3RRDC DoA 2

Finally, another fighting game for Dreamcast gamers to be proud of.
But does it come up to par with the fun and flair of Soul Calibur?

I never have played Soul Calibur. I bought this game off of a friend
along with my Dreamcast. I thought it was going to be another
mediocre fighter (cough Capcom vs. SNK cough). But despite what was
going on in my weird little head I was proven wrong and treated to one
of the greatest fighters out there. But it's not all stunning visuals.
There are combined key elements from other games as well, and it
makes it one good experience.

I popped the disc in and noticed that at the "PRESS START" screen
they were talking in Japanese. Now, when companies domesticate a
game and don't translate the dialogue I think one of two things: 1.
They were lazy punks or 2. They don't want to change the sound
because it is great already. Please choose your answer and put your
pencil down. For those of you who chose 2, you are correct. For those
of you who chose 1, I have no comment. There are a bunch of nifty
options to toy around with, including Story, Time Attack, Versus, "Tag
Battle" Survival, Team Battle, and Sparring. Whew! And if that wasn't
enough, there are some pretty cool characters too, each with their
own martial arts style and personality. I put the "Tag Battle" in quotes
because it's a very unique and fun idea. There are two teams, and one
person from each team dukes it out at a time. But wait! Why is Jann
Lee flying in from the side of the screen helping? Well, team attacks
are legal! It's a very, very cool idea.

The main focus of the game is the Story mode. Each character has a
specific story, but it's kind of difficult to know what's going on. I beat
the Story mode with Hayabusa, Gen Fu, and Jann Lee, and neither of
the scenarios had much depth. One fight, he'll be saying "You, what
happened?" And the next fight, the girl will be like, "I mastered martial
arts, so I could live in your world." The single player depth is very
weak, but it's still a blast, stringing combos together and really
disgracing your opponent. Did I mention that each character has over
one-hundred moves? Not to mention that you can sequence them and
that the possibilities are endless. But one cool thing is that there is a
"free" button. If not used properly it blocks. But pressing it at just the
right time counters you foe's attack and turns it into a brutal attack
back at them. Each character is designed extremely well with their
own fighting style and different clothes you can choose from. I
personally like the ancient martial arts people, like Gen Fu, because it
adds so much more flair to the games style. The gameplay is a nice mix
of Tekken 4 and Virtua Fighter 3tb.

The graphics are absolutely superb, just as good as Soul Calibur.
Robes flow with the wind, hair blows in the wind, and everything runs
as smooth as silk. Textures are great, and the backgrounds are
something else. In each stage, there are different layers, so if you
knock someone off of a platform, or push them through a window, you
duke it out in the floor below. The character models are great too. Lips
move when they talk, and they blink when they react to something.
This is a graphical masterpiece.

When you think of voice acting, you usually think of homeless guys
who walk into a studio and think they can do lousy voice-overs for a
video game, right? Well, like I mentioned before, they kept the
Japanese voices and that's a good thing. But there are subtitles, so
don't worry. The sweeping music fits the mood perfectly. The
orchestrated music is anything but generic and it's a great touch for a
great game. But my favorite sound here has to be Jann Lee shouting
his battle cry, "Wataa!"

If you like fighters, no, if you like video games, pick this up without
hesitation because you're in for a real treat.

Grades

Gameplay - 95%

Innovative fighting system and a hefty amount of unique and creative
modes, this is a game not to be forgotten.

Graphics - 100%

Smooth framerate, perfect animation, and even tiny details like hair…
it's all in this one disc.

Sound - 95%

Great music, good voice acting, and Jann Lee!

Presentation - 90%

A good fighter with lots of options, but the lack of depth takes away
from the score.

Replay Value - 75%

It'll take you awhile to fiddle with all the options, and the story mode
with every character will keep you occupied, but there's nothing to
unlock. It might seem pointless, but it's still great.

Overall - 90%

The Overall rating is not an average of the preceding scores.

Review by: IronKnux