a beautiful fighting game.
Upon your first fight in the cyber world of Tecmo’s famous creation, you’ll discover something amazing. The graphics in this game are, next to Soul Calibur, some of the most amazing ever created. The characters are completely lifelike and realistic boasting extremely detailed designs and expressions, the stages are as real as walking outside your door and smelling the air, and the framerate, for the most part, is as smooth as silk. This game will amaze you again and again. Believe me.
The gameplay, for the most part, is as solid as a rock. You can pull of an enormous amount of devastating combos and throws that will blow you’re mind. Along with this, you also have the ability to counter an enemy’s blow with a hold and throw it right back at them; this truly deepens the fun of the game. But the gameplay can get a bit frustrating when you’re up against the savvy CPU players who knows all the moves because you won’t know what hit you when they unleash amazing attacks and counter all of yours. But these moments aren’t always disappointing because you’ll feel great after you finally sock it to them.
The sound, though bland at times, is fairly good. When you land a punch on you’re opponent a satisfying (and bone shattering) crash noise will be heard, which you will love to hear. The characters’ voices are well done, though all the voice overs are in Japanese with subtitles. The music is pretty boring though, save for a few of the exotic stages.
All in all, DOA2 is a great game. The only problem I had with it was that there is almost no replay value. There are no hidden features to unlock, save for a few easter eggs hidden within the game. So all you can basically do is beat story mode to the all the endings, try to get the best records, and play with your friends. I’ve heard that if you can get a hold of the Japanese version that there are unlockable characters and costumes as well as some other features, but most gamers won’t be able to get that chance. It’s a shame because this game could have been so much more. But minor problems aside, this game is awesome.
Tecmo is no Namco but they can surely put up a fight. And they’ve certainly demonstrated that in DOA2. This game, while it’s no Soul Calibur, is beautiful, well designed, well executed, and a joy to play. It’s definitely worth your while.