Muy buenas impresiones de C&V
SOUL CALIBUR II: PLAYED, CONQUERED, INSPIRED
We got our shaking hands on the arcade version of Namco's essential sequel yesterday. The legend will never die...
15:43 "Come on! Don't play safe: attack me! Attack!" Nervousness creeps into the eyes of the small boy as Cassandra thrusts her sword into Maxi's guts. Again. The child looks like a small rabbit. KO flashes on the monitor. "See, look at that," I shout. "She's not Sophitia but she's a more balanced fighter. The overhead kick's gone! Look at her eyes! They're green! Green! Look at that!"
"It's quite a good game, isn't it?" The boy's voice is tiny. He looks quizzically at my pointed finger as I pump it repeatedly at the screen.
"Good? Look at it! It's bloody amazing!" I realise the space at the arcade cabinet is suddenly empty. The boy is nowhere to be seen. I hear small steps disappearing hurriedly down a corridor. "Lightweight," I mutter. "Just 'cause I kicked his ass."
"He was, like, nine years old, Pat," says Paul.
"He's a pussy," I say. Verbal abuse of young children is obviously acceptable. Such is the spell of Soul Calibur II.
We are finally playing what on first impression looks to be every bit the revelation we expected. Only one version currently exists in Britain, housed at the headquarters of Namco's arcade division in west London. The vertical attack button on the Player One section is already half broken. Namco only received the new version, ver. 0.77, last week.
Before you ask, the answer's yes. It's incredible. Running on the PlayStation 2-based 246-arcade board, Soul Calibur II is a visual masterpiece. The sequel to the Dreamcast fighting game responsible for defining the term "ahead of its time" shows a baroque setting and some of the most detailed character models ever seen in a videogame. We can promise you plenty of bed-s**tting when you clap eyes on the new Nightmare.
Soul Calibur II continues the story of the evil, living sword, the Soul Edge, and the Nightmare knight that wields it. Focusing more heavily on Europe and dragging the series' sensational characters into the 16th Century, the sequel charts the re-emergence of the devil weapon as martial artists from Asia and Europe take each other to task.
Knocking off the pace
Gameplay has been altered. The best way to describe it is "robust". Soul Calibur provoked a mixed reaction among fight fans, some of which accused the title of promoting button mashing, the rest unequivocally heralding the gorgeous game as the best scrapper ever made. Namco has obviously listened to its detractors, slowing down the general tempo of play and ostensibly introducing a more thoughtful, and hopefully deeper, experience.
A slackening of pace makes for a very different game. The parry and block features now actually mean something as you get a good indication of when an opponent is about to strike. Throw moves are more spectacular but work in exactly the same way, mostly by pressing guard with either the horizontal or vertical attack buttons. Unblockable attacks appear to have remained the same, aside from looking utterly astonishing. Ivy's kick-to-splits, accompanied by cascades of rolling flame, is more than likely going to dampen your sheets.
Namco wanted to accentuate the relationship between horizontal attacks, vertical attacks and movement for the sequel, and the slowing tempo adds to this subtly. Even from the two hours we spent with the game, it was obvious that Soul Calibur II is far more tactical than its predecessor.
Character assassination
Character design and the use of weapons have also moved on from the original. Apparently set almost exclusively in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance, costume design has become highly decorated.
Armour is covered in scrolls and leaf-work. S&M king Voldo wears a gilded mask for his alternate costume, covered in fleur de lys. Nightmare's armour is a joy to behold, pure opulence, with orange eyes burning behind his visor.
Adding to the European flavour comes Raphael, a graceful fighter using a rapier. A fencing style compounds the feeling of move placement as opposed to hack 'n' slash.
Signalling a new direction for the game as a whole, Talim has been added to the Soul Calibur pantheon. Asian, the young girl is Manga-esque in appearance, a move apparently made to make the title appeal to a broader market in the Japanese arcade. She feels a little incongruous amid the facial realism of the other characters, but she certainly does the business when it comes down to beating people around the chops with two bladed batons.
Possibly the largest alteration to the original is the replacement of Greek warrior Sophitia with her younger sister, Cassandra. Sophitia was one of the most powerful characters of Soul Calibur, combining upward sweeping attacks and kick combos with shield moves. Cassandra is obviously a measured attempt to level the playing field. The rolling overhead kick is gone, replaced with a thrusting knee move. Sophitia's juggling combo, which started in a low shield attack and lifted the opponent into the air with a series of sword swipes and kicks, has apparently been removed. Obviously, we need to play the game and study move lists a great deal more before casting a final verdict.
Nightmare appears to be essentially unaltered from the original. The demon knight still employs a system of stance alterations, far-reaching overhead smashes and pirouette moves to bring the enemy to its knees. And the Soul Edge itself looks about as detailed as you're going to get in this generation of hardware. Just for the record, the eye in the blade actually winks.
The full roster, at least the one we saw yesterday, goes as follows: axe maniac Astaroth, Greek honey Cassandra, newcomer HongYunSung, snow-haired dominatrix Ivy, pole lord Kilik, nunchuk slinger Maxi, samurai warrior Mitsurugi, demon knight Nightmare (the second costume of which shows a maddened Siegfried, bare-chested), dashing corsair Raphael, Asian babe Taki (who for some reason now has enormous, wobbling norks), Manga lady Talim, bondage bloke Voldo and Chinese sword master Xianghua.
Soooo... Where's Cervantes, the terror of the high seas? Where's Rock, the huge man with a penchant for sticking a bull's head over his ears? Where's Seung Mina? Where's Lizard Man? Where's Yoshimitsu? How can the ultimate fighting game not include the ultimate ninja?
Hopefully there'll be some serious treats in the home versions, because some of the omissions listed above would simply be too much to bear.
Great expectations
A quick note on Soul Calibur II's graphics. You will s**t the bed. It's difficult to get over the level of detail in the title, to express in words just how much advanced lighting adds to your feelings of awe. Then there are the facial expressions. They actually work. Each character brilliantly shows a full range of emotions, such as anger and pain. You will s**t the bed.
Game modes for the home version we can reveal right now: aside from Arcade and Time Attack modes, you'll get Museum, Survival, Mission Battle and the brand addition of a Team Battle mode. You heard it here first.
We could go on forever. The cherry blossom floating through the air, the use of walls (which we really didn't have time to explore), the enormous statues casting a baleful eye over the combat. Given that we spent a mere two hours with the title and came away with such lasting impressions, the depth for the home version should be every bit as encapsulating as the original. Quite probably more so. And that prospect is enough to make us weak at the knees in that special way, if you know what we mean.
Soul Calibur II hits European arcades in June. Home versions are planned for the end of the year, across all major console formats. That's a long wait. In the meantime, we recommend you console yourself by shouting at small children while beating them repeatedly at the original Dreamcast game. They're all lightweights, you know...
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