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SoulCalibur II (Xbox)
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| Description:
If the world was a fair place then the name of SoulCalibur--peculiar spelling mistake and all--would be the most famous in beat-'em-up history. Unfortunately, though, the original arcade game was only converted to the Dreamcast (despite the prequel, Soul Blade, being on the PSone), thus dooming it to relative obscurity. SoulCalibur's brilliance is not due to any particularly innovative features--it could legitimately be described as simply Tekken with weapons. It's just that it does everything with more panache and imagination than the rest. Instead of awkward, staccato moves, SoulCalibur offers gloriously flowing, instinctive combos that often leaves you gasping at your own character's athleticism. Of course beat-'em-ups aren't known for their innovation and SoulCalibur II doesn't really deviate too far from its original premise of 16th century men and women hitting each other with a variety of swords, sticks and other meleé weapons. The whole tactical nature of the battles has been altered, though, to create a deeper game with blocks and counters now far more important and the glorious new animation system able to adapt each move depending on the direction and speed you're moving in. One point of true innovation in the original game was its unusually complex and rewarding single-player mode and this has been expanded for the sequel as you compete under a variety of different conditions to earn money and buy new weapons, costumes and extras. --David Jenkins
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4/5 |
The Sequel.
(September 01, 2007) |
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I payed the original, and i rated it as one of the most original fighting games ever - using weapons instead of fists really does give each fighter a unique style all their own. So when i patched my Xbox360 in order to play the sequel - it was with great anticipation that i sat down to play.
The basics are the same - each fighter has their weapon and fighting style and there are a host of new characters available. But it is the little things that were left out (from the original) which i found disappointing :
1) When you block/guard - you weapon no longer takes damage. This in the original was a superb feature : a player was often forced to go on the offensive as their blade came close to breaking - i am mystified as to why this was dropped.
2) When questing across the main board - you will find that you discover weapons for the other characters in the game - a minor complaint i know, and some would argue that its not worth mentioning... but i've yet to find one for the character i'm currently playing - a bit pointless, as in the original you felt you were attaining weapons for the main character and progressing - i'm stuck with their basic weapon, and thats frustrating.
On the plus side..
The game is smooth, fast and difficult - this game is no easy ride, a good thing i my opinion - too many fighting games are not challenging enough, so overall i give it a 4 - had they kept the weapon breaking thingy (if you's played the original you know what i mean) it would've made a 5. |
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4/5 |
Soul Stealer 2
(December 05, 2006) |
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What do you think of when you think of a fighting game? I bet Mortal Kombat comes straight to your mind? Think again. I'm not usually into fighting games, im more of a Racing/ FPS person, but when i stumbled upon this game (purely by impulse buying at the game store) i was amazed. The storyline sounded a bit cheesy to me, your this fighter and you have to find the almighty sword called Soul Calibur.. Ok, big deal this game is for babies. Somehow though i was intrigued and played it anyway. The graphics are superb, nice ragdoll like physics and reflections mirrored galore, personal detail is typical of what arcade fighters are like. Ok, so gore is reduced to a minimum if any, so unlike Mortal Kombat-esq fighters, this lacks blood and guts, but afterall this is a fantasy fighting game, not a death and destruction type so even your kids could play this. People who are easily offended by swearing will also love this game as it has the bare minimum of offensive words, i think the only swear word i came across is "pissing me off"!! The learning curve is at times difficult and challanging, which is why you feel you need to go back for more, and once you get past a certain stage, i have found it almost thumb-soreingly painful (if that even is a word) to get past! Huge levels, as you make your way across a map and a variety of foe's to keep you kung-fooing away for ages. It has its downsides though. If you want a short game, dont buy this. It is just a long game to complete in 1 day. If you want blood and guts thrown in with some swearing, forget it, its a more 'civilised' fighting game if i may use that word. If you want intreguing and extensive story lines, forget that as well as to be honest its a basic mission assignment and basically not worth wasting your time trying to get engrossed in the plot! One thing i will mention before i end this review is, 2 player mode with another person is amazing! I've never had so much fun with my girlfriend on any other Xbox game but this! This game is also great if you have 1 too many drinks and want a fight.. The noises the fighters make is quite ... err.. explicit when drunk! Buy this game and find out. Enough said! |
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5/5 |
Best fighting game ever
(August 24, 2005) |
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This game is so underrated it is unbelievable. It really is the best fighting game I have ever played. These include street fighter, mortal kombat, the tekken series, and a couple of wrestling games which are a slightly different genre.
There are hundreds of moves in total because each character has around 100 moves of their own and there are like 15 characters. The weapon-based fighting really makes it a lot more exciting than the regular punch, kick, and grab combos. you can fight with swords huge and small, nunchuks, staffs, blades, daggers, axes, and loads more. The different characters are great. They all look different and play extremely well, some better than others. the women are generally faster than men yet weaker. Instead of buttons being assigned to punch, kick, and other things, they are assigned to horizontal attack, vertical attack, kick, and block. the attacks work in a sort of rock, paper, scissors things which is explained in the booklet. This means you have to think slightly, so if you become an expert at recognising moves straightaway, you can immediately execute a move that counters that attack. Despite this, button bashers can still manage to beat the skilled gamers, which sometimes can be frustrating when playing against your friends. The AI is excellent with many different difficulty settings. The arenas are all great and so is the music. The graphics are just stunning to look at. You can also play in training mode where you can simply practice moves for each character and you can make it so that the computer just stands there and lets you perform your moves on them, or the enemy always tries to perform grabs, or vertical attacks. You can make it so that you can practice just one part of your game. This is a great feature. The weapon master mode is really good and involves a story about finding a sword. Each battle has something to do with the storyline. As you go through the game you earn money which you can use to unlock so many things. There really are just too many things to unlock. Mainly weapons for each character. There are around 10 I think. Other than that, there are arenas, new characters, additional costumes, art galleries, movie theaters, new game modes and tons of other stuff as well. Each match in the story mode will have special conditions. For example in one of them, you have a bomb on your body so you are not allowed to get knocked down other wise you die. And on another one there is a strong wind which will continue to blow you towards the edge of the arena. These conditions are sometimes tough but they are a great twist. The music and voiceover is also great. The only minor things I can find wrong in the ENTIRE game are the button basher problem, the fact that it's not xbox live enabled, and that there is a little too much text regarding the story in weapon master mode. But these are minor things because they can't help the button basher problem and you dont even have to read the text. But if the game were online enabled it really would be one of the greatest games ever, not just fighting. |
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5/5 |
youve played the rest now play the best
(April 19, 2005) |
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that is right the best fighting game is here soul calibur 2 has it all style good looks fluid gameplay new characters and the old ones it is amazing what each individual character can do there are so many attacking movements and combos you can do with them it will leave you dizzy and sore thumbs, the sore thumbs i can vouch for this game has what other fighting games lack and that you will have to find out for yourself you want action supberb graphics and kick butt moves then this is the daddy just buy it go on you know you want to go on..... |
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5/5 |
brilliant
(April 09, 2005) |
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i absolutely love this game and actually own it on gamecube ps2 and xbox plays brilliant on all and is the best fighting game out there if you don't own it already buy it |
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