Review of
Soul Calibur 2 (Gamecube, Xbox, PS2)
By Ryan Wellman

The first Soul Calibur came out for the Dreamcast and it was an amazingly fluid fighting game. Now the second one is out and it was a definite improvement. It came out for all three systems, the Gamecube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, having a special character for each. The Nintendo Gamecube version comes with Link, the adventurer from the Zelda series, the Xbox comes with Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and the PS2 comes with Tekken’s boss, Heihachi. These games are set in times that are full of demons, samurai, ninja, and warriors. You can choose from 15 different warriors to go on your quest fighting others for a legendary sword named Soul Edge. This sword is supposed to be the most powerful of all, yet it drives its user insane.


The thing I liked the most about this game is that it uses actual martial arts styles as the basis for their movements. There are over twenty-five moves for each character and that doesn’t count all of the combos that you can link together for nonstop attacks. It is a very easy game to get used to, and a novice player can pick it up and pull off amazing acrobatic movements.


There are tons of different ways to play this game as well. There is Arcade mode, Versus Mode, Time Attack, Missions, Survival, and Team. Not only that, but there is an extra mode for each of those modes. In the Extra you are allowed to select your weapons or stages that you’ve earned in the Missions. There are around 10 weapons for each character as well as profiles and alternate outfits. All in all, this game has many many hours of gameplay.


There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about this game. The graphics are amazing and crisp in detail. One thing I noticed however was that in the regular Survival mode there was a certain point where the difficulty would shoot up to an amazing level. There was just a certain point that it won’t let me get past. It is a good test of skills, but if you are going for a record, go to Extra Survival.


If you are having trouble deciding which system to buy it for, here are some things that differ between them. The PS2 has the best controls, but I found that it often slowed down when both players were executing a special attack. It was a cool effect, but I could tell it wasn’t intentional. I didn’t like Heihachi all that much, but just because I was never any good at Tekken. The Gamecube had shitty controls, but once I got used to them I ruled. Link was a great character, and they brought him into the storyline with no problem. The Xbox was really good, the graphics were probably the best, but you can only get so good before realizing it all looks the same. It was smooth and Spawn ruled, but the default controllers sucked for this game because the buttons were too close together.

 

Altogether this game gets a 10 out of 10


This game is not cheatable, but if you need hints and tricks that will help you advance quicker, go to Gamewinners.com.
This game is beatable, but it can become unbeatable with option changes
This game is very good for multiplayer combat
Rentable, but it is a must buy, you will want to own this game

This game is at the top of my 10 of all time
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