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Amazing gameplay and graphics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 20
Date: September 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

While Soul Caliber II is great on all platforms, the special character and controller layout really make the XBox version the best of the bunch.

"Soul Caliber II", for the Gamecube, Xbox, and Playstation 2, is a weapon-based fighting game. It is the sequel to Soul Caliber for the Sega Dreamcast. It has beautiful graphics, a comprehensive storyline, and some great moves.

The basic story of the game is that there is this evil sword, called Soul Edge. Many want the sword for its great power. It is said to be, in fact, the most powerful sword in the world. However, most people don't know that it is evil, and so many pursue it. The current wielder of it is a mysterious black-armored knight named Nightmare. He was once a bandit, leader of a group called Der Schwarzwind (The Black Wind). He found Soul Edge, but gradually it took over his body. In the last game, Soul Edge was shattered by its opposite, the spirit sword Soul Caliber. However, the broken fragments of the sword have shown up in many places. Some seek to destroy the pieces to prevent the sword from regaining its evil power. Some want it to use to destroy their enemies. Some want it for the power it brings. However, everybody wants it, and most have no quarrel with destroying everyone in their way to get it.

There is a huge selection of characters, with six secret characters adding to the lineup. They vary from a Japanese swordsman to a village mystic to a female ninja demon hunter to a diabolical golem to an undead tomb guardian. There are also a great variety of stages, including a windmill in a mountainous village, an abandoned yet well-preserved Japanese castle, and a lakeside garden. Most of these places have at least one place where a fighter can be knocked out of the ring (except for the cage matches), so knocking someone out or tossing them out is a vital strategy for winning.

The modes of play that you can do include arcade mode, in which you fight several random enemies and one character-based enemy in order to accomplish your character's goal, Weapon Master Mode, in which you can earn gold to buy extra weapons, costumes, and artwork, to various time attack modes and "see how long you can survive" modes. Besides the normal modes, you can also get "Extra" modes, which allow you to use the weapons you buy in Weapon Master mode. The weapons can give that little boost needed for victory. Most weapons have a pro and a con, like a staff that has good offense and recovers health, but has poor defense. The higher the cost of the weapon, the better it is. Some weapons have no flaws, like the katana Masamune, which has good offense and defense, with no downside.

The in-combat gameplay is good. There are a number of actions, like Guard Impacts (which reverse or trip an enemy's attack), to prevent button mashing. This game is responsible for the most fulfilling fighting round in any fighting game I've ever played. My character was Mitsurugi, the Japanese swordsman, and my opponent was Raphael, the fencer. In most games, the victor would basically be whoever bashed most first. However, in this game, I actually had to think about it. There was thrusting, parrying, slashing, and basically everything that makes a game seem realistic and not just a "bash, mash, smash" game. The other moves that can be done range from ninja teleportation to awesome throws.

The main reason to buy certain console versions of this game is the "guest character" on each one: Link for the Gamecube, Spawn for the Xbox, and Tekken's Heihachi (who uses, well, gloves as his weapon). Also in the game is a character not seen in the video arcade games: Necrid, a special character designed by Spawn's owner, Todd McFarlane (which is why Spawn is the Xbox's guest character and why McFarlane toys manufactures the action figures).

As for being "kid-friendly", there is no blood, as hits make strange glowing/electrical red spots (but not cuts or slashes). There is some minor swearing (from characters that don't take losing well) and there is some "female character bounciness" and skimpy costumes, though each character has at least two costumes, and the alternate costumes on the skimpy characters are usually less bouncy and revealing.

This is a very good, fun, and attention-holding fighting game, with only a few clipping errors (objects accidentally going through other objects). It gets a 10/10.

So close to perfect

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: August 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Im a huge soul edge(caliber) fan. Bought this friday at 10 am, and just stopped playing. And boy my xbox is tired.

The good points first: DOA3esq graffix and character animation. Still the best fighting game Of All Time. Controlls are 10 times better than doa3. Namco didn't screw with it. Spawn, and the first good game he's been in. Lots of new moves. And Lots to do in new modes.

The bad points: Ivy, Cervantes, and Raphael are just plain cheap! Ivy was WAY out of wack in caliber 1, and should have been toned down a little, instead she's supped up and a little beefier. In ultra imposible mode the computer just blocks everything and since weapons don't break i call that poor designer cheating. There are no atmosphearic effects at all. The story line has desintegrated into streetfighter nothingness.

The curious: Why is voldo a centeral character to the whole story not in the opening sequence? And lastly there are a bunch of strange moves that YOU can't actually do, but the computer throws them in for effect.

If you like fighting games, this is a must have. If you own an xbox this a must have. If you are breathing this is a must have.

As good as the original? No. Better.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: September 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I recently was able to play through the first Soul Calibur on DC, and I loved every minute of it. It was a fantastic fighting game on every level, and deserves all the praise it gets. Now with the sequel, it has a lot to live up to. A lot of people seem to prefer the first over this, and I can see why they would, because SC2 adds and takes away a few things that made the first so balanced. But SC2 is still great. Personally, I do like it better than the first, and I played that thing to the point where the disc wore out in some places. But I won't constantly compare the two in this review, just the areas that concerned me a little.

As a fighter, Soul Calibur is simple. You have two weapon attacks- vertical and horizontal, a kick, and a block. You can also access the Soul Charge to power/speed up depending on your weapon. But there are tons of combos. Literally hundreds for each character, and there's even more for those with more complicated weapons (Ivy in particular). You won't really need to go into the training mode in order to get the hang of things, but it's prefered if you didn't play the first SC. Luckily for those that aren't that into fighting games or have short attention spans, you can access the moves list when you pause the game. And what's even nicer, is that on the Xbox, the black button acts as a shortcut for pressing two attack buttons at once. This makes some moves a lot easier to pull off and be cheaper. Just try Mitsurugi's black button attack and that'll get you through a ton of jams. Throwing is easily pulled off by pressing the vertical or horizontal attack and the block button at the same time. What's really cool is that you have 8 different throws. 4 for each type (horizontal and vertical)- you can throw from behind, front, left or right side. And they all look different and do different damage. I'm partial to Kilik's horizontal throw from behind. That always looks and sounds the coolest.

SC2 has tons of different gameplay modes. Even now, I'm still going through all of them in order to get the most out of the game. The first is Arcade mode, which is the basic one we get in all fighting games. Pick a fighter, go through a few matches, beat the game, go through with another character. It isn't exactly challenging (unless you up the difficulty of course), but it's fun. I liked the little cutscenes when you fight someone your character has a problem with. Maxi and Astaroth have their showdown, Ivy and Cervantes reveal something, and more. The story isn't that great though, they only have a select few actual story elements from the previous games that are legit. Some things just feel thrown in for the sake of giving everyone their showdown. Once you beat the game in arcade mode with x fighter, you'll open their profile. Then there are team battle, survival and time attack modes. They're a lot like DoA3's only with SC2's touch. As you progress through Weapon Master mode, you can unlock Extra modes of those 3. This lets you go through them using weapons and costumes you've purchased in Weapon Master mode. WM mode is where all of the depth and replay in SC2 is. Selecting any character, you perform various feats and take on tasks in order to get more gold and experience to boost your fighter. Gold you earned goes to the different weapons, costumes and other extras (art and weapon galleries). Luckily, all the weapons are different, and not just different looking like they were in SC. Some weapons have better reach than others, some recover your fighter as they attack, some have shorter reach but great blocking ability, and some are incredibly fast when you Soul Charge. To describe WM mode in detail would take forever, so I'll just let you know that you'll be dealing with it for hours. I think my game time was around 15 hours by the time I was finished with it. That's a lot more than I've put into any fighting game. Also, you can unlock a few extra characters here. And for the last time- you CAN'T use Lizardman, Berserker and Assassin in the Arcade or WM mode. They were thrown in at the very last minute, and don't have their own endings or anything. They're just here for the extra modes that don't reward you.

Of course, the graphics are stunning and nothing short of what I'd expect on the Xbox. No slowdown, no jaggies, just crisp and beautiful visuals. Characters move with fluid animations and don't do magical feats like bending in ways real human beings wouldn't. There's more realism here than we get in other fighting series. Well, if you forget about a few weapons doing just slivers of damage that is. Speaking of realism, they threw that out the door for Taki. You'll see what I mean when you beat the game with her, go to her profile and hit the left and right triggers. Pure guilty pleasure. Anyway, so much goes on screen at once that you'll probably go through the game just to see the environments and little details. Minor details like the energy in Necrid's weapon moving around always get me. There are a few little things that were neglected though. When playing as Mitsurugi with his armor on, I noticed that his elbow constantly went through his arm pads. The same goes for his sword when he rests it on his shoulder. The sword would sink through and just rest on his actual shoulder and not the armor on top of it. It's not a big deal, but with the attention they gave everything else, this was a little disappointing. To be blunt, the game's gorgeous. And this is just playing it on a standard tv. If you have a high definition widescreen, you'll probably have a heart attack over how perfect it looks. Especially that CG opening.

The developers really did a good job improving the sound here. Remember the fuzzy voices in SC2? They're all gone here. The announcer talks clearly, the characters don't sound too close or too distant. Everything's cleaned up. Yes, the voices are all in english, but does that make the game bad? It shouldn't unless you're one of those silly fanboys that must have everything in Japanese in order for it to be good. Personally, I like a lot of the english voices much better than the originals. Mitsurugi sounds tougher, Spawn has tons of character for being so dark, Ivy doesn't have an annoying squeal when she laughs, and Yoshimitsu is absolutely perfect. He was good in SC, but here in english, he sounds like someone who belongs in a high budget animated movie. But if you still insist, you can change the language to Japanese in the options on the menu. The music also sounds better, and a lot of the tracks get stuck in your head. It's not upbeat like say DoA3's, but more classy and dramatic. Sadly, the weapon sound effects just don't do it for me. They don't sound painful like they did in SC, and some of the more deadly weapons make a *thud* when you make contact. For the first hour of playing, I didn't know if I actually connected or if they blocked my attack unless I looked at their health bar. Luckily the weapons you get in WM mode make better sounds (Kilik's bamboo staff sounds so cool). No real gripes here.

All in all, SC2 is a great buy. Even more at the Platinum Hits price. If there was any one fighting game you need on the Xbox, this would be it. It looks great, plays great, sounds great, and the replay's there. You couldn't possibly ask for more. Well, except an online mode, but since I don't do that, I don't care. If you didn't play SC, then you'll enjoy every bit of Soul Calibur 2 and not look at the minor things that I did. You will have a higher standard for fighting games after playing this lil' number. Thanks for making fantastic fighting games Namco.

Simply the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Soul Calibur 2 is the best fighting game ever in this reviewer's opinion. Great graphics, interesting characters, awesome gameplay. It doesn't get any better than this. The weapons-focused combat is also an absolute plus for me.

Pros:
-Some of the best graphics out there.
-Sound is unparralelled. Necrid especially can realy rumble the subwoofers if you have any decent surround sound setup.
-Controls are easy enough that new players and button-mashers can latch on instatly, while still offering tons of depth for experienced players.
-Tons of unlockables reward you for playing the singleplayer mode, which is fun and worthwhile in itself. Yes, you "buy" most every unlockable in the game- but trust me, the system works.
-Lots of stages and unlockable costumes/items/stages/etc make multiplayer an absolute blast.
-XBox gets a unique custom character, Todd McFarlane's spawn. With an axe, fireballs, and levitation moves, spawn brings a new twist to Soul Calibur (while remaining a surprisingly balanced characer)
-Everything has a counter. The game featues tons of options for sidestepping or blocking or counter-attacking. There is no "one attack" that can win a game. But, every character does have a core set of good moves- meaning everything is balanced and both offensive and defensive tactics are perfectly valid in this game.

Cons:
-The controls are a little too forgiving for beginners. Some players wind up claiming you can get through the whole game just mashing buttons. And you can, but see my note at the end.
-Only one "unique" character per system. XBox got Spawn, and Spawn rules, but if you want Link or Heihachi you'll have to check out another version.
-Fans of hand-to-hand combat and "Tag" style multiplayer need not apply. Soul Calibur has tons of modes, just not these modes.

Note on button-mashing: Although you can certainly do fairly well, I can personally attest to the fact that someone who masters the controls really has an authorative edge. When my button-mashing fiancee (who could beat quite a few of her friends) told me I wasn't allowed to take it easy on her, I beat her something like 20-0, and did it "playing fair" and choosing random characters. So yes, button-mashers can fair well but they can't hold a candle to someone who bothers to really learn the control system.

If you're looking for "that one fighting game" you can play, this is it. The graphics, the gameplay... it's just good. Did I mention there's a decent story line behind it all? SC2 is worth what you pay and tons more- I can't reccomend it enough.

Best Fighting Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is the best fighting game EVER! there is a great variety of characters, and it is really cool the way you unlock the arenas and characters. The only bad thing about it is that the character's lines/taunts are REALLY CHEEZY

Less gore than Mortal Kombat, but better than Tekken, balance

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is the best fighting game on any console.Period. Although some parents will say that it's too gory and will cause youths to go crazy and massacre people, and that TV will start wars, and if you read Harry Potter you are going against God, and that we should just listen to the government and do what other people say. Well,(most) of that is not true. But TV can start wars, if you watch Videodrome:)Anyway, this game is great. While i can't find a storyline, who cares? This game is about schooling your friends, beating random strangers on Xbox Live, and taking names. It's also got a treasure trove of unlockables, including weapons, alternate skins, two hidden characters, Spawn, (yes, that Spawn) new arenas, special multiplayer modes, and a partridge in a pear tree:)The fighting is weapon-based, making it less brutal then mortal kombat, but more so than tekken, so i guess balance is a good thing. Plus, it is pretty cheap, about 20.00 bucks on amazon, and a platinum hit edition you can find at target. My friend says that there is an unrated edition on ebay, but he also thinks he's General Macarthur re-incarnated, so i don't know.Anyway, it's a very fun game, go buy it. Now.

Freaking cool!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome. If you are any kind of fan of fighting games from avid to beginner you will love this game. While most fighting games only give you half a game this has it all. Great graphics, as good as dead or alive series, the movements and character detail are exceptional. There is nothing like the feeling when you pull a really cool combo and then see yourself standing there looking like the victor. Also the stages are very well done but dont draw the attention away from the fight. Then there is the rest of the game. As most fighting games have an arcade, time attack, survival, and some versus battling this one does also. Though that is only the basics then there is the weapon master mode. This is like a storyline to follow by going to different stages and battling. To keep it even more challenging it gives you handicap games like when you are poisoned or your opponent has a team and such. It is very fun and challenging. It gives you enough to play for months of replay. I found that once i went through the game I just went back to try and unlock all the extras. And are there extras. With weapons out the wazoo for all the characters. Also many new characters and some from the first game. Including spawn who is extremely cool with his axes and saying "your pissing me off" after every battle. Still there are more extras. with art gallerys and demo battles which show the glamor and the sensuality of the game which is in very good taste. This is a must buy that will remain next to your x-box for a while.

SOUL CALIBUR 2, REVIEW NUMBER 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I wrote a review on november 9th, 2002 after I had played it for the first time at a friends house. But, for some reason beyond me, only bought the game very recently. I wish I was still punching myself for not buying it sooner. I had'nt reallised all the other stuff! You know, that review was only from playing multiplayer at a friends house, and I still said it deserved a ten, rather then the 5 star max that the site offers, wich onestly, dose'nt suit the games buffness.

It's the only fighting game I own, but it's buffness has spurred me to try others, like MK, or DOA, or esspecialy, Tekken seeing as how it was made by namco, the creater of soul calibur. At first, there was only one reason I wanted to get it. Ivy. Christmas on a cracker is she hot! And it was'nt just her, pretty much every woman in sc2 is hot, Talim, Seung Mina, you name it, there hot.

I would recomend Ivy as a starting character as well. She's got a nice flow, good attack, and very powerfull, but easy to learn combos. I would have to recomend Talim for weapon master though. She's got a very fast attack wich can get you out of a pickle with alot of tough bosses. And for multiplayer, xiaun ghua, god, I hope I selled that right. All you have to do is get close, and just constantly, do a barrage of kick, vertical, and horrizontle attack in no purticular order, and your friends will be flailing there controllers down to the floor, screaming in frustation.

And going back to weapon master, its what makes this game grate. Giving it a story line, leaning flavor to when your trying to finsh it at 2 o'clock in the morning, and, as the name of mode might suggest, unlocking weapons for your character. Also, weapon master is the only way you can unlock new characters. Not that thats a bad thing. Also, if your having trouble with an inperticular character, play weapon master with them. It will get you well atunned to them.

Overall, sc2 should be a part of any xbox collection. But don't let that disgurish you from buying it if you have a ps2 or gamecube, im shure it's great on those systems too.

It's good.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

By far the best fighter available for X-Box, tons of play time and lots of things to unlock, it's playable for a long time. Definitely a must buy.

The best next gen fighting game, and the best version of SC2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Soul Calibur II is awesome. It is the best next gen fighting game to date. Yes, its even better than Dead or Alive 3. The fighting system is very fun and it is also pretty deep. There are good combos. You can also do well with button mashing though... Their is a great amout of cool charectors, and there are also many awesome weapons. My favorite part of the game is the 'Weapon master' mode where you do goals. I have completed that. It was very addictive even though that mode could get a little repetetive at times. Soul Calibur II is also a great multiplayer game. You can probably play it for a few hours if you want to on multiplayer. This is also a pretty good looking game, and athough not the best looking Xbox game ever, its pretty darn good. The sound affects are good and so is the music. Go on and purchase this excellent game. There is tons of replay value too! Oh and it is the best version of Soul Calibur II out of the three console versions. The Xbox version has the best graphics, sound, control(the PS2 control is also very good too but I prefer the Xbox controller) and there is also a exclusive Xbox charector (Spawn).

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