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SoulCalibur II (Xbox)
| Overall Customer Rating: |  | | | | Graphics: | (Not Yet Rated) | | Sound: | (Not Yet Rated) | | GamePlay: | (Not Yet Rated) | | Addiction Level: | (Not Yet Rated) |
21 Customer Reviews
RRP: £19.99
Amazon Price: £16.99
You Save: £3 (15%)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Platform: Xbox
Publisher: Electronic Arts
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Editorial: 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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"A great fighting game" - 5 December 2003
I was a big fan of the original Soul Calibur and this game is a good step forward. It looks gorgeous and plays well. The additional game modes give it a bit of a longer life span. Sometimes it can feel like you're not totally in control of your character, but its still a lot better than all the other 3d fighting games out there
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"WOW!" - 31 August 2004
Simply put, this is amazing. Soul calibur 2 is the second best fighter ever, second only to the dreamcast prequel. In this game there are literally hundreds of things to do in this game, but the best thing is you have to work for them, complete arcade mode to unlock extra arcade ect. The weponmaster mode is best idea i've ever seen in a fighter, this see's you travelling the world undergoing challenges (only the enemy's weapon is visible for exaple) these get harder as you go along, if you have an anger problem LEAVE THIS GAME ALONE! Some of the challenges are unbeliveably hard. younger, less experienced players should also leave the xbox version well alone, and get the gamecube version, as the xbox version is harder (don't ask me why).If i had to find a problem with this game is that....erm...uh... its......hard? But arguably difficulty is an asset, (unless you can't stand losing). So i leave you with these 3 wise words: BUY! BUY! BUY!
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"Probably the best fighter of all time" - 28 September 2003
Soul Calibur 1 was outstanding and had never been beaten. Only this sequel could. Soul Calibur 2 improves the game graphically as well as in playability. Not so much of a game for sharing, the special modes are a lot more single player based than a multi-person effort like Soul Calibur 1. However, the wide range of new characters, weapons, outfits and levels make a class act of a game. This is also not a game for those who get frustrated easily, (myself included) but its a game you always go back to. If you like fighters you will like this, and anyone who thinks otherwise has seen white coats or should have
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"Great Game" - 3 January 2004
This game was not on my list to buy, but I saw it at a certain other shop in Brent Cross for only £20. Bargain, I thought and bought it. I was not dissapointed.
I'm not a big fan of beat em ups, in fact this game was the only beat em up I've played for over Half An Hour!
The main meat of the game lies in weapon master mode. Here, you complete lots of different levels with different rules (e.g. you can only see the lower half of your oponents body), and you unlock things by completing them. Once you have completed this mode, do it again and you will find there are lots of different missions to try.
The Characters you can play as are very original, have classic sayings, and have their very own style of playing. Some may be nimble and quick but only do a bit of damage when they hit, when some may be huge giants who are as slow as the London Underground, but have devastating attacks.
I can't usually do mind-blowing combo's, but this game makes it easy for Newbies and veterans alike.
So, it got 5 stars in XboxGamer, 9.1 in Official Xbox Magazine, you'd be a fool to miss it!
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"Best fighting game ever" - 24 August 2005
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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"Great Game" - 3 January 2004
This game was not on my list to buy, but I saw it at a certain other shop in Brent Cross for only £20. Bargain, I thought and bought it. I was not dissapointed.
I'm not a big fan of beat em ups, in fact this game was the only beat em up I've played for over Half An Hour!
The main meat of the game lies in weapon master mode. Here, you complete lots of different levels with different rules (e.g. you can only see the lower half of your oponents body), and you unlock things by completing them. Once you have completed this mode, do it again and you will find there are lots of different missions to try.
The Characters you can play as are very original, have classic sayings, and have their very own style of playing. Some may be nimble and quick but only do a bit of damage when they hit, when some may be huge giants who are as slow as the London Underground, but have devastating attacks.
I can't usually do mind-blowing combo's, but this game makes it easy for Newbies and veterans alike.
So, it got 5 stars in XboxGamer, 9.1 in Official Xbox Magazine, you'd be a fool to miss it!
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"A great fighting game" - 6 December 2003
I was a big fan of the original Soul Calibur and this game is a good step forward. It looks gorgeous and plays well. The additional game modes give it a bit of a longer life span. Sometimes it can feel like you're not totally in control of your character, but its still a lot better than all the other 3d fighting games out there
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"The best game I've played for a long time" - 25 November 2003
For me, finding a game that lasts for more then two days is a big problem. For example, I completed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for the PC in less than two days, as I did Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War, and Half-Life in three days. There's always the extra difficulty levels to play of course, as well as multiplayer in most cases, but they don't really offer the same amount of excitement as going through the game for the first time.I've never owned a beat-em-up game before, but having read a review which gave it five stars and played a demo on the Offical Xbox Magazine disk on Soul Calibur II, I decided that hitting people over the head with swords was too tempting. So I risked it and bought it online. I was impressed as soon as my Xbox started up, great intro sequence! Every good game needs one, anyway, after a few bouts of multiplayer with my brother (which is excellent) I started playing the Weapon Master Mode. By the fourth day, I realised that this game had lasted longer then any game I'd played for a long time. There are loads of extra characters, weapons, costumes, game modes, art galleries, film sequences, etc that can be unlocked, (about 86 of them, I believe) as well as thousands of special moves for each character, of whom no two are both the same. When I finally beat the evil flame monster on the final level, I thought "great, game over." Then I realised that there were loads of extra missions, and I've only just discovered hidden routes in Weapon Master Mode, where there are no doubt other things to unlock. The computer-controlled characters are challanging, especially on later difficulty levels and this encourages you to use Practice Mode more often to find out your character's strengths, weaknesses, special moves, and extra weapons. My button-bashing skills won't work here! The ability to but or earn weapons, then use then against human opponents, ensures many joyous evenings of multiplayer fun. If you have my problem, of never finding a game that lasts longer then 48 hours, buy this game! I planned to complete it as soon as possible so I could get back to coursework at school, a week later, and I've still only unlocked around half the secrets. There are still many secrets buried deep within this game that need discovering, the disk hasn't left my Xbox CD drive, and it's looking increasingly clear that it won't leave for a very long time. I don't know how this game compares with other beat-em-ups, but I haven't enjoyed a game as much as this for a long time, and I'm still being suprised at the depth of this game. I've managed to persuade myself that one sad day, this game will end, but when that happens, I'll delete the save from my Xbox and start all over again! Overall, an excellent use of £30.
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"***The Godfather of Soul***" - 18 September 2003
Having my chosen character suffer repeated beatings whilst I'm busy watching the scenery isn't perhaps the best way to fully appreciate "Soul Caliber 2"...but, you know, it took me quite some time to concentrate on actually putting up a fight.Openly applauding my human opponent for perfect execution of spine crunching finishing moves probably wasn't the best way to get into the whole spirit of the game...pausing mid-action and asking to be shown power combinations probably wasn't doing me any favours either. But, it can't be helped. The graphics power and frame-rate flow of the game (XBOX) leave you incapacitated in the finger area...and you look on helplessly as your poor character gets their jaw realigned...again! Meanwhile he/she is peering out at you...hoping that you'll perhaps actually aid them a little in escaping from the severe butt kicking they're currently enjoying. The finishing moves and fight combinations are devastating to watch and I couldn't help but praise my opponent and immediately enquire as to how I could "...do THAT!!" Soul Caliber 2 is, quite simply, one of those rare fighting games that demands complete attention. Anything less is merely wasted game time. It's not a "button masher", doing so will only get you so far. It needs effort, you have to learn the nuances of each character carefully and defending becomes almost as important as attacking. It may not have some of the originality of "Dead or Alive 3" or the continued pedigree of the "Tekken" or "Streetfighter" series...but it's as classy a sequel as we could have hoped for, and so much more. The 'platform specific' bonus characters are a nice touch if not, ultimately, a little underwhelming. If this doesn't give you "Nintendo Thumb", as it's known in medical circles...then nothing will. Just keep a plentiful supply of controllers handy...you'll be going through about one a week!
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"This is new......" - 24 November 2003
I normally don't like beat 'em up games. Not being a regular gamer I get frustrated when everyone else wipes the floor with me.Not this time!! Not only was this game simple enough that I could play straight away and be successful, but had enough depth to make me want to go back time after time to develop my skills further. I love the number of different characters and particularly the VS Team Battle feature giving you the option of battling with more than one character. I never thought I'd see the day that I went out to buy a game like this, but I'm hooked!! Well worth buying.
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