Soulcalibur II
| Soul Calibur II | |
|---|---|
| Logo | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Designer(s) | Hiroaki Yotoriyama |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Release | July 30, 2002 (Arcade) |
| Genre(s) | Versus fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Arcade system | Namco System 246 |
Soul Calibur II (ソウルキャリバーII, Souru Kyaribā Tsū) is a versus fighting game developed and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul video game series.
Soul Calibur is the name of the holy sword, created to battle the evil sword Soul Edge, which the games' story-lines revolve around.
Compared to Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II boasts improved graphics and introduces new characters, stages, and music. With respect to game mechanics, the two games are very similar, with Soul Calibur II generally considered an updated version of Soul Calibur.
Key game engine improvements include:
- More powerful "step" and "avoid" systems, which made evading vertical attacks noticeably easier.
- Arena walls, rather than ring-out ability on all sides, and subsequent wall-specific moves.
- A three-step Soul Charge system.
- A clash system, one that is used when two attacks would hit each other resulting in a white flash and no damage to either opponent.
Reaction and criticism
Media reviews of Soul Calibur II were overwhelmingly favorable.
In general, Soul Calibur II's appeal is formidable, but as time went on, many fans became frustrated by some of the engine's mechanics. Most of these issues concern how defensive the gameplay is. Players can use various tricks to make themselves nearly impossible to hit, and misuse of the "Guard Impact" system is possible.
Prologue
The game is set 4 years after the end of Soul Calibur, which based on calculations from a timeline released on the Soul Archive website, puts the game's story in the year 1591.
The wave of slaughters that terrorized Europe reached a sudden end. The knight in azure armor, Nightmare, and his followers were successful in collecting enough souls and were about to start the restoring ceremony on the ruins of the once-proud Osthreinsburg Castle. But just as the ceremony was to start, three young warriors assaulted the castle. In a matter of time the clan was defeated and Nightmare stood in front of the young warriors wielding the Sacred Trinity. After an intense battle Nightmare fell, but then the evil soul inside Soul Edge sent the young warriors into a vortex of hellfire and stood to confront them. As a result of Soul Edge's evil aura, Krita-Yuga revealed its true form: that of the Holy Sword, Soul Calibur.
The intense battle ended with the victory of the holy sword, but at the collapse of the vortex of Inferno, both swords along with the azure Nightmare were sucked in a void and expelled in another place. Siegfried Schtauffen, who was until a moment before the Azure Knight, restored his mind. Recognizing his sins, he set on a journey of atonement. Still the blade held a strong bond, and every night it took control of the body and took souls of those nearby. The efforts made by the young knight were fruitless, and four years later the Azure Nightmare returned.
Around those times various warriors came into contact of the blade's remaining fragments, revealing Soul Edge's ultimate survival after its defeat. Driven either to possess or destroy it, they join a new journey, while Nightmare starts his rampage anew, seeking souls to restore Soul Edge once again...
New characters
New Soul characters introduced in Soul Calibur II:
- Cassandra - Sword and Shield
- Charade - Imitative Power
- Necrid (Only on Home Versions) - Transforming Energy called Enigma
- Raphael - Rapier
- Talim - Dual Elbow blades (Bladed Tonfas)
- Yunsung - Chinese sword (correctly spelled Hong Yun-seong in Soul Calibur III)
Raphael and Talim's playing styles are entirely unique, while Cassandra and Yun-seong's are derived from established characters Sophitia and Hwang, respectively. Charade, like his predecessors Edge Master and Inferno, switches his style to match existing characters' movelists with each individual round of fighting. Each of the home versions also included Necrid, who was not included in the arcade version of Soul Calibur II. Necrid, like Spawn, was personally designed by comic book artist Todd McFarlane.
Rounding out the characters were returning fighters Seung Mina and Sophitia from both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. Also, the North American, Australian and European versions of the game contained three limited-play characters loosely based on characters from Soul Calibur:
- Assassin (generic thug, with a move list derived from Hwang) - Dao
- Berserker (generic thug, with a move list derived from Rock) - Double-Edged Axe
- Lizardman (generic lizardman from the army created by the cult order, Fygul Cestemus, in Soul Calibur) - Sword and Shield
From the Soul Calibur character roster, the ones that did not return for Soul Calibur II as characters themselves were Hwang Seong-gyeong, Nathaniel "Rock" Adams, Lizardman (as the lizardman in the game is not the same one as in Soul Calibur), and Edge Master. Inferno is in the game, only this time, he is not a playable character.
Ports
Soul Calibur II was ported to Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and PlayStation 2. It is also notable that each of the three home console versions had unique characters exclusive to that version:
- Heihachi Mishima (from the Tekken game series; appears in the PlayStation 2 version) - Gauntlets
- Link (from The Legend of Zelda series; appears in the GameCube version) - Master Sword and Hylian Shield
- Spawn (from Todd McFarlane's comic book series; appears in the Xbox version) - Axe formed using his cape.
Modes and features
Modes and other features added to the Home Versions:
- Soul Calibur II presented the normal modes from most fighting games: Arcade, Team Battle Mode (similar to arcade, but with teams of up to 8 characters and without cutscenes or endings), Time Attack (fight against the clock to gain records), Survival Battle and Training Mode. There are also "Extra" versions of these modes, intended to allow the use of the Extra Weapons. Worth mentioning is that Arcade's 7th battle is called a "Destined Battle", a battle predefined that never changes. Each character has one according to their story, and are shared by groups of two (MitsurugiTaki, TakiMitsurugi) with the exception of the console-exclusive characters.
- A returning feature from Soul Edge is the inclusion of Extra Weapons. Instead of Soul Edge's system of different stats, this one is based on power %, defense % and special abilities (drains energy, pass through defense, etc). Each character has 12 different weapons, from the standard (basic) weapons for 1P and 2P to the powerful "Ultimate Weapon". Also each one was granted a Soul Edge version of their arms and a "Joke Weapon", weapons with bad stats and effect, and with unique, and funny, hit sounds. Each weapon is given a backstory in the "Weapon Gallery".
- The Arcade version has a unique mode called "Conquest Mode". Conquest Mode allows the player to pick an army, fight enemies and gain experience points, allowing it to increase the level of the selected player.
- "Weapon Master Mode" takes the core system from "Conquest Mode" and expands upon it. This mode, made in a similar fashion to Soul Edge's "Edge Master Mode" and Soul Calibur's "Mission Mode", presents a history set in an alternate world, while the player moves in a map divided in "regions" (named after stars) and fight enemies to gain experience points (and raise the "rank" of the character) and money (which could be later used to bought weapons, art, costumes and videos). The mode counts with 10 normal chapters, 4 sub-chapters and 2 extra-chapters as well as Extra-Missions (alternate version of normal missions). The plot of the mode puts the player into the role of a swordsman searching Soul Edge, which suddenly is faced against a powerful mad knight named Veral, who searches Soul Edge for his own desires.
- As in Soul Calibur, there is a "Museum", containing character artwork, various videos (like Arcade Intro or WMM intro and Ending) and Weapon Exhibition (or "katas"). There is also the "Profile Viewer" (to see character's stories) and "Battle Theater" (to see CPU vs CPU battles).
- Like before, some characters are granted with 3rd costumes, purchased in Weapon Master Mode. Out of the 25 selectable characters, only 13 were granted a 3rd costume: Astaroth, Cassandra, Ivy, Mitsurugi, Nightmare, Raphael, Seong Mi-na, Sophitia, Taki, Talim, Voldo and Xianghua. It should also be noted that Link has four costumes (exactly like the ones that he has in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64), and Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman each have 6 different costumes (3 color edits of their 2 standard costumes).
- The game also featured the option to hear the characters speak in Japanese or English.
Reviews
Game Rankings currently scores it 91.6% for the PlayStation 2, 92.5% for the Gamecube, and 91.8% for the Xbox. Soul Calibur II received a slightly higher score for the Gamecube.
Awards
- E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Fighting Game
- X-Play - 10th best GameCube game of all time
Trivia
- The GameCube version was so much more successful than the two other versions that Sony went to sign an exclusive deal with Namco to ensure Soul Calibur III would be released exclusively for PlayStation 2. [citation needed]