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The Japanese limited edition
of 'Capcom versus SNK 2' includes a fan disk that contains an
art gallery, videos from Japanese players testing the game and
saves for many Dreamcast Capcom games. Luckily, I got my hands
on the limited version so I'll comment about it in the final
part of my review.
Capcom's recent announcement stating that they're moving on from
2d fighters definitely means something: they believe to have
approached perfection in nearly all of their series. Who could
blame them? 'Capcom versus SNK 2' looks like a tribute to the
genre, a compilation that any fighter fan should get because
it's more than a simple update, this time.
Finally, the two worlds really collide as Capcom
corrected most of the stuff that irked so many players in the
first game. The company was clearly aware of the fact that the
first episode was very controversial and -let's admit it- rather
bland in many ways. CvS2 was hyped so much that the wait for it
was terrible, and as often with the big C, I was afraid of
discovering a half-assed game when I put the GD in my beloved
Dreamcast. After the pathetic intro...
"Honey, can you go dump the trash?"
Four hours later, I finally resurfaced to the real world. Not
being a big fan of the first episode, I wasn't expecting to be
hooked instantly, but CvS2 has that something special that few
games have. Everyone from the casual gamer to the "hardcore" fan
will love to play it, and both will have tremendous amounts
of fun with it.
Get your groove on!
CvS2's deepness makes the game more addictive than crack: much
like Street Fighter Alpha 3's Isms, the game lets you choose a
groove that will determine your fighting style. But it gets
really interesting when you find out that each of the 6 grooves
pretty much represents other series: C groove lets you play like
Alpha, A groove features CCs -think Alpha 3's V-Ism-, P is for
parry (Street Fighter III style, baby!), S is KOF's extra mode,
and N is KOF's Advanced mode, whereas K gives you the
opportunity to Just Defend and features a rage gauge, that is to
say it's a hybrid between Samurai Shodown and Garou. Each groove
is totally different from the other because Capcom decided to
included air blocking, running, tactical recovery, short
jumps...
What makes this great is that people who usually play other
series can join the battle without too much trouble. What's
more, it finally lets you play the fights you never even
dreamed of: who wouldn't want to play Kyo with custom combos or
Rock with parries? The greatest aspect of the game is probably
linked with the variety of techniques I just mentioned: I have
never seen a more balanced game in my whole life. Some
characters are better suited for certain grooves, but there'
always a counter to each character or groove. For instance,
custom combos kill parries, but parries are the answer to cheesy
Guile techniques. The grooves are very balanced and represent
different levels of skill: C and S are very simple, N is
intermediate and A, P and K take a longer time to master. My
greatest fear was that one of the grooves would be broken, but I
was totally wrong.
4 X 1 = 5?
You all remember the terrible ratio system that was used in the
first game, don't you? Capcom has changed that, too. No more 4
character-teams that made the fights last longer than WW2. No
more overpowered ratio 1s (well, almost). No more sucky ratio 3s
(really).
The new system still allows you to invest your 4 ratio points as
you wish, except that you can't pick more than 3 characters.
Your only choices are to pick two ratio 1s and a ratio 2, one
ratio 1 and a ratio 3, two ratio 2s or a ratio 4. Some
characters are better in particular ratios thanks to the
balanced defense and damage bonuses, which makes this game very
strategic. In KOF99 fashion, you can change the order of your
characters before the fight without your opponent knowing, which
avoids the 'let him pick first and then pick a counter team'
problems often seen in tournaments. If you're like me and don't
really like the idea of ratios in the first place, you also have
the opportunity to play one-on-one and three-on-three, so both
Street Fighter and King of Fighters fanatics should be happy.
"The King is dead. Hail the King!"
The cast of CvS2 puts the one of its predecessor to shame. There
are 44 characters that all play differently depending on the
groove you chose. Capcom also got rid of the stupid EX
characters and gave the characters their entire set of moves:
what's incredible is that they managed to keep the game
balanced! This also mean that the SNK characters can be play
quite similarly to the way they are being used in their
respective games, which was not the case in the first game.
Of course, all the characters from the first game are back and
the new additions to the roster are quite interesting. Joe and
Dan were already in the shameful pro edition. Maki plays very
much like her boyfriend (who is Guy from Final Fight). Hibiki
from Last Blade 2 is a powerhouse, although she has been through
big changes. Yun from Street Fighter III is a bit of a mixed
baged: he can't pressure as well as before but he can still be
played effectively. Haohmaru has an excellent set of normals,
which makes him a good R4 choice. Kyosuke is awkward, but very
fun to use with his textbook combos from Rival Schools. Eagle,
taken straight from the first Street Fighter game, looks like
he's got potential thanks to his multi-hit moves. Even Art of
Fighting is represented with the veteran Todo -KOF's Kasumi's
father, in case you didn't know-, and his strength was a huge
surprise to me. Rock Howard rocks, as usual. I was also very
pleased with the way they handled Athena's conversion: she's
very fun to use. Rolento plays exactly like his Alpha 3 self,
and Chang always uses Choi (aka Freddy Krugger) as a shield.
Funny stuff.
While the cast seems awesome at first, there's no denial that
Capcom could have included even more characters. There's no
excuse for leaving out emblematic characters such as Andy Bogard,
Fei Long, Clark or Leona: actually, they should have been in the
first game. Even though the deepness of the game more than makes
up for this terrible mistake, people who are expecting a
plethora of new characters might be disappointed.
The controls are, simply put, perfect. The biggest news
is that the 6-button layout is back! You can finally use your
usual tactics with the Capcom characters! To make things even,
the SNK characters were given medium attacks as well: while it
might seem weird at first sight, it appears that they never
played better!
The priority of many moves has been revised and it seems harder
to snuff supers. All of them are very easy to pull off, even on
that god-awful Dreamcast controller. Third Strike fans might
have a hard time getting used to the new parry timing since it's
rather different: both parry and follow-up windows are now much
shorter, but after some practice that problem disappears. They
also weakened Nakoruru and Ryu's Shin Shoryuken, which obviously
is good news.
Gameplay-wise, CvS2 is arguably the best game I've ever played.
But while the rest of the game is very solid, Capcom committed
small mistakes that could easily have been avoided, thus ruining
the game's chances to become the best fighter ever. Shame on
them...
"Mirror, mirror, tell me who is the slickest..."
The graphics are excellent for the most part: the new characters
are very detailed and their animation, without attaining SFIII/Garou
heights, it still more than decent. Besides, don't forget that
you can change the speed of the game! CvS2 shares with its
prequel the amazing quality of its 3d backgrounds, although
there could have been more. Numerous characters created by both
companies make cameo appearances in original places, but more
importantly they all look very lively. The art is also very nice
except for a few exceptions, and if you were lucky enough to get
the fan disk with the game -meaning that your copy was from the
first shipment-, you will be glad to learn that it contains an
art gallery.
Alas, even though Chun-Li's new look is almost as stunning as
her SFIII appearance, she is the only character who got a
makeover. The terrible Alpha character models are still here and
obviously show their age even more than last year. Sagat, Blanka
and Gief look like crap. And don't even get me started on
Morrigan's sprite. This is where Capcom's legendary laziness
shows: a Rock versus E. Honda fight looks like a poor cut and
paste job made by a 10-year old. While this plague doesn't make
the whole game look bad, it sometimes affects the nice
atmosphere created by the dynamic presentation of the game.
Capco---Keep rocking baby!"
A common issue in most Capcom games is the announcer: to some
extent, this game is no exception to the rule. He keeps talking
all the time, and I mean all. At the title screen, the character
select screen, the groove select screen, before the fight,
during the fight, after the fight... Ugh. While his comments are
interesting in general and his voice is heaps ahead the Alpha 3
announcer, he just talks way too much. Things can get hilarious
when you don't let him finish his speeches, though.
However, the character's voices are crystal clear, especially
for the new characters. The sound effects are pretty cool, but
what really sets the tone of the game is the music: it's a lot
better than in CvS. Without ever making themselves too loud, its
techno beats match the rhythm of the hits in a frenzy
reminiscent of a Mozart symphony, or something like that.
Granted, the music won't please everyone, but I have to say I
simply fell in love with it. Go figure.
On a side note, you might notice familiar tunes while playing
the fan disk: yes indeed, it contains intact tunes from
different games including the original Street Fighter 2 and
Third Strike. Neat.
"You don't like the engine? Create your own game, son!"
If you like fighting games, CvS2 should keep you busy for a very
long time, granted that you don't just play them to unlock
hidden characters. Yes indeed, the game doesn't have many
secrets: you can unlock the two bosses -who look pretty cool but
are only powered up versions of Gouki and Rugal, sadly-. But
this game has the ultimate extra option: it lets you create your
own groove and customize the engine, similarly to Third Strike.
One cannot stress enough on the importance of this feature...
"Capcom versus SNK 2 is deeper than the sea, faster than the
leopard and funnier than the orangutan. It is a natural law that
the men play it while the women are cooking the dinner."
Confucius
CvS2 is so complete and deep that it's literally impossible to
master it entirely. As a matter of fact, the variety it
showcases makes it the perfect tournament game. Saying that this
is one of Capcom's most polished games wouldn't be taking much
risk. Capcom is known for desperately milking its series, but
this game is so much more than a simple update: it's the
ultimate 2d fighter. This game is Capcom's gift for the
Dreamcast's farewell party. To be blunt and honest, not buying
it should be considered a crime.
Capcom Fan Disk
The Fan Disk is an excellent idea that further proves Capcom's
intention to thank their fans. The majority of the videos are
very impressive: they show you how to play the game well and are
a nice demonstration of what you can do with some practice. The
drawback is that to view the videos you have to save them on
your memory card -of course, they take a lot of space- and then
use the game's replay mode. Juggling between the GDs and not
being able to keep all the videos on a standard VMU is not fun,
but it's worth it.
The art galleries are quality but I wish they had included more
artworks. I liked how it contained SNK art as well, though.
Finally, the saves are useful for the people who didn't bother
unlocking all the secrets on their Capcom games before, but how
many people are in this case? The only games I can think of that
were forgotten are Vampire Chronicle and Capcom versus SNK Pro.
In other words, this Fan Disk a worthy addition. If only they
had printed more copies... |
