Techtite's Playstation-2 Reviews!

"Here."

---from the review

-------------------

You may Also Wish to Buy:

Soul Calibur 2: The Official Fighter's Guide

-----------------

Sidebar :

-----------------

One cool game, with one COOL special edition Fighter's Guide! Sure, you expected the official Fighter's Guide (game manual) to be a must-buy, if just to have a record of every secret maneuver for every character, in a safe place. However; how totally cool was the special edition of this game manual?!? A "hard cover" slipcover (thicker cardboard, anyway), a poster of all the characters, and best of all, a music CD of all the game's music. The only downside: this went fast. I couldn't even find the order link for it as of the posting of this review, which actually wasn't that late! Let's hope everyone who thinks this special edition guide sounds cool, was able to get one!

The Best "Special Character"...? Playstation gamers have Heihachi; GameCubists have Link; X-Boxers have Spawn...so; what's the best special character? Well, that's a tough call, really. Heihachi is cool if only because he fights without any weaponry; a cool added challenge that no other character offers. Link has not only a sword, but also a bow and arrow, leading to some cool long-distance attacks if you can keep an opponent at bay long enough. As for Spawn, well, he's Spawn! I'm sure people will write me with their favorite character but I'm just glad to be a game critic, with the chance to play them all! 

-----------------

Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

------------------

Soul Calibur 2

Click picture to order this game (Playstation-2)

A Techtite Review

Okay, so Techtite.com finally gets around to reviewing Soul Calibur 2. Should we even bother? I mean, this was the definitive game, for every current game system, in late summer. I doubt few people don't know the game I'm talking about, and fewer still haven't bought it already. However, for the interests of offering a link to this review, every time we mention this game for the next 5 years; this review is still important to post. Well, sort of. Just humor us.

What makes Soul Calibur 2 so impressive for Playstation owners is how Soul Calibur has, in a sense, finally come home. The original Soul Calibur game was actually titled Soul Blade, for the original PS-One. Then the game was upgraded for Sega Dreamcast, as one of its launch titles in 1999, with the title Soul Calibur. In a very real sense, this game is even more of a sequel for Playstation owners than any other system. Imagine all the Soul Blade gamers, finally getting to see these characters in a PS-2 game!

I think the opening intro is the first sign of a good fighting game. Did the game design team opt for a simple "demo mode" of a standard fight, did they have the characters walk down a street and chat, or better still, do they offer us a full motion video of these characters with classical music blaring in the background and showcasing why these characters are intended to be more than just polygons with three or more "special moves"...? The point I'm making is: this opening is everything you'd expect from a Namco fighting game. It's perfect!

The first thing you'll notice upon the "choose character" screen, is the wide variety of characters: 23 in all, ranging from human to half-human to monstrous imaginations. Among the newest is "Charade"; a sort of giant eye with mystical limbs which mimics the fighting styles of all human fighters. In addition is a monster as imagined by "Spawn" comic creator Todd Macfarlane, which is sort of like a reptilian creature with a jewel in its chest, which it can use to have mystical weaponry pop in and out of his hands at will, during a fight. As for human opponents: Sophitia is not joined by her kid sister, Cassandra. This is in addition to all the Soul Blade and Soul Calibur favorites, like the numchuck-wielding Maxi, the samurai Mitsurugi, the half-dead pirate Cervantes, and his daughter Ivy.

As for the game itself; I think what's really cool about Soul Calibur fighting games (this includes the original Blade, and the Dreamcast's Calibur 2) is how realistic the environments are. If you happen to be on any cliffside, a throw maneuver can lead to one or both of you falling right off the cliff! Fighting on a pier can lead to your opponent being thrown right in the brink. It's little pieces of reality in a fighting arena's environment that shows how accurate of a fighting sim the game designers intended to provide...so you can only imagine how intricate the "special maneuvers" of each character are. However, at no time did I consider such special maneuvers outright impossible to perform; many of them, in fact, are very impressive pieces of animation, yet only require a simple three or four key combination.

Now, call it an attempt at more money, or an attempt at individuality, but as you're already aware: Soul Calibur 2 is sold with one "unique" character on each system; a character most appropriate for that system's gaming style. For Sony Playstation, that character is Heihachi, the nefarious Big Bad of the Tekken game series (no surprise here: both game series are made by Namco). Some people have said he has no place in Soul Calibur because he's a hand-to-hand fighter, not a swordsman. To me, this actually makes him all the more intriguing; a karate mastermind who insists on using his hands as his only weapons, even against master swordsmen. Let's put it this way: my nephew is a diehard Tekken fan, and this was the first character he jumped to when playing this game. In fact, he jumped to this version of the game even though I had all three versions of the game to review for this web site. I'd say Heihachi is similarly popular among other Tekken fans, so adding him here is great.

The intriguing part of Soul Calibur is how it actually attempts to tell a story within its "arcade" mode. Each character has an adversary among the other possible characters; this being the second-last battle. They then proceed to the inevitable battle with the Soul Blade; a sword so powerful it's able to manifest itself in humanoid form and fight you for the right to wield it! After that there is a slide-show of sorts with classical score "victory music" in the background, completing the story for that character. I like any fighting game that attempts to make its characters into more than just fighting dolls; a fate that is hard to avoid in games. This is the sort of minor detail that makes the best fighting games shine.

Of course, the most fun element of any fighting game are the rewards for continuous play. Nearly all of these awards are within the game's "Edge Master" mode. This is basically a "map" of linked fights and arenas, telling the story of an ongoing quest. No, you don't have to play as each character and replay these quests over and over, and in fact, you can change your chosen character for this quest, any time you're on the map screen. In short, completing these quests earns you rewards, like new arenas to fight in, new characters, or if you have the money for the "weapon shop," new weapons for each character! You can even make additional purchases, like new modes of play (!), humorous weapons, and the option to see all the movie cinematics you've unlocked. Yes; it seems you'll be playing this game for a long time...presuming you hadn't known that already!

Not much else to say in a review that is, admittedly, about a month slow. You know it's a great game by now, you've probably bought it, so who am I to tell you what you already know? However, for those of you who don't already know about this game --both of you-- go out and get it now. It's one of the best fighting games ever made. 'nuf said!

---Techtite