I haven't played a true beat em up for a while; the last one I played before this game was Smash bros. melee which is a radically different fighting game. SC2 is overall richer than the average fighter in terms of replayability and lastability. As well as the arcade, practice, versus, time attack and survival modes, there is the Weapon master mode similar to the Edge master mode in SC. This is the main story playthrough for the home version of the game and has to be completed twice to unlock the majority of the games features. Via enemies defeated and money earned through battles won for various reasons, the rest of the game's features are unlockable, and there are many. Over 200 weapons are unlockable for the characters, as well as costumes and arenas, the 'extra' versions of each of the other gameplay modes,which allow you to use weapons acquired in weapon master mode, the museum features such as art galleries, character profiles, fighting theaters and demonstrations. As a hardcore gamer, I completed weapons master mode fully in a week, and still love it a week on, which is more than can be said about most fighting games after their main gameplay feature is completed. This is not a button mashers game; each character has their own unique style of play and mastery of their moves is essential to victory in matches. The graphics and sound are excellent, as is the gameplay; very fluid, and each character has layers of combos. The GCN version is the best in my opinion due to the most responsive controls, coolest exclusive character and faster loading times. This game will take the average gamer a few months to complete fully; achieve 99 ranking (i'm currently on 74) buy everything for every character etc. and the versus mode, while dissapointingly lacking a human-cpu free fight option, will never become repetitive. This game is the ultimate fighting game and should be in every fans collection.
Review of Soulcalibur II
