Soul Caliber II Review

Soul Caliber II Review

 Hello all you wonderful people! Welcome to another NintendosView review! Today I am going to review the classic game, Soul Caliber II! (or 2 if you prefer!) If you don't know, Soul Caliber II was a game released on the GameCube,  PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The one I played, however, is on  the GameCube. So I got to play as Link! It plays a lot like Street Fighter, but in a fantasy setting and with swords!

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Now, let's find out if Soul Caliber II is still good, or deserves to be forgotten!

Story

The story of Soul Calibur II (depending on your character!) is pretty much, there's an evil, powerful sword and you are on a quest to ether get the sword, or destroy it. Now there is much deeper lore in this game but I wont get into it.  I'll use Link  as an example. Here the games explanation on why Link is here.

Hyrule's tranquility was shattered by the arrival of several disasters, which brought opaque, ominous clouds with them. Eventually, it was discovered that a wizard was to blame for all that had happened. Just as the people were about to lose all hope, the sun miraculously returned as Link, having been summoned by Princess Zelda to find the disasters' source, successfully defeated the wizard. The people of Hyrule rejoiced in the belief that eternal peace would rule; but it eventually became clear that the wizard who was responsible for the disasters was in fact controlled by an evil sword from another world, Soul Edge, and that the fragments of Soul Edge had been gathering in the other world. Knowing that the resurrection of the evil blade must be prevented at all costs, Link chose to travel to the other world and destroy Soul Edge himself. He gathered his trusted Master Sword and Ocarina and transported himself off on a secret journey.

And then when you beat arcade mode (We'll get more into that later!) you learn your characters ending to this tale. For Link, its...

Link traveled to this world to destroy the evil which threatened Hyrule. After a long journey, Link succeeded in sealing away the terrible evil. In doing so, he not only saved his homeland from peril but also maintained the peace of this world as well. Link then quietly left this world, a faint echo of his Ocarina was heard.

Gameplay

As I had said earlier, Soul Caliber II feels a LOT like an arcade fighting game, like street fighter. There are grabs, light attacks, down attacks, up attacks, blocks, heavy attacks and a lot of other combo moves! It sure made me feel like I was in an arcade! 

      As for how the controls feel, they feel quite good, you can hit people hard, light, throw them across the ring, stuff like that. However, grabbing is tough at times, you have to press A and B at the same time and most of the time it just thinks I'm hitting! 

       Also, when its teaching us the controls, its hilariously confusing, because it tells us buttons that don't exist on the GameCube controller! Like for B to grab, it tells me R! It gets really confusing, so I kinda had to teach myself! Another issue is, since its a fighting game, after a while it does become repetitive.

Now for some modes now that you know the basics. There are a lot of modes to choose from (And I probably haven't unlocked them all yet!) there's Verses (2 player) battles, Arcade, Team Battle, Verses Team Battle, Time, survival, Weapon Master Mode and more!

          First off, the versus battles are where two players duke it out and is where you will probably spend the most time with friends. You can choose your character, how much health you have and if its extra versus (you unlocked it in Weapon Master Mode) then you can choose a weapon as well.

              Team Battle is where you pick up to three characters, and if one dies, the next one comes out and you fight three random computers. But versus team battle mode is where you can choose up to eight characters and duke it out with friends.

  Time is where you face hoards of enemies and each one you beat gets you more time, if you take too long though, you die.

         Survival is pretty much the same but without time and you only get one round.

And Arcade mode works similar to classic mode in super smash bros. You fight person to person until you make it to the final boss. It also adapts  to your skill level so each time you play it will still be a challenge. But if you want an even BIGGER challenge, than you could do the extra arcade mode.

And finally, is the Weapon Master Mode. This is pretty much a single player story mode where you go through levels,  unlock weapons,  characters, stages, modes,  level up,  go through dungeons and more! It has plenty of variety as well. It has normal battles, dungeons where you have to find and battle your way to the boss, and twist battles like the other fighter is invisible, or there's constantly wind blowing you around.
        And its all a lot of fun, doing missions while earning new things is always awesome! It becomes quite hard too, especially after the final boss!

Characters

There are about 20 characters and they all play pretty differently. Each with there own weapons, special moves, grabs and stabs. But there are some that are a little over powered. My only other issue is that some of the ladies aren't wearing as much as they should in a sword fighting match if you know what I mean! (Cough* Cough* Ivy!) Also, most of the characters look like they came out of an anime (Link looks the most normal!) and I'll let you decide weather that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Music and Sound Effects

The music sounds just like it came out of an arcade machine. It has an sword fighting adventure feel to it. Though you wont really notice since your so focused on fighting!

      As for the voice acting and sound effects, once again, it feels like your at an arcade. The voices are echoey (especially when you die!) and they talk like how they do in street fighter, except for link, he just goes "heeeeya!", "Haaa!", "Seeeya!" and stuff like that. Quite frankly, this high pitched echoey voice of Link does get on my nerves a little bit, but I don't care he's my favorite character!

      As for the sound effects, there's mostly just sounds of Arcady slashing and hitting. Not too much to say on that.

Graphics

Graphics wise, it reminds me of some of the other T games on the GameCube, like Gauntlet: Dark Oracle and Star Wars: Rouge Squadron. It also has its Arcady feel and charm but its nothing special too special for 2018.  Though the cinematic cutscene looks amazing for the EARLY 2000's! So all in all, the graphics are okay.

Replay Value

As I've already mentioned, this game has quite a few modes and a somewhat lengthy Weapon Master Mode. You could also unlock all the profiles for everyone by beating arcade mode with every character, or you could unlock every weapon in master mode. It does have a lot of content.

      This game also happens to be addicting, but sadly becomes repetitive after a while. 

Score and Conclusion

Soul Calibur II, while not perfect, is a great, arcade fighting experience with lots of characters, modes and a somewhat lengthy Weapon Master Mode, there's more than enough to keep you busty. 

     It may get repetitive, it is still a fun experience none the less!

7.5/10

The Good

• A fun, solid arcade exspirience
• plenty of modes, characters, and stages to make you coming back for more.
• A fun Single Player Mode
• Deep lore
• Good music

The Bad

• Characters sounds and talking can get annoying
• Gets repetative
• Some Characters aren't wearing too much
• Some language (this part is also a parent guide!)

And there you have it! Do you agree with me? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading at NintendosView!