REVIEW:  On July 19th, 2013, Namco announced "Soul Calibur 2 HD Online" at San Diego Comic-Con. This was personally a dream come true, as SC2 is still one of my all time favorite fighting games. Soul Calibur 2 HD Online features remastered HD visuals and online functionality in celebration of the game's 10 year anniversary. Soul Calibur 2 HD Online packs the multitude of modes found in the console versions, including: Arcade, Survival, VS Battle, Time Attack, Survival, Team Battle, Practice, Weapon Master, Museum (plus all of the "Extra" modes as well). What the title adds is self-explanatory: Upgraded HD visuals (up to full 1080p) and online matchmaking.

 

 

First, a retrospective: The pinnacle of the series, Soul Calibur II was one of the premiere competitive fighting games in the early-mid 2000's, leading the fighting genre with its innovation and incredibly deep gameplay engine. For the record, I was a pretty hardcore SC2 tournament player back in the day... traveling to other cities to compete in tournaments with upwards of 100 players. Before the "boom" of the fighting genre in the late 2000's, these SC2 tournaments were some of the biggest fighting game tournaments I had ever seen. There's no denying SC2 had a lasting impact on the fighting genre, and there's good reason for that.


Before fighting games started featuring cushy comeback mechanics and instant-combo buttons... there was a time when fighters were "difficult" by default. Soul Calibur 2 is from that era (And it was a damn good era, if you ask me). Hell, even the Soul Calibur series itself has dumbed some things down over the years. While this "new approach" we've seen so commonly in the fighting genre has helped bring in many new players, something is "lost" from the good old days... and SC2 might be the perfect example. In SC2, character movelists have quite the learning curve if you're a new player. If you only learn a mere 10-20 moves with a character and think you're going to do well by spamming, a skilled SC2 player will pick you apart in seconds. SC2 character movesets are incredibly deep and dynamic, which really allows players to cleverly trick up their opponents... in so many different ways... and with vast amounts of style.


Soul Calibur 2's gameplay depth and clever characters offer an unparalleled gameplay experience... an "exclusive" experience that can't even be replicated by some of the later iterations of the series. As you may know, later on in the series (SC3-SC5), the gameplay speed became slower and many returning characters were toned down and changed drastically. Arguably, their SC2 versions are much faster, have tons more options, mix-ups & cancels, and in my opinion, are still among the most dynamic and fun-to-play versions of the characters. For me personally, SC2 made it difficult to return to "simpler" fighting games after experiencing all of what SC2's gameplay has to offer. Yes... SC2 spoiled me rotten. 

 

 

I've always loved the freedom of creativity SC2's character movesets give you. If you've never played SC2 against a player who has truly mastered the moveset of Mitsurugi, Ivy, Taki, Xianghua, Maxi, Raphael, Yoshimitsu, Lizard Man, Heihachi, (insert any other character name here)... than in my opinion, you've never actually played Soul Calibur 2... at least not "competitively". There's a huge difference between playing casually with friends that know a few moves (or fighting the CPU), and testing your skills against a player who Guard Impacts frequently, sidesteps properly, uses cancels to trick you, and uses a character to their full potential. Since online gameplay wasn't standardized back in 2003 like it is today, many players never got a chance to play SC2 competitively. That's why this online-enabled version of the game is well-deserved and should breathe new life into this classic title.


Unfortunately, SC2 HD Online has a few underlying flaws when it comes to the "online" part. The online options are VERY bare bones and the layout is shockingly clunky. When the game first launched, there wasn't even an option to create an actual room, and there was no "rematch" option... you had to re-invite friends after every match. (Thankfully, that has been fixed). Sadly, there are NO replays in online mode, and players are also forced to sit through character winning sequences every single round (not a huge issue). Another small flaw is that you can't make your characters "taunt" on the VS screen in online mode (it's funny how much I miss those one-liners now that they're gone). For a fighting game with "online" in the title, some of these fundamental flaws are pretty inexcusable. Thankfully, at least, the netcode is fairly decent when playing "somewhat local" friends, but it's nowhere near as good as TTT2's or SC5's. It actually seems like some "other team" was responsible for the netcode in this port, not the Namco we've been familiar with the last couple years.  

  
The good news is... as far as being a faithful port of the earlier console versions, Soul Calibur II HD Online delivers. The game actually looks much better than I expected in 1080p and retains 60 FPS at all times. Character models retain their awesome detail, and only show the slightest signs of "age" up close. Lighting effects and colors "pop" like never before, and some of the backgrounds actually look like they could be in a current gen fighting game (thanks to the superb anti-aliasing... not a jaggy line in sight)! The revamped texture quality and weapon trails are also particularly eye catching in 1080p. Some new or "enhanced" hit sparks would've been a nice treat, but SC2's effects are nostalgic on their own and actually stand the test of time. And don't you dare judge the game's graphics by Youtube videos... that's just stupid. You'll most likely be wowed with how crisp SC2 HD looks on your HDTV. 


Namco decided to present the console port of SC2 in all its original glory... and I approve. The game starts you out the same exact way as the original port - requiring you to unlock all the new characters, of course! This might irk a few players, but personally, I love the nostalgia of unlocking characters (especially in one of my favorite games). It reminds you of the glory days of fighters, when "DLC" didn't exist and everything on the game disc was yours from the start! Load times are also super fast across the board, which is always a nice plus. The only major complaint I have is that there's no Japanese audio option... which is pretty disappointing since it was something that the original console port had. However, I personally enjoy the English voices of SC2 (especially for the humor they bring), so all is not lost.

 

Page Updated: July 29th, 2024 Developer(s): Namco Publisher(s): Namco Designer(s): Hiroaki Yotoriyama Artwork by: Takuji Kawano, Aya Takemura Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Release Date(s): Nov. 19th, 2013  (PSN) Nov. 20th, 2013  (XBL) Characters:  Mitsurugi, Yunsung, Cassandra, Talim, Maxi, Ivy, Kilik, Taki, Voldo, Xianghua, Nightmare, Astaroth, Lizardman, Yoshimitsu, Rafael, Charade, Seung Mina, Sophitia, Cervantes, Berserker, Assassin, Necrid, Heihachi, Spawn, Inferno Featured Video: Related Games: Soul Calibur 2, Soul Edge, Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur 3, Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition, Soul Calibur 4, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, Soul Calibur 5, Soul Calibur 6, Soul Calibur: Lost Swords, Soul Calibur Legends, Darkstalkers Resurrection, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike Online, Marvel VS Capcom: Origins, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online, Tekken Revolution    Gameplay Engine  10 / 10 Story / Theme  9.5 / 10 Overall Graphics  9.5 / 10 Animation  10 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  10 / 10 Innovation  4.5 / 10 Art Direction  9.5 / 10 Customization  5.0 / 10 Options / Extras  6.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  8.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun  8.5 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  9.5 / 10 Characters  10 / 10 BOTTOM LINE 7.7 / 10  Review based on PS3 version     Final Words: The original Soul Calibur 2 scored a 9.9, one of the highest ratings on TFG. I was hoping for a robust online mode and maybe even some "new" features, but HD Online sticks to basics. Nonetheless, Soul Calibur 2 is still amazing game and remains in a class of its own. If I had to choose only ONE fighting game to play for the rest of my life... I might choose SC2. I could give 100 reasons why. That said, most of the points taken off of HD Online's rating are due to the bare bones online mode, which happens to be particularly important in this title. Thankfully, Namco fixed a few of the previous issues with online mode. I'd still like to see "VS Screen Taunts" and "Extra Stages" in online. And Ranked online should be 3 rounds (tournament standard). SC2 HD Online doesn't offer anything innovative over the original ports (besides Heihachi & Spawn meeting for the first time ever), but if new bells & whistles aren't important to you in an "HD edition," than you'll be happy with this port. My dream SC2 port would have some basic character customization (at least color edit), some fun graphical filters, and a robust online mode. It will remain a dream for now. After years of asking Namco for an "Online HD" edition of SC2 (over on TFG's original SC2 profile), the magical genie that is Namco at least attempted to grant one of my biggest wishes. While I haven't been able to run into too many new players online, playing local friends on my PSN friends list has been a mostly pleasant experience. Since I have some old friends that still play SC2, simply being able to play against them online is worth the price of admission for me. In any case, no doubt I'll be playing SC2 for many years to come. ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen                                                                                      Click Here for all Character Art! Click Here for more Screenshots! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES