First there was Soul Edge (inexplicably re-titled Soul Blade for PS1) who had a number of unique concepts to fighting games, but ultimately came at a time when all 3D fighting games (and most 3D games) sucked and featured lousy control. Then came the game widely considered a flawless entry in the fighting game genre: Soul Edge's sequel under the name `Soul Calibur.'
So now we have Soul Edge part 3 or Soul Calibur II. Funky naming schemes aside, Soul Calibur looks better than Soul Calibur and feels about the same. I would probably bash Soul Calibur II for its extreme timidness to explore new areas; however, Soul Calibur found its way to one console: the DreamCast and I never got to enjoy the first Calibur game at home. So, I'm feeling a little forgiving.
The jump from Soul Edge to Soul Calibur was like going from one world to another--from crappy blocky 3D with piss poor control to an awesome and all around solid game. Calibur 1 to Calibur 2 is a babystep. Few all original characters (Raphael and Talim), a few Tekken 3-ish new characters (new characters who play like old characters: Cassandra, Cherade, Yansung), and the home version features an array of characters not in the arcade . . . most of which are throw-aways (Berzerker, Assassin, Necrid), but what the hay. Sueng Mina's back! Though PS2 got the short end of the stick as far as exclusive characters go. Xbox gets Spawn. GameCube gets Link. We get to play as Heihachi for the sixth time in a Namco fighting game.
Soul Calibur II (home) pushes the envelope for special features even though it does absolutely nothing for me. After exploring Weapon Master Mode you get an array of variations to the now typical Survival, Team Battle, and Practice modes. Typical things to unlock--more characters, artwork, character endings/profiles, etc, etc, etc. And, of course, there's Weapon Master Mode, itself, which for Soul Blade fans it's the same concept as Edge Master mode. It tells a story and explains the circumstance surrounding each battle, and even gives you annoying circumstances to attain victory (your enemy is vulnerable only for air combos, their life regenerates, beat all 7 on one life bar, you get the idea.) And as you progress, you gradually unlock more characters, stages, weapons, bonuses, etc.
And Namco gave us dungeons to explore . . . which was a shot in the arm. The dungeons sound cool and intriguing, but are really rather redundant not to mention monotonous (especially the all Berzerker/Lizardman dungeons) once you start playing them. I'd of liked to have seen more of a (can't believe I'm saying this) Tomb Raider / Tekken mode (a la Tekken 3) / Mortal Kombat: Mythologies approach to the dungeons than what we get: room by room, click the next room and fight, click and fight, click and fight.
I love Soul Calibur II as a fighting game. I really do like the fighting game aspect, but I'm disturbed by the trend in fighting games and the cheap tricks Namco is leading other fighting game makers into doing to increase replay value - making you play the game X amount of times in X different variations to acquire all the 'hidden' features of the game. It was cute and it was fun with Tekken 2, but in the madness to one up previous games it's starting to get ridiculous the amount of crap available and the things you have to do to get it. Were this any other game but Soul Calibur II, I'd jump ship and forget about the items that I've not yet acquired. But fortunately, SCII is an extremel solid game that is fun to play multiple times . . . but even for SCII Namco is pushing their luck and this fan's patience.
I used to be against codes and looked down upon them as cheater's tactics once upon a time, but I'm starting to miss them in this age of `beat my fighting games 300 times to get the cool features.' I don't have much of a life, but my time is a little more valuable than that.
Final comments: mediocre upgrade from SC1, but SC1 was an awesome game so SC2 is still good . . . just not a great 'sequel'. The fighting side of it is wonderful. The `extras' go a little overboard and come across as more annoying than imaginitive. But SC2 is probably the best fighting game available on all three consoles.
