Hm. I suppose you want to know about the console-only characters, which I have totally played as? Well, I'll do what I can. See if you can spot the sarcasm:
For you Gamecube owners, Link is a total cheesecake. Sure, he has bombs, and arrows, and a boomerang; I'm just damned tired of pressing buttons that, on a normal character -- one who is not included to satisfy the people who complain on their forums about how "gay" The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker looks -- would produce a special combo, and ending up hopelessly aiming a bow while someone kicks me in the junk. That's not to say the bow can't be mastered. Far from it, in fact -- you get someone who's spent ten minutes with Link, and they can bust out that bow and mow down anybody with arrows that cross the screen in less than a blink of an eye. The problem with Link is that he plays like he's not of this game; for someone to have fun playing as Link is to deprive everyone else of fun. Link is a character to be enjoyed alone, and those kinds of characters don't belong in fighting games. I had been overly hopeful that Link would fit right in, and I have been slightly disappointed.
If you have a PlayStation2 -- well, you obviously bought it on launch day for Tekken Tag Tournament, so you're not going to be playing as anyone else except Heihachi. Lucky you. I went back to Akihabara on March 28th, and had a few more rounds with Heihachi to get some closure. I found that he does feel different from his Tekken counterpart -- rather, he feels like a Tekken character inserted into a weapon-based fighter, and left cruelly without a weapon. It's the somewhat-inverse of Yoshimitsu's being confined to Tekken with a sword he can only use to punch. Trippy.
You who own an Xbox: rejoice over your superior video modes, and kind-of rejoice over Spawn, the coolest of the three console "exclusives." This is a bold statement, seeing as Spawn doesn't do much for me; all I know of the character and/or series is that it is/was the brainchild of Todd McFarlane, who also made the Metal Gear Solid 2 action figures, and I have some vague recollection of a special on HBO involving John Leguizamo and a fat suit. Then again, what do I know? My brother gave me his Xbox for free, and you bought yours because you like NASCAR, professional wrestling, and "dark," "adult" comic books. If you also like Soul Calibur, you're probably an exclusive user of Nightmare and Astaroth, because they're "kickass," and "evil," and so you've got good news coming to you: Spawn belongs to the high order of "Big Target" characters. And I'd venture to say he's the best -- and most surprisingly agile -- of them all. Not only that -- he fits into the game's universe far better than Link or Heihachi, and he actually blends right into the game box. Which says something.
Regardless of my un-knowledge of all things Spawn, I can tell you that the other Todd McFarlane-designed character, Necrid, is a work of digital art both in form and function. There's some sort of story about him being a good demon come to destroy the Soul Edge, and how he has the power to materialize any weapons at will. Whatever the story behind his badassness, he's a big, scary, quick son of a bitch who can pounce like a cat, is huge like Astaroth, and has the coolest set of voice and sound effects this side of Darth Vader Meets Dracula. He has combos. He has uses. He has attitude. I like him a lot, and am currently (paused at this moment, actually) learning to use him well enough to use him in public.
So in this case, as far as console-only characters go -- everybody wins with Necrid. Good show on that one, Namco.
Putting Link and Heihachi on the box art: bad form, Namco. Chances are, if we care enough to know who Heihachi is, we're already sold on the game. Chances are, if you own a Gamecube, Link's inclusion in the character roster is neither a secret nor a surprise.
***
And now you ask me, which version do I recommend?
And I tell you: it depends. There's always an "it depends" in here, isn't there?
Here is where I say that all three versions are practically identical, except for the standard controllers of each respective system. Here is where I also tell you to do yourself a favor and buy a stick. The Hori 'stick comes with the highest recommendation: it is sturdy, and the buttons click angrily, and the base is solid, murdering steel, like a good weapon. Though it gets cold if you sit it in your lap, that's a tiny price to pay for having a stick that feels ripped right off an arcade cabinet.
Now, if you want to get into specifics:
If you want Link . . . you know where to find him.
If you're waiting for the US release and Link doesn't particularly arouse you, go for the Xbox version. Aside from having Spawn -- which might or might not do something for you, you Xbox owner, you -- the Xbox version features more modes for those of you who have better A/V setups than I do. In addition, if you have not a 'stick: first of all, shame on you. Second, the Xbox Controller-S feels better than even the PS2 Dual Shock 2. I've Kilik-combo'd the hell out of Arcade mode a few times with each pad, and the Controller-S's solidity and firmness instill confidence in your fingertips. You feel like you're holding the hilt of a sword.
If you have some sort of mental disease and you must have Heihachi -- or if you only own a PS2 -- get the PS2 version. Otherwise, I can't recommend it. The Gamecube version looks better.
And the Gamecube version is, to even the least import-savvy gamer, available now. All you need is a Freeloader from Play-Asia.com, and you're all set up. And you might as well pick up a Hori Soul Calibur II Stick Cube, and a couple of pads for the kids and/or stick-fearing heathen. (All jokes aside, the Hori Digital Controller is probably the most natural-feeling pad-type controller for this game. And it has perhaps the best cross-type D-pad in existence. It has the Saturn controller's depth with the SNES controller's cross-shape. It feels like a thumb massage when you double-tap, and that's a good thing.)
As for import-friendliness, I'd rate this one a "high": all of the menus are in English, and the goal of the game is simply to beat the other guy to death, which us English-speakers can do just fine without understanding that crazy Japanese. The Weapon Master mode story descriptions are all in Japanese, as are the weapon descriptions and mission goals; seeing as you're going to playing each mission over and over again and getting a feel for each weapon by actually using them, I'm guessing it's actually pretty fun to go into a battle having no idea what your new weapon does, or what the enemy's weak point is -- in fact, late in the quest mode, they start dropping "Conditions Unknown" battles in your way, anyway. I found I liked those the best.
And I screamed at them the most. So if you don't understand a single kanji, and you like screaming, you're in for a hell of a good time.
*****
TO WRAP UP WITH SOMETHING INITIALLY UNRELATED:
So I was telling my friend the other day, about Resident Evil. I was telling him this as we were playing Goemon 2 for Super Famicom. Goemon 2 was made in 1992. The original Resident Evil was made in 1995.
The gist of what I told my friend was that virtually no one goes back and plays the original Resident Evil, not while there is a Gamecube remake and/or dozens of sequels and spin-offs. To illustrate my point, I plugged in the old Resident Evil, and we witnessed its corny introductory cinema, its tank-like control scheme, its Gameboy Advance-ish textures, and its high-quality sound design over crappy voice acting.
"I'd rather just play Code Veronica," was the agreement.
I then pointed at Goemon 2, and said: "This game is more than ten years old. I'll gladly still be playing it in ten more years."
I then continued whatever point I was trying to prove -- which involved firing up Soul Edge for PlayStation. The CG intro thrilled us even years later -- that music! That . . . photography! This game came at the height of a Namco renaissance, we agreed. The company was riding high on big hits like Tekken 2 and even Rage Racer. They were doing no wrong, and they did plenty of right when they released Soul Edge. The game was beautiful from beginning to dozens of well-voice-acted endings. It had mad musical selections. I cared about the characters' stories. I could sit for hours playing the practice mode against an extreme-difficulty computer-controlled opponent.
My friend and I fired up the practice mode. We both chose Mitsurugi. I illustrated my tentative theory of videogame evolution by making my Mitsurugi jump over my friend's Mitsurugi.
The hang time was in excess of three timer clicks.
"That's ridiculous!" my friend proclaimed.
I nodded, and then proceeded to demonstrate the in-a-bowl-of-Jell-O fighting engine.
"Let's play some more Soul Calibur II," he urged me. And we did. While we played, we talked: is their room in my gaming future for Soul Edge? Is it a game to be passed down to our gaming grandchildren?
The answer is an emphatic "No."
Like the very first Resident Evil, Soul Edge did not age well at all. Then again, I knew this the first time I laid eyes on a screenshot of Soul Calibur.
The bigger question, then, is not how well Soul Calibur II stands up to Soul Calibur -- it's how well does Soul Calibur stand up to Soul Calibur II?
My answer -- and I say this with a Dreamcast controller on the sofa cushion beside me -- an overemphatic, samurai-screeched "UuuuurrrYESu! "
Like Goemon 2, Soul Calibur holds up even today. That it can survive even in the presence of its successor indicates to me that Soul Calibur 2, also, will endear for a little while, and is worth owning until Namco changes the second word in the game title again.
What I'm going to do now is go ahead and consider Soul Calibur II an "update" to Soul Calibur. Seeing as I played the original up until this year, I'm apparently enough of a fan to be honor-bound to buy the update. Now that I own it, I can say with some degree of conviction that, aside from purposes such as writing this review, I won't play Soul Calibur again any time soon.
So there's the bottom line: fans of Soul Calibur, you owe it to yourself to pick up this prettier, Weapon-Master-mode-endowed replacement update. You who have never played a weapon-based fighting game by Namco with the word "Soul" in the title: give this one a whirl. You might just impress your friends. And you might just surprise yourself with your own inner power.
tim rogers is a rumored hidden character in soul cracker
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