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Editorials   Soul Calibur 2 GameCube Impressions
- By Lander Clinton

My friend imported the Japanese Soul Calibur 2 for GameCube so I was able to play it on Saturday.

After booting up the GameCube with the Freeloader so it would play non-American games, he put in SC2. The game's intro is a lot better than it's predecessor's, but not nearly as cool as the original Soul Blade/Edge intro movie.

Now for the game. I checked the controls and found that they were mostly the same as the last game's. The default controls are A for horizontal attack, Y for vertical attack, X for kick, and B for block. L and R also block, so it felt right after using R to block in Wind Waker. Using the shoulder buttons to block also helps in doing combos that require pressing block and another button, something that's very difficult when using B to block. The C-stick can be pressed in 4 directions for different combos just like in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Soul Calibur on Dreamcast still looks great, and I didn't think the arcade SC2 looked much better, so I was wondering what Namco would do with the GameCube. Most of the visual improvements are in the backgrounds. One level had light coming in through windows and you could see it hitting dust particles in the air. However, should you stop to look at the pretty dust you'll get a boomerang in your face.

So how does Link fare in a full-on fighting game? He's one of the better characters. I usually don't play as the huge hulking guys who are strong but can barely walk. I like the speedy characters, even if they do less damage. Link is fast AND strong, so he's always a good choice, plus his jump-and-downward-thrust from Zelda 2 is much more useful than Yoshimitsu's same move. Link eventually stops instead of becoming an easy target like Yoshimitsu. It wouldn't be fun to play as Link all the time though, so you need to master other characters.

If you're good at Soul Calibur, most of your work is done for you with the other characters. My friend had already uncovered all the question marks in the character line-up- there are at least three other characters you can play as in the Quest mode, but so far he doesn't know if you can be them in Versus mode. Talim and Raphael are the two besides Link that have a new style of fighting, but the few other new characters are just based on old ones, and the old ones haven't learned very many new moves. It makes sense that a real person wouldn't completely change their way of fighting in four years, but Namco should've put more effort into making SC2 worth playing for Soul fans. If you've played through the last one you won't find much to learn in its sequel. There are plenty of challenges in the Quest mode, but most aren't too difficult. If you want to be cheap you can often just throw your opponent out of the ring.

Like the last game there are hundreds of things to buy with points you get in the Quest mode. You can buy character art, other outfits, other weapons for characters, the list goes on.
LINK SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Highlight to read.
Link has red, blue, purple, and maybe other tunics he can wear. He can also get the Hyrule shield, two mirror shields, several wooden shields, different master swords as they've appeared in different Zelda games, a "magical" sword that's much longer than his regular ones, the cane and butterfly net from A Link to the Past, the hammer from Ocarina of Time, and perhaps more.

There's just so much to unlock in the game for each character that it gives you a reason to play when no one else is there to play against.

As of right now I don't know if I'd buy SC2. I hope Namco adds a lot more to the American release or there's a lot more left to be uncovered in the import. I never owned Soul Blade or Soul Calibur, but I've certainly played them enough to feel like SC2 was just more of the same. For anyone who hasn't played the old games, Soul Calibur 2 will offer one of the most satisfying and balanced fighting engines you'll ever play.