BoneStormer
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 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2003 5:17 am
Post subject: From IGN... |
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Soul Calibur II (GCN, PS2, Xbox)
A long time in the making, Namco's first Soul Calibur hit the arcades in 1998 and then followed to release as a perfect port on Sega's Dreamcast console in 1999. The weapon-based fighter is widely regarded as one of the best 3D fighters of our time. As such, the sequel, Soul Calibur II, has been one of the most anticipated titles in recent years. Finally that fateful day has arrived; Soul Calibur II is available for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
Unlike the traditional multiplatform release, Soul Calibur II is not identical across all three platforms. There are exclusive gameplay and technical features that make them differ. Likewise, there are general details about each version that may interest the multiconsole owner, and thus better help in the renting or purchasing of the Namco fighter.
Features
Soul Calibur II offers up pretty much what you'd expect a fighter of its kind to offer. You have access to a multi-difficulty arcade mode, two-player verses, time battles, a survival mode, and others in addition to Weapons Master. This latter mode is one designed for the single-player experience, and it has you traveling all over a huge world map, facing off against opponents in a number of different circumstances and earning gold plus experience points as you progress. This deeper mode is available on all three consoles, and it offers up pretty much the same experience.
We say pretty much because there is the all-important factor of console-exclusive characters, which you probably know about by now. Nintendo GameCube features Link from Legend of Zelda, Sony PlayStation 2 features Namco's own Heihachi (from Tekken), and Microsoft Xbox is home to the famous Spawn, based on the comic. The point of Weapons Master is to earn money to buy new weapons, which aid you in your matches. Each character will eventually go on to buy 11 different weapons, which you won't find on the other consoles.
So, if they all have an exclusive character and weapons, you're probably wondering which character is best. Well, this is something of a debate, just like it is naming which regular Soul Calibur character is best; everyone has their own preference. Some will say Link's bombs are cheap, others will cry at the benefits of Spawn's hovering, and still others will croon wildly after seeing Heihachi's 10-hit combos. People will have their own preferences -- we cannot factually say one is better than the other.
Outside of this, Soul Calibur II features identical gameplay across all the platforms. You'll be seeing the same endings, unlocking the same characters and modes, and you'll have access to all the same moves. Only the exclusive characters mix things up a bit.
Winner: GameCube/PlayStation 2/Xbox (Tie)
Control
This is one of those sections of our Head-to-Heads that comes under scrutiny when it comes to the fighting genre. Many people cry about the importance of the D-pad, others say they are fine with using an analog stick, some proclaim PS2 as home to the ultimate fighting pad, and many damn the Xbox and, often, the GCN controllers for being inadequate for the genre. Trust us, we've heard it all, but we've also seen it all -- people kicking just as much tale with the GCN or Xbox controller, and even those that found dislike for the PS2 controller. The point is, this, too, is preferential. What it comes down to is, do they all have the same functionality, or are there any quirks?
You should be pleased to hear there aren't any weird controller layouts, and you can actually customize each pad as you please. You only need to make room for four major buttons: Block (G), Vertical Attack (B), Horizontal Attack (A), and Kick (K). The skill of using a gamepad for Soul Calibur II is how you combine the buttons: G+A for a grab, A+B+K for a soul charge, B+K for a special move, etc. You can accomplish all the moves on any of the controllers, be it GameCube, PlayStation 2, or Xbox.
Think about how you might accomplish these moves on each controller, and then consider what fits your preference best. It's really a tie here; you'll make the final decision.
Winner: GameCube/PlayStation 2/Xbox (Tie)
Sound
A fighter like Soul Calibur II places you and an opponent in a ring with some environmental effects. It's not exactly the most sound-intensive experience, but there is a good deal of music, fighter sound effects, and noises you hear coming from the environment. The three home consoles differ on these following fronts: quality and surround imaging.
First, let's discuss the quality of the sound. All of them have the quality of Dolby branding -- the GameCube has Pro Logic II, the PS2 has the same, and Xbox has in-game Dolby Digital. As you might guess, it's the latter that packs the most punch. Playing Soul Calibur II on the Xbox yields a much better balanced, clearer, and bassier signal. The lows really punch through and the highs are crystal clear. No doubt about it, it sounds great. Beneath the Xbox in sound quality is the PlayStation 2. It doesn't have as much bass, and seems to push more towards the mid-range. It still sounds wonderful, but it can't match wits with the Xbox signal. Lastly, there is GameCube. Although Namco took advantage of Dolby Pro Logic II, it apparently wasn't able to squeeze as wide a range of frequencies as it was on the others. Soul Calibur II on GameCube is much flatter and devoid of audio depth by comparison to the others. Sure, the signals are clear, but without the bass and better separated treble, it can't help but sound a bit deflated -- by comparison.
Then there is surround imaging. If you have the speaker setup to support it, you're probably not going to be blown away by any of the consoles performances in this area, but you can tell the difference between each version. Again, the Xbox has better separation -- both between frequencies and speakers. It's actually discrete, and Namco has successfully balanced environmental effects with music and sound effects. For example, on levels with water surrounding you, you'll actually hear it splashing around in the rear speakers. This is present on PS2 and GCN, but not nearly as clean. On Xbox, you'll also hear the occasional smack or clash of your weapons travel to the rear speakers as the camera spins.
The PlayStation 2 and GameCube, with their support for Dolby, sound great and come highly recommended, but if you want the absolute best sound, Xbox is going to deliver it to you for Soul Calibur II.
Winner: Xbox
Runner-up: PlayStation 2
Graphics
Being videogames, the visuals are always the high-point of our Head-to-Head comparisons for most. In the case of Soul Calibur II there are certainly differences, drawbacks, and advantages to discuss, but they are not as prominent as you may think. The fact is, each console version looks great and has a few pros and cons. There is a "best-looking" version, of course.
Without seeing Soul Calibur II in motion, you might very well easily mistake one version for the other. Here you can see the beautifully rendered Ivy model, and there really are no clear advantages on any of the consoles in this area. Can you really spot the differences? Unlikely, but they do exist.
The PlayStation 2, while Namco has taken advantage of it quite well, still features some flicker and aliasing -- it's not nearly as noticeable as other titles, however. In fact, Soul Calibur II is certainly one of the best-looking PS2 titles out there.
Nonetheless, in a scene like this, it's tough to tell without seeing it motion.
Looking at the above screenshot, you should probably find yourself stumped by their similarity again. Look closely at the grass and dirt textures, and you'll see some slightly different filtering, but what should stand out the most is the color saturation. PlayStation 2 is pretty standard looking, GameCube has a deeper green tone, and Xbox tends to wash out a little more. This is nit picking, though. Anyone has to be searching for these things to catch them (which you should really only leave to us).
By far, though, the biggest and most noticeable differences can be discerned more by examining the above scene. The carpet provides a good example of a complicated texture; you can see lighting differences, and you can see artifacting issues. The PlayStation 2 carpet, as you can see, is more pixilated and not as detailed up close. In motion, the textures dance around on the PS2 version which heightens the effect of the shimmering inherent to the hardware. As for GameCube, this particular texture doesn't budge and is perfectly filtered. It looks great. The catch is that as you push your field of vision towards the back of the scene, you can see the textures get a bit blurrier. On Xbox, this texture actually shifts slightly, but not nearly as much as the PS2 version. The strength on Xbox is its ability to display sharper textures in the background thanks to the larger amount of memory.
Then there is the framerate. Namco renders the action out at 60 frames per second on all three consoles, but unfortunately none of them are perfectly stable. The PlayStation 2 frequently slows down in the face of complicated particle effects and more detailed levels. GameCube and Xbox run very smoothly except for a hitch occasionally, but we noticed that the last boss, which throws off tons of effects, actually slows down the Xbox version. So, the GCN version seems to handle what's thrown at it a bit better.
All three versions run in widescreen, but only the GameCube and Xbox support progressive scan (480p). On top of this, the Xbox version supports the ultra high-end 720p (no 1080i) format. The latter looks very sharp, but only runs in 4:3 format -- a sad limitation, since most 4:3 DTVs don't support 720p and the HDTVs that do are widescreen format sets and thus display the game letterboxed in this mode.
In sum, the Xbox version takes the graphics award, but just barely. It and the GameCube version look spectacular, but the added texture detail on Xbox -- despite the slowdown with the last boss -- and 720p support pushes it over the edge. As for the PS2 version, if you're not bothered by framerate hitches occasionally, it's pretty solid, but it just doesn't have the same crisp look to it.
Winner: Xbox
Runner-up: GameCube
Presentation
A title like Soul Calibur II is all about presentation; a lot of it is about the style, in fact. With that said, there are a few elements that will decide the presentation portion of our Head-to-Head. They are as follows: the load time, the FMV, and the character presentation.
Load Point GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox
Boot-up 17 sec. 24 sec. 12 sec.
Arena Load 1 6 sec. 8 sec. 5 sec.
Arena Load 2 5 sec. 7 sec. 5 sec.
Arena Load 3 5-6 sec. 8 sec. 5 sec.
First off, as you can see from the load times, they are all very, very similar. Other than the initial boot-up, it's almost ridiculous to say one version is worth owning over the other -- are three seconds really that important to you? Granted it's a technical merit, but it's nothing you should really be concerning yourself with. The PlayStation 2, although it is slowest, loads on the average of eight seconds. GameCube is close to 5 seconds, but it's not quite as fast as the Xbox (we're talking milliseconds; maybe a full second).
Moving on, full-motion video is scant in the Soul Calibur II experience. You get to see the beautiful introduction upon loading it up, but that's basically it. All three versions have really crisp, great FMV. Yes, there are slight differences be it saturation or edging, but it's pointless to try to compare them since the differences are so minor.
Lastly, we arrive at what is the most important point for presentation: how the exclusive characters were handled. All three characters are included in the opening FMV sequence, each of them have 11 weapons you can buy in Weapons Master, and they all have an incredible amount of cool moves. There is factual evidence that Namco paid more attention to the GameCube version in this regard, though. Not only are all the weapons included in SCII ripped straight out of Link's quests on past Nintendo consoles, and quite familiar to fans, but Namco has also remixed the Legend of Zelda theme song and included the famous you-just-got-treasure jingle: "Dun-DUN-DUNN-DAAAAH!"
Neither Heihachi or Spawn share these benefits. For this reason, GameCube has best presentation. And right behind it, Xbox if you're counting the seconds.
Winner: GameCube
Runner-up: Xbox
Final Verdict
For our final recommendation, we have to give you some important advice. Soul Calibur II, a fighter with exclusive, popular characters, is really not about technicalities in the end. If you want to know what version to buy or rent, the answer is simple: choose based on your favorite exclusive character and controller. Only if you have absolutely no interest in the exclusive character for each version should you base your decision on technical merits.
In opposition to our advice, though, our final verdict must come down to the technicalities. Because a game like this is so preferential, such a personal decision, we can only factually pick one winner: the Xbox SCII. It has the best visual advantages, punchier sound, and all the same gameplay content. After that, check out the GameCube version, which looks almost equally as solid. PlayStation 2 is also a fine version if you aren't worried about framerate problems.
Overall Winner: Xbox
Runner-up: GameCube
Whew!
 Get out, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you! I'll give you 'til three. One! |
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at: 8/31/03 11:36 pm