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 Dead or Alive 2 03/22/2000 This had to have been my most anticipated game since Soul Calibur. I've wanted this game more then Shenmue, and I'm not even a big fighting fan! ...So if you must know, I am legally insane. But was it worth looking forward to it that much? In one word, yes. This game is everything I expected it to be and a bag of chips... Uh.. Hmm. I'll start with the graphics. It is one of the most impressive looking games out there, the only fighting game comparable to it is (you guessed it) Soul Calibur. The characters have an ungodly amount of detail. Mix that with the huge environments with loads of detail and a frame rate of 60, you'll have one of the prettiest games. But how'd they do it? Then you've got the cutscenes... With characters that have even more detail. It's just amazing. Even if the game does drop to 30fps. After playing the game for awhile, there was something I noticed... There is practically zero load time. It has to load the game engines everytime you start a match. Uh, well, let's say you select 'Story Mode'. It loads the engines ONCE. Then you go through 4 or 5 matches WITHOUT loading (that is, there are only 4 or 5 before the end credits). I also noticed that it doesn't seem to have as many graphical effects as Soul Calibur, such as all the lighting. I'm not saying it doesn't have lighting, surly it does, but Namco pretty much used it to it's full extent (which made the game look extra pretty). If you're looking for things to unlock, look somewhere else. Although if they did have things to unlock, it wouldn't have made a difference to me, 'cos I've been playing the game non-stop since I bought it. But some surprises would have been nice... (although there is that little trick with Kasumi and her school girl outfit which involves the sparring stage -=) And that's just it - the game is FUN. So fun in fact that I haven't even played the VS. mode with anyone! Well, no, I just haven't had the chance to play it with anyone. But I've been playing it non-stop by myself! The sound in the game is good. It sounds a bit painful at times (as in 'Oh, that had to hurt!'). But everything you'd expect is there - bones snapping, water splashing, etc.,etc... To me, the music in a game can make or break it. Of course it's more important in some games then others, but I know I wouldn't enjoy DoA2 as much if the music sucked, which it doesn't. Sure there are a couple of tracks I could live without, but all of it fits with what's happening on the screen. The control in the game is really nice. Although it's nothing really new after playing Soul Calibur, but it's nice that the controls feel alike. You can circle each other in the game, you do have to hold down a button (the 'free' button). I didn't like it at first, but once I got used to it... Well, I got used to it. Perhaps too much. One of the coolest things about the DoA series are the counters/reversals. No more punch, punch, kick, kick. Stop your opponent in the middle of their attack. Use guard and hit the directional (or analog) pad in the right direction and you'll throw, flip or do something painful to them... What I mean by 'right direction' is upper left corner to reverse a high kick, or lower left corner to reverse a low punch. You get the idea. If Soul Calibur didn't change your mind about fighting games, this probably won't, but you should give it a chance. -Jonathan Ward (please forgive me, I'm editing this while I'm half asleep...)
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Think of one word to sum this picture up... 
I never mentioned the bounce! ... .. D'oh! 
The one reason I'm buying a PS2 at launch... |