Graphics - 10
Sound - 9
Control - 10
Replay - 6
With the release of the PS2, I decided to review the DC's DOA2, even though it's been out for a few months now. Really though, the similarities between the two are well, everywhere. Buy the PS2 version, and all you're really get more than the DC version, is a few new outfits and an extra level or two. You'll still get the stories that don't make sense.
Graphically, this game is still amazing. The "bounce" is back, and may even end up in you being distracted.. err... well, it results in me choosing a female character more, even though in the game, they are clearly weaker than the males. There is no slowdown ever, except when the game purposely uses it, combined with the blurring effect to well, make some neat graphical effects.
Sound is nice, and very crisp. It's the same ol', same ol' for the most part, and even though American voice translation for video games usually results in horrible sounding voices. But I don't like being reminded of the damn Japanese before and after every match. It's kinda wierd how when a character is born in Russia, or the US, they always speak fluent Japanese. I know that when I win a match, it's much more fun speaking your own language to insult your weak opponent.
This game compares to Soul Calibur in the control category, but falls slightly short. It's more like Tekken w/ the controls made slighty more to move you around in 3d, rather than 2d. Hell, it even feels slightly like Virtua Fighter in some ways. Tecmo really did their research on how to give the user great control of a fighting game... and they translated it into a great fighting game.
One area where DOA2 falls short, is the replay value. Absolutely no rewards at all, except uhh... well, if you consider short CG scenes that make little to no sense,
(like - "I heard project Epsilon was a failure."
- "What do you know?"
- "I see you're no longer under mind control.")
although they are very nicely done. But CG scenes can't really be considered rewards anymore, cause they're just part of the game.
Anyways, all in all, DOA2 is a great fighing game, and should be considered one of the elite fighters on the market. The tag mode is becoming a normal appearance in fighters now, and DOA2 recognizes that. They have a few double team moves for certain characters, and every character in the game has a "partner". (each column of 2 characters are partners) It's unique, but this game does feel rushed. They could have made more people interact w/ each other, and maybe have spent time making the story make some sense, or atleast a background on the stories of the characters.
If you now own a PS2 and a DC somehow, and already own DOA2 for the DC, don't buy it for the PS2 cause it's the exact same thing, still having that slightly rushed feel to it. I'd recommend getting DOA2 over the PS2's version though, simply because it'll cost you less dough.
Overall - 8.6
- The Drop
