Gaming Target - Xbox: Soul Calibur II

Written by Patrick Geurs on April 01, 2002

First Impressions: Shouldn't this be named Soul Edge 3 instead?

Namco has long been known for their fighters. Perhaps one of the most prominent has been the Tekken series, and another fighter, based off weapons. Most people would tell you that Soul Calibur is easily one of the most impressive fighters to have ever hit the arcade or home. But let's not forget what started it all, Soul Edge.

Soul Edge was a PSX game as well, and was (admittedly) the reason I bought a PSX back in the day. The graphics were sharp, sound was excellent, and the fighting system, while not perfect, was far ahead of the game. Also added to the mix was an in-depth mission based mode, used to unlock new swords and cool stuff.

It almost shocked the hell out of me at first when I learned that the sequel, Soul Calibur, would NOT be appearing on a Sony machine, but on the un-released (at that time) Sega Dreamcast. Like the PSX before it, Soul Calibur was the reason I finally said, УOk, I'm getting a Dreamcast nowФ. What a choice. Not only was SC so much improved over the original SE, but also Namco went and revamped the entire thing. Better models and re-designed all-new 3D background took the place of the old 2D ones. Add in the mission mode, and you have a game that not only looked and played great, but also held its own, and to this day is still thought highly of by many, even though it's 3 years later. So it's no wonder why everyone is anticipating the next step in the tale of souls and swords.

The entrance of Soul Calibur 2 marks the beginning of a couple things here. For one, I mentioned before that Soul Edge and the like were all pretty much guaranteed to Sony. Well, with Soul Calibur, not only did it not come home to a Sony machine, even though it was on a Sony arcade board (PSX was far too weak, and PS2 was still over a year out), but Soul Calibur ended up being a DC exclusive, even after the PS2 launched. Also, with the release of SC 2, not only is it going to grace all 3 next-gen consoles, but also the PS2 was the LAST one to get announced. It's kind of nice that Namco is spreading the love.

What do we have to look forward to in this sequel? Well let's see. Better gameplay. Way better visuals, and a new twist to the plotline. And since this is Namco, a variant mission type mode is almost a given. Other than that, not a whole lot is known about this title, other than the list of confirmed characters, which also, as this is Namco, expect a lot of unlockable ones that aren't listed. Here is the roster so far.

Hwang Sung Kyung
Siegfried Schtauffen
Isabella Valentine (Ivy)
Heishiro Mitsurugi
Nightmare
Taki
Astaroth
Cassandra (New character, Sophita's younger sister)
Tarimu (New character)
Hon Yun Sun (New character)

Of course, these are just the known characters, and don't include any special/hidden characters. Here's hoping for the return of Seung Mina.