phone waiting for the game store to call about my preorder*
So where are the fighting games for a PC? If you port to the xbox why not take the next step?
Personally I don't own a console. I can't really justify it but I would be willing to purchase a figting game for the PC now and then.
The old excuse was lack of a controller but there are plenty of good ones on the market these days.
One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
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).
damn thing never catches my linebreaks; i have to use HTML.... heres what i wrote with breaks, hopefully easier to read:
RTFA! Spawn fits right into the game, while link (although a very exciting addition) and heiachi don't. Also, the GC's controller isnt good for fighting games (i would debate that, i think its just different -- not worse) it says it right there.
"While Spawn was an unexpected choice, he fits into the world of Soul Calibur II pretty seamlessly. He's a lot of fun to play, too, as he's gifted with supernatural powers. Like GameCube's Link (and unlike PS2's Heihachi) the developers have taken an established character but made him their own, and consequently his presence enriches the game to an unexpected degree. The Xbox's Controller S is also pretty handy for SCII, so no complaints there. "
"Heihachi is the weakest of the platform-specific characters by a long way. He just doesn't fit with the rest of the SC crew; even fellow Tekken alum Yoshimitsu has a sword. Worse, his stale punch-punch-punch combos stink of the inferior series he was dragged out of. He's an effective character, and the graphics team has gone a long way to presenting him as lavishly and seamlessly as can be in the world of SCII. He just isn't up to snuff, however. On the other hand, the Dual Shock is easily the best pad of the three for playing the game, which makes everyone control just a bit smoother."
"Link is probably the most exciting of the platform-specific characters to most hardcore video game fans; everyone I know, just about, imported or preordered the GameCube version to get their hands on the little green elf. He turns out to be an excellent character in SCII although he doesn't quite fit into the mix visually. Namco has lovingly recreated all of his signature attacks, and created an effective and fun character that you can really get a lot out of. The GameCube's pad is a detriment to playing SCII -- while you can get used to it, it's extremely awkward. "
Plus, the XBOX supports 720p, (the other consoles dont) which although most people wont benefit from, is still there and should get the marks.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
I actually have to agree with the controller thing. I've played the demo on all three consoles (fanboy? Me? Naaaah...) and I've found I like the Gamecube controller best, despite my rather oversized hands. The PS2's 4-button layout is similar to the DC's, which makes the transition easy, but I was having serious problems with the 8-way run on the PS2 - the analog stick seemed to always be "walk", despite double-tapping, and the plus pad seemed to be "run". Perhaps it's just that I'm not used to it, but that departure made it fairly difficult to adjust to. The XBox controller was just a little unwieldy for a fighter - it didn't seem quite right. The GC controller, while layed out differently than the DC, was actually easy to get used to. The A, Y and Y buttons function as horizontal and vertical attack, respectively, with the X as kick, and B and R as block. The addition of R as block was very welcome, as it makes it possible to do both types of throws relatively easy, as opposed to the block/vertical awkwardness of the DC version.
:)
I do expect, though, that if you are comfortable with a given controller, you won't have a problem with the controls. The Soul Calibur games are hardly known for their clunky controls.
I'm picking my order up today.
For anyone who's looking forward to Spawn in Soul Caliber II on the XBox, or who is disapointed that Spawn isn't on the version they got, he's got his own game coming out soon. And unlike previous versions this one doesn't totally suck :) Since both Soul Caliber II and Spawn are being produced by Namco, the Soul Caliber II team helped out with the play mechanics some.
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