Just Cause Theres More Ladies It Doesn't Mean Its Good.
First off, let me say that fighting games aren't one of my favorite genres. I'll pick up tekken 3 once in a great while, and the others are good for killing time while I'm waiting for my pizza at the pizza parlor, but I generally tend to stick to RPGs and the like. So when I say DoA2:H is a cool fighting game, I have almost no knowledge of other fighting games to back it up. So I'll just tell you how my experience with it was and let you judge whether or not this is a good game for you.
Gameplay : Oh yes, this is good. It's fast-paced and easy to get into, yet there's a good reversal and holding system in there to master. Plenty of stuff to unlock, too. I hate the enemies, though. Half the chars in the game are as cheap as eddy from tekken 3, and when you have to face them in the later rounds, they let you know it. That stupid Hayate (Ein) kid has to die.
There's also plenty of... bounciness in there, and if you pick a female character wearing a skirt, you're bound to see up it within 5 seconds of the match starting (one of the arenas even has a grated floor that makes skirts fly up, ala marylin monroe). Battle Rec. mode can get you through some sleepless nights... heh heh heh...
They're simple enough so that any John McTard can get into them, yet they don't detract from the game's (hidden) complexity. You can also adjust the buttons to whatever fits you. That's 10 points right there. Minus 2 points for being a tad unresponsive, though. It's not enough to make you lose, but it does get annoying after a while. Then again, I might just not be good enough to know the precise timing needed to make your character kick twice in a row and then punch. I'm not the best at fighting games, after all...
Graphics : It's PS2, whadya expect? A 5? And I have no idea whether or not the DC version's graphics are as good, but I imagine it'd be damn hard to match up to the graphics in this PS2 version.
Sound : The sound effects are nice enough, and some of the music's alright, but overall the game's music didn't really leave a good taste in my mouth. It certainly didn't inspire me to fight. Maybe MGS and all the square games have spoiled me, I dunno.
Holy ****, the cutscenes are stupid. I suppose they might be better with some sort of back-story, but all I could find in the manual was a ''glossary of terms''. The only reason I even gave the story rating a 1 is because the graphics are good enough that you'll watch them at least once, if only to take in the eye candy and decent camera angles. But this is a fighter, so I suppose story's not terribly important, now, is it?
It's a good fighting game, the kind you'd play with friends to have a good time. Keep in mind that I'm not a big fighting fan. If you love fighters, this game might very well score higher with you. Or lower, depending on your loyalty to Tekken and your tolerance for cheapness.
And remember; it's a video game. So, according to politicians, it's a license to get insanely violent and kick all your classmates/co-workers to death. Remind them of that next time they get on your back.
And I have no idea how to close this properly, so... bye.