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Soul Calibur II Sparks Subdued Joy 51

Posted by simoniker from the love-it-but-seen-it-before dept.
Thanks to GameSpy for their (similar, and in descending score order) Xbox, Gamecube, and PlayStation 2 reviews of the newly-released Soul Calibur II, plus a detailed Soul Calibur II: Pile-On! article, where-in "...a battle royale of GameSpy's biggest SCII fans pick apart a hit." Opinions? One editor suggests: "It's a fabulous game, but the original Soul Calibur wasn't just an excellent game: it started a new age for fighters. On the other hand, SCII - no matter how good it is - is just an incremental upgrade, a fairly routine fighter sequel."
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Soul Calibur II Sparks Subdued Joy More

Soul Calibur II Sparks Subdued Joy

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  • Someday... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @07:40AM (#6792655)
    Methinks it would be interesting if someday they made a variety of Soul Calibur II allowing you to pit the three "exclusive" characters against each other - it might make for a most interesting competition at a big gaming show, like E3.

  • Descending Score?! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PaleZer0 ( 632282 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @07:40AM (#6792657) Homepage
    Ya know I would start to believe that the X-Box title is a *little* better than the Gamecube title which is a *little* better than the PS2 title if they didn't rate EVERY multi platform game that way. Its almost like a rule because the games SHOULD look better on the X-Box.....

    • Re:Descending Score?! (Score:3, Informative)

      by Bagels ( 676159 )
      Penny-Arcade said that the Cube and XBox versions looked identical, though the XBox won out slightly in the sound department thanks to 5.1 surround (as opposed to Pro Logic II for the Cube); both versions looked and sounded better than the PS2 version, however.
      • It's interesting that they would say that, as the GameSpy article placed the GameCube closer to PS2 than XBox...

        XBox: 96
        GC: 94
        PS2: 93

        But of course, this is just bickering over little scores (1% here!). I'm just going to buy the one for my system, it can't really be THAT different.
        • RTFA! Spawn fits right into the game, while link (although a very exciting addition) and heiachi don't. Also, the GC's controller isnt good for fighting games (i would debate that, i think its just different -- not worse) it says it right there. "While Spawn was an unexpected choice, he fits into the world of Soul Calibur II pretty seamlessly. He's a lot of fun to play, too, as he's gifted with supernatural powers. Like GameCube's Link (and unlike PS2's Heihachi) the developers have taken an established c

          • Re:Compared to the scores... Ack.. Mozilla 1.3... (Score:4, Informative)

            by Recoil_42 ( 665710 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @09:59AM (#6793932) Homepage Journal
            damn thing never catches my linebreaks; i have to use HTML.... heres what i wrote with breaks, hopefully easier to read:



            RTFA! Spawn fits right into the game, while link (although a very exciting addition) and heiachi don't. Also, the GC's controller isnt good for fighting games (i would debate that, i think its just different -- not worse) it says it right there.

            "While Spawn was an unexpected choice, he fits into the world of Soul Calibur II pretty seamlessly. He's a lot of fun to play, too, as he's gifted with supernatural powers. Like GameCube's Link (and unlike PS2's Heihachi) the developers have taken an established character but made him their own, and consequently his presence enriches the game to an unexpected degree. The Xbox's Controller S is also pretty handy for SCII, so no complaints there. "


            "Heihachi is the weakest of the platform-specific characters by a long way. He just doesn't fit with the rest of the SC crew; even fellow Tekken alum Yoshimitsu has a sword. Worse, his stale punch-punch-punch combos stink of the inferior series he was dragged out of. He's an effective character, and the graphics team has gone a long way to presenting him as lavishly and seamlessly as can be in the world of SCII. He just isn't up to snuff, however. On the other hand, the Dual Shock is easily the best pad of the three for playing the game, which makes everyone control just a bit smoother."


            "Link is probably the most exciting of the platform-specific characters to most hardcore video game fans; everyone I know, just about, imported or preordered the GameCube version to get their hands on the little green elf. He turns out to be an excellent character in SCII although he doesn't quite fit into the mix visually. Namco has lovingly recreated all of his signature attacks, and created an effective and fun character that you can really get a lot out of. The GameCube's pad is a detriment to playing SCII -- while you can get used to it, it's extremely awkward. "

            Plus, the XBOX supports 720p, (the other consoles dont) which although most people wont benefit from, is still there and should get the marks.
            • It's still a 480p window within a 720p screen. Theres not point really because you're not gaining anything. And the comments about controllers is off, if you dont like a controller on a specific platform, you can use whatever other controller you want. You simply cannot rate controllers for a GAME .. I know people who use XBox controllers on their Gamecube, for instance. ($2 adaptor) .. And as far as the general concensous is concerned, Spawn is a terrible character in the SC2 universe. I dont know a single
      • The Gamespy articles mention that the XBox version supports a higher resolution (720p) and doesn't have occasional slow-downs that appear on the other two consoles (though most often on PS2, still rare). They also said that Link didn't really appear to fit into the SC universe as well as Spawn, and that Heihachi seemed out of place (without a weapon and using the usual Tekken combos).

        Granted, that's just what I read from the 3 articles. I was planning on getting the XBox version anyway, because of the 720p

        • Re:Descending Score?! (Score:1, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Having played both the XBOX and GCN imports (but not the PS2 one), I can say I enjoyed the GCN one more (especially playing Link), but can say that there's a slight graphical increase with the XBOX version.

          The main problem I have with SC2 on the XBOX is the controller, which isn't as "tight" as the other two tend to be with fighting games. Hopefully that new SC2 stick, which works on all three platforms, will make this comment null.

        • Re:Descending Score?! (Score:4, Informative)

          by mausmalone ( 594185 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @10:06AM (#6794039) Homepage Journal
          I was wondering why I thought the GCN version looked just as good as the X-Box... I'm neither crazy nor blind... I just don't have an HDTV. :P

          At any rate, I've played all 3... and I saw the PS2 version on an HD, and it was spectacular. The GCN version is definitely my favorite of the group, and it's all because of the controls. The PS2 analog is just in too awkward a spot for me, and the X-Box controls feel, I dunno,... loose I guess, the analog joystick doesn't seem to respond as well as I'd like. But, as I don't own an X-Box, my preference there is pretty mute. Other than the controllers themselves, the 3 versions are practically indistinguishable.

  • Buy Buy BUY (Score:2, Interesting)

    by aweraw ( 557447 )
    I'm getting this no matter what any reviews say about it... firstly because Soul Calibur was so awesome, secondly because of Link... oh.. and the arcade stick peripheral... mmmm :)

  • It's a great fighter but... (Score:5, Informative)

    by analog_line ( 465182 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @07:59AM (#6792757)
    ...frankly, it's not that much better than the first. New characters, yes, but the textures, at least on the Xbox version (which is the only one I've seen, as it's the one my local game store has the demo for) on the characters are really really flat. The models themselves are smooth, and move just as gracefully as ever, but they look like they're molded out of liquid plastic. Hard to explain, but it feels like they either tried to make it "cooler looking" either out of overzealousness or intentionally. The change is simmilar to the change in the models between Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 4.

    It plays EXACTLY the same as SoulCalibur, which again isn't a bad thing, because SoulCalibur is the best fighting game ever, IMHO. I don't blame them for not messing with a proven formula, but I vainly hoped that Namco would switch things up a bit like they did with Tekken 4's gameplay (which is my favorite of the series, by far the most balanced Tekken game yet).

    All in all, I'm certainly going to be buying it, but it's not something I simply must have now now please now gimme now. F-Zero GX on the other hand...

    *watches phone waiting for the game store to call about my preorder*

    • It plays EXACTLY the same as SoulCalibur, which again isn't a bad thing, because SoulCalibur is the best fighting game ever, IMHO.

      Ah, see, here's the kicker. I've played Soul Edge (Soul Blade) and I thought it was one of the best fighting games ever. But I haven't been to an arcade in years, and I don't have a dreamcast, so I've never even seen Soul Calibur (the first one). I wouldn't know the difference if the game they've released for the PS2 was Soul Calibur!

      • I think the funniest part about all of this fuss is that SC2 has been in the arcades for quite some time, so they at least had a good idea of how the game would play and look if they did a perfect port of it. Sure, there's the single player element to look at, and the additions made for the consoles, but overall they should've known what they were getting if they had taken the chance to look. Of course, the last time I saw an SC2 cabinet was over a year and a half ago, but that's mostly because I haven't be

  • PC? PC? PC? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by shaka999 ( 335100 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @08:08AM (#6792827)
    So where are the fighting games for a PC? If you port to the xbox why not take the next step?

    Personally I don't own a console. I can't really justify it but I would be willing to purchase a figting game for the PC now and then.

    The old excuse was lack of a controller but there are plenty of good ones on the market these days.

    • Re:PC? PC? PC? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Dot.Com.CEO ( 624226 ) *
      The problem, I think, is exactly that there are plenty of good controllers in the market and not one "standard". How many buttons does a "standard" joypad have on the PC? Hell, how many analog sticks, if any?

      Direct X has standardised the drivers, so you can plug a joypad and play but there is no guarantee that the developers of the game took the time to see that the game would be enjoyable using the controller of your choice. I can especially see why fighting games would be a greater problem than most othe

      • Actually the PC gamepads have always fallen in line with the console standards. If you look back when the SNES was king, Gamepads for the PC generally had the same amount of buttons as a SNES gamepad (been so long can't even remember how many that was).

        Now, most gamepads have two analog sticks, a directional pad, and 8-12 buttons (depending on extra features).

    • Street Fighter II came out on PC many christmases ago. It came with a Gravis Gamepad and ran great on my 486DX33. I remember Mortal Kombat being for sale at the same time.

      Sega released Virtua Fighter, and GTE relased FX fighter that was a pretty neat game.

      There really aren't many, the PC was never a good platform for 2 player simultaneous play (on the same machine) like a console or coin-op.
    • The closest thing to a fighting game coming out in the near future is probably One Must Fall: Battlegrounds [gamespy.com]. It's a 3D brawler based on the old concept of big, smashy robots. Way back in the day (1994) they had a 2D fighting fighting game, which was rollicking good fun.

      Don't forget that Bikini Karate Babes [bikinikaratebabes.com] came out last year.

    • Re:PC? PC? PC? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @09:28AM (#6793497) Homepage
      So where are the fighting games for a PC? If you port to the xbox why not take the next step?

      The PC just isn't designed for multiplayer in the same way consoles are. PC's still have the edge in graphics, networking, and configurability, but they're very much oriented toward one person per unit -- single keyboard, single mouse, single screen, single seat.

      Consoles, on the other hand, are oriented toward multiple people sitting down and playing on the same unit. They've made some advancements toward network gaming, but they're still nowhere close to PCs. And their graphics are still way behind (yes, they are... remember that most games are still interlaced, so you have an effective resolution of ~250 lines, versus 768 (1024x768) - 1200 (1600x1200) lines on a PC. The consoles often can't drive progressive games because of insufficient CPU power; even SC2 on the most powerful platform has a max resolution of 1920x540 (1080i, 16:9) or 960x720 (720p, 4:3)).

      Yeah, porting to the Xbox is a step, but it's a pretty far leap from porting to the PC. It's probably a good bit easier to write for the PC and port to the Xbox -- you're going from a wildly uncontrolled environment (3-5 variations of OS, a couple dozen graphics cards, and god knows how many peripherals/motherboards) to a very controlled one. Reversing that port is doable, but it can take a lot of time and code rewriting to avoid special cases. And while you know that they should play with a controller, you'd better support other inputs as well. Fun.

      I just bought a PS2 a week ago... it's pretty fun. Most of the games have no overlap with the PC, and I'll probably not buy games (in the future) that do overlap. And while I still love playing BF1942 on my PC, and am looking forward to HL2 and D3, being able to pop in Tekken4, Crash Bandicoot, GTA (came with the PS2), or a few other games and just play them is refreshingly simple.

      • Re:PC? PC? PC? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @11:00AM (#6794747) Homepage
        I used to be a huge PC gamer. I thought it kicked butt over all of the consoles. 1200X1600! How can a console compare?!

        Then I got an Xbox, and I haven't even considered playing games on the PC since then.

        It is a totally different way to play, and on many game genres, it is hugely better. Fighting games fall into that category.

        As someone else mentioned, playing against your friends is 10* easier on a console. Plus, the controllers are much better on the console (for this type of game). Yes, you can get gamepads on the PC (I have one) but they are not nearly as good as a console controller. Also, how many people actually own decent gamepads for the PC?

        It would be a nightmare to sell the game on a PC, and you have thousands of kids bummed out because they don't have a gamepad, and controlling a fighting game on the keyboard is nearly impossible.

        On the other hand, most RTS games would not work on a console. I can't imagine how a game like 'Rise of Nations' would work. Or, if you would even want it to.

        The difference in games can be correlated to your seating style while playing. I play my console while sitting on the couch, leaned back (usually..unless the Covenant is coming on really strong, and I'm nearly out of ammo- then I have to lean forward) while PC games are played in an upright, or forward leaning position. More thinking can be done that way. Fighting games aren't usually 'thinking' games.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • 480p is still only 640x480 (4:3) or 853x480 (16:9). That's utterly trivial on a modern PC.

          Oh, and I have a 46" DLP RPTV with a 1280x720 native resolution. If I so wish I can hook my PC up to it via VGA or DVI and get a far better display than what you're likely to get out of Xbox (esp. since most Xbox games that even do 720p only do it at 4:3 due to lack of CPU/GPU power).

          If you're serious about playing games on your TV, console or PC, then I suggest reading AVS Forum [avsforum.com]'s Home Theater Gaming forum. Useful i
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • Er.. how is it more cumbersome? You use a RF keyboard and mouse and now you're 6-10' away as well. The connections are no more complex than Xbox -- take the VGA output and plug it into the VGA input (or DVI on both ends, preferred if you have a digital TV), ditto for the digital audio cable (coax/toslink). Moving it? Why? It's a HTPC. Do you move your receiver that often? It's just another HT component.

              Now what is cumbersome, no doubt, is getting everything to place nice. PCs just take more time to configu
              • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                • HTPC -- Home Theater PC. A PC designed specifically for use in the home theater. Generally means quieter components, a high end video and audio card with appropriate outputs, and can be used for a variety of things (DVD playback (which is unsurpassed in video quality, period), gaming, MP3 playback, video recording, video playback, web surfing, etc). Often also has things like IR remote pickup, wireless keyboard/mouse, etc. This is all off the shelf components, nothing custom made. You just have to know what
    • Why put the work into it? There is so much to take into consideration with your computer.

      For example: Do you have this specific Nvidia card in it? If so, you may experience major graphic glitches during gameplay. Our engineers expect to have a patch out next week.

      Add on top of that: Is your processor fast enough? Do you have enough RAM? Did you build it, or is it off-the-shelf? Etc., etc., etc.

      It's too much work for the vast majority of game companies to develop for the PC when they can simply de

    • I think its just that arcade fighters don't sell as well on PCs compared to other types of games. Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage, Virtua Fighter, they all came out for the PC, but I'm sure their sales numbers were nothing compared to how those games did on consoles, or to how FPS or RTS games did on PCs. There is no controller issue, its more what PC gamers buy.

  • Jaded reviewers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pommaq ( 527441 ) <straffaren.spray@se> on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @08:37AM (#6793051) Homepage
    That pile-on thing was a load of crap, Fargo was the only one to get it right. They're sort of blasting the game - not because it's bad, they all said it was super - but because they expected it to "revolutionize the genre". Uh-huh.

    I seem to recall an earlier Slashdot article (from yesterday?) discussing whether people want original games or not. Well, this is a prime example of a sequel that does absolutely everything right. It keeps the controls and the feeling that worked so beautifully in its predecessor, spices up the graphics, adds new characters and new playmodes and a ton of unlockable goodies (oodles of weapons, kata theater, concept art gallery, new costumes, etc etc). This is a must-have game, beyond excellent... and still it catches flak because "um, you know, it didn't radically change the way we view fighting games". Feh. I don't WANT Namco to change Soul Calibur. Yeah, I want them to sharpen it, refine it, make it better... but keep the meat, the stuff that makes it legendary. Which is exactly what they have done.

    Anyway; I imported the Japanese SC2 for my cube several months ago, and I can only say buy this game now, whichever platform you're on. I fired up the old SC next to it, just to check the difference... and no matter what the cracksmokers at GameSpy have to say, it's a HUGE upgrade. It's the best fighter available, and I have a feeling it will stay that way until the next iteration (at which point the GameSpy editors will yammer about how SC3 STILL won't brew coffee for them).
  • .::: EDGE magazine (UK) is also very strict on 'revolution' within games. They still awarded SCII with a 9.
    Also interesting tidbit; they thought the GC controller was most suitable, followed by the Dual Shock 2/Controller S and the original Xbox controller coming in last.

    • Re:EDGE score and controllers (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Moonshadow ( 84117 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @11:59AM (#6795486)
      I actually have to agree with the controller thing. I've played the demo on all three consoles (fanboy? Me? Naaaah...) and I've found I like the Gamecube controller best, despite my rather oversized hands. The PS2's 4-button layout is similar to the DC's, which makes the transition easy, but I was having serious problems with the 8-way run on the PS2 - the analog stick seemed to always be "walk", despite double-tapping, and the plus pad seemed to be "run". Perhaps it's just that I'm not used to it, but that departure made it fairly difficult to adjust to. The XBox controller was just a little unwieldy for a fighter - it didn't seem quite right. The GC controller, while layed out differently than the DC, was actually easy to get used to. The A, Y and Y buttons function as horizontal and vertical attack, respectively, with the X as kick, and B and R as block. The addition of R as block was very welcome, as it makes it possible to do both types of throws relatively easy, as opposed to the block/vertical awkwardness of the DC version.

      I do expect, though, that if you are comfortable with a given controller, you won't have a problem with the controls. The Soul Calibur games are hardly known for their clunky controls. :)

      I'm picking my order up today.

  • Shameless promotion (Score:4, Informative)

    by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @01:19PM (#6796435)
    For anyone who's looking forward to Spawn in Soul Caliber II on the XBox, or who is disapointed that Spawn isn't on the version they got, he's got his own game [ign.com] coming out soon. And unlike previous versions this one doesn't totally suck :) Since both Soul Caliber II and Spawn are being produced by Namco, the Soul Caliber II team helped out with the play mechanics some.
  • I ver played all 3 versions at least a little bit, and honestly they are all pretty solid, the cube and x-box versions were neck and neck graphicly, and the PS2 version trailed a little bit in that respect but I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed.

    For me, the choice came down to the bonus character I wanted, and I choose Link. Spawn I could care less about only if it were possible to medically remove my ability to care, and Heihachi or whatever his name is seemed cool, but not as cool as our P

  • I could be wrong about scores. . . (Score:3, Insightful)

    by M3wThr33 ( 310489 ) on Tuesday August 26, 2003 @03:10PM (#6797895) Homepage
    But aren't the scores representative of the other games on that specific console? Meaning a 96 on the XBox one means of all the XBox games, it's in the top 4% of the good games? Comparing the same game three different times, seperated only by HDTV support and minor slowdown, with the PS2 ranking lowest means there's more quality titles on the PS2, then. Right? Or is the slowdown that bad?
  • The fine folks at Gamespy seem to have forgotten the fundamental principle of game reviews:

    Link always wins.
  • From what I've read so far (and besides the characters thing), the controller has been a major differentiation point for this game. Most people made a point of the the PS2 controller being more suitable for this type of game (some exceptions have said that the GC controller also feels good).

    I think there might be an opportunity here..since accessories are a major profit item for manufacturers, there could be 2 pad versions, the traditional (general purpose) and the fighting pad (And leave the 3rd catego

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