Impressions....

Location : Rosedale Mall, east of Minneapolis

not that i'm the most expert fighting game-player among us to comment on this game, but i've played Soul Caliber I to the point of being a professional button hacker.. i guess i'm good.. i can kick the ass out of most semi-pro people at least half of the time...

so here i was Sunday afternoon with nothing to do.. i was driving around the day earlier looking for a cd at Sam Goody at most mall locations around where i live, that after the 4th mall with no success i got to thinking... "hey, i haven't been to the Rosedale mall in some time.. i fondly remember my last visit, 3 years ago, when a friend informed me that he had seen an Ehrgeiz arcade machine at that location..." which was great !!..

so anywho, sunday my pal and i drove out there to check out the arcade after not seeing one in so very long... and to my amazement, they had the Soul Caliber II arcade machine... glorious, i exclaimed to myself... after which i rushed to the coin machine to purchase some gameplay... although the Mall of America location is a little closer... i'd rather get 24 tokens for $5 than 15 at that capitalistic mountain...

Soul Caliber II is excellent... just as great as the first one.. that is to say, the second game in the series, Soul Caliber...

the graphics ??.. looks like a smooth Soul Caliber to me.. although some people on gamefaqs bash the graphics because it uses the 246 arcade graphics board instead of something better... well boo boo.. if you care about how "crappy" Soul Caliber II graphics are, then compare the original Soul Caliber I arcade machine to the Dreamcast version... and just so ya know, the Arcade graphics of Soul Caliber II do not suck... although they hardly push any limits.. like i've said, they look like a clear cut, smooth Soul Caliber I graphics...

voice acting ??.. good lord you couldn't believe how damn annoying Xiaghua's voice is... i was yelling more at my character more than the other one kicking my ass... Nightmare's isn't all that bad... Kilik's is favorable... Tarim's voice is cute... Astaroth's is terrible... Yun Sung's voice isn't that bad... and blah blah blah.. the import will be in japanese so this is irrelevant...

the gameplay ??.. as fluid as it can be, i guess... it plays exactly like Soul Caliber I, from a button hacker perspective anyways.. except you can knock your opponent into a wall.. thats fun.. ^_^.. a little damage is always welcome... although i haven't really done any of the other tricks i've read about.. like rolling along a wall, or pushing off from a wall to increase damage.. unless i'm doing something wrong..

The "new" characters are quite fun... Raphael is quick and sharp.. like a fencer should be... he can usually nail a charging opponent very quickly.. and the other "new" character, Tarim, is also interesting.. she is like a close range Taki... most of her chain-able combo involve the 3d aspect of the game... hit, roll around to the right, hit, hit, roll around behind, hit, hit, finisher hit... unless i was did something cool with the joystick and buttons that isn't an actual combo...

although there are 2 actual "new" characters, there are more, but not.. like Cassandra, who is Sophita's little sister and plays the exact same way.. and Yun Sung, who is Hang Sung's student...

The Arcade mode is the same 8 streaming battles.. 6 random character battle, a 7th Story battle, and then the Final 8th battle with the final boss.. the Story, or Destined Battle, is a nice added touch since the last.. before the battle you have a bit of dialogue between the two characters, and then you fight like usual... and afterward the Final Battle is a bit more drawn out than in the previous game... the ending is the same with the still images...

unfortunately Soul Caliber is an exact fighting game sequel.. nothing more than a new version of an old classic... it reminds me of SSX Tricky trying to be sequel to SSX, when its just a new version... not there isn't much wrong with it, it is unethical to do this but all in the name of money right ??.. ech..

although its hard to be so mad, when the game is this fun... how can you make an excellent sequel to a classic of a game, anyway ?... Soul Caliber I was one of the few few games that was awarded a Famitsu Perfect ( 40/40 ) ... the dreamcast version anyways...

anywho, despite the unoriginality, Soul Caliber II is fantastic... i'll be going back there soon to play for some more hours... whee... for me brothers in Platteville.. i suggest a road trip to Madison for some fun to be had... i'm sure there is one around there somewhere ^_^...

just remember.. this pertains to the Arcade version... keep in mind the differences from the Arcade version of Soul Caliber I compared to the Home game... WHooo!!!!

- Dyre - 08.03.02