#21 - Soul Calibur 2

While some would prefer Soul Calibur 1 for the Dreamcast, I thought the series was perfected with the second game - with a reasonably balanced mixture of fighters (okay, Link is cheap if you bait people to the edge and throw them off of it, but that's about it), a long lasting and fun arcade mode and plenty of shit to do with your mates, Soul Calibur 2 is pretty much one of the best fighting games ever made. The only thing missing here is fatalities. Come on, don't tell me Cervantes wouldn't cut Maxi's head off, or that Maxi wouldn't bludgeon Cervantes to death with his nun chucks, or that Nightmare wouldn't rip out your soul and show it to you before you die!

Okay, that aside, it all felt right. Each fighter had their own styles with their pros and cons to learn and master, and while some were easier to learn than others, getting them to work just feels so satisfying when you're able to kick some ass with them! Sure sure, some are clearly better than others - Astaroth benefits more from the guard impact (where you press a direction and guard at the same time just as you're about to get hit) than anybody else and... well, let's just say that this will be Link's most difficult quest to save Zelda as Nightmare could *bleep* him harder than Ganon ever could and Link isn't exactly easy to use nor satisfying to master (unless you use his cheap throw - you guys know what I'm talking about), but other than that, no, it's very, very well balanced. Some of the conditions during the Weapon Master mode are silly (hit them against walls? only use guard impact? is this a tutorial?), but for the most part, they actually add a fair amount of challenge that pisses you off just enough to make you want to beat it. Overall, it's one of the most enjoyable fighting games. Doesn't help that the fighting engine itself is balanced to be inviting to newbies whilst making things technical enough for all but the biggest elitist shitheels to keep coming back to.

Soul Calibur 1 is also a great game, no doubt about it. I simply prefer this because it feels more balanced and a lot more fun. Speaking of balance, the later games give balance the middle finger as although Soul Calibur 3 has even more single player content, god, the AI is atrociously unbalanced - weak as a kitten one minute and stronger than the *bleep*ing gods the next. Soul Calibur 4 took it up the ass even worse and that's not even mentioning the prison style anal *bleep* Soul Calibur 5 received... I mean, holy *bleep*, most of these new characters are unbalanced as *bleep*, especially when controlled by pros or the AI! Not to mention that the button inputs to execute combos KEEP *bleep*ING CHANGING! No Namco, I don't want to keep relearning how to use Cervantes's combos! It just keeps throwing me off my game! ARGH! If you stopped at Soul Calibur 2, congratulations, you had more foresight than I did *bleep*ing wasting my money with inferior products!

Summary - An excellent fighting game that's great for both single and multi players.
Rating - 9/10

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