Walk into any arcade and it?s almost a given that you will find some form of Street Fighter. Just about every console, past or present since the 16-bit era, has seen some form of the series as well. To spice things up, Capcom started introducing ?Vs.? games into the series, such as Street Fighter vs. Marvel and Street Fighter vs. Capcom. The culmination of the Vs. series came about when Capcom released Capcom vs. SNK (SNK was a long time fighting game rival of Capcom) and, later, its sequel, both of which featured the SF warriors facing off against the cast from such SNK favorites as Fatal Fury, the Art of Fighting, and King of Fighters. Capcom vs. SNK 2 (CVS2) has been released for the arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and just recently, the GameCube. All of those versions lacked on feature though, and something quite new to the realm of fighting games: online play. The much anticipated, and very recently released, Xbox version of the game, dubbed Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO (also the name of the GameCube version), introduces this feature.
As with all of the Vs. series games, there isn?t one over-arching story driving the action such as in the Mortal Kombat or Dead or Alive games. Instead, you simply pick three characters and fight your team?s way up a ladder, facing off against other teams of three until you reach the final boss. There are 44 characters available to play as and they range from characters from the Street Fighter series, such as Ryu, Ken, and Guile, to characters from The Night Stalker series, to characters from SNK?s games such as Rock Howard from Fatal Fury, Haohmaru from the Samurai Showdown series and Ryuhaku Todo from the Art of Fighting games.
Veteran fighting game fans can choose to play the old style (which is just like your regular fighting game mode), whereas less skilled players can enable the EO mode where it only takes a press of the right analog stick to perform a character?s special moves and combos. Personally, I don?t like the EO mode at all as I think it takes all of the fun out of the playing the game and eliminates one of the main points of playing the game: figuring out and learning the different button presses to pull off moves. The main play modes in the game are your typical fighter fare: Arcade mode, Versus mode, and Survival mode in which you pick a team of characters and then try to defeat as many opponents as you can with using one life bar. Training mode helps you learn the basics of the game before you try the other modes and a Color Edit mode allows you to change the costume of any character, as well as the name of that character.
The graphics of CVS2 are the same as any old Street Fighter game, which isn?t saying much. The characters are 2D, pixilated, and could use some major improvements. For what it?s worth, the graphics aren?t necessarily bad, they just haven?t seen much change much since the mid-90?s. There are some 3D backdrops for your fighting and these are pretty cool, such as fighting on a bridge with a waterfall behind it. While I really wish the graphics would have received an upgrade, I don?t really consider them gripe-worthy or a downfall of the game, as it?s always been about the gameplay and having fun. The basics of any Street Fighter game is the fighting and CVS2 delivers.
Playing the game with a Controller S, I had no problems at all. You can use either the left analog or the d-pad to move your character around, and although the d-pad sometimes feels a little stiff, you get used to it after a few minutes (if you go that control route). The rest of the controls are your typical fighter controls, with the different buttons of the controller mapped to different attacks. The EO option really simplifies things though, as all you have to do is press either the L or R triggers (both analog sensitive) to perform a punch or kick.
When you select your characters you have an option of choosing a Groove or fighting style. There are various Grooves to choose from and each has its own set of special attributes. The C Groove allows for 3 levels of super combo moves, an air block and counter attacks. The A Groove is the regular Street Fighter style, in which you can mix and match special moves. The P Groove allows you to parry and counter attack moves and only level 3 combos are permitted. The S Groove allows you to use super combos without limit, as well as a super max attack, whenever your health is low. The N Groove has 3 levels of a super gauge which allows you to perform special moves. The K Groove increases your attack power and lets you perform a super max attack. There is also a Groove point system by which you are graded for performance on attacks and combos you use.
And now the big question: How?s the online play (and does the game suffer from lag)? A crucial aspect of getting an online fighter right is to reduce or eliminate the lag that may occur while playing. I have played quite a few matches online and have experienced little to no lag at all. It plays quite smooth and seems like your opponent is sitting right next to you and not halfway across the country. There is some loading when you are changing characters in between rounds, though. After the match you have the option of either having a rematch against the same person or you can quit and either sign off or look for another opponent. The Live headset works great and it is very cool to be able to talk to your opponents so you can either congratulate or talk trash.
One of the coolest features of playing online is a ranking system in which you can see how you compare to other people both domestically and worldwide (worldwide mainly only including Japan at the moment). There are options allowing you to pick the best matches, so you can choose to play with the EO mode on and look for other people who use or you can play people who don?t use it. Personally, I always look for people who don?t use the EO option. While I haven?t played with anybody from Japan yet, they seem to have the best rankings and win-loss records. Overall, the online experience is quite impressive and reminds me of the good old days of playing many new people in the arcades, only now I don?t have to leave my house to do so.
Even if Capcom vs. SNK 2 didn?t have online play it would still be a good fighter and a worthy purchase for any Xbox-owning fighter fan. Online play does really help in adding tons of replay value to the game, though, and it allows you to play many people from around the world with very little lag to worry about. At only 39.99 it is a nice little bargain and should please fans of both the Street Fighter and SNK series. It?s nice to finally see an online fighting game, and I can only hope that Capcom (as well as other developers) will continue publishing such titles.
Graphics:
|
7 |
Sound: |
7 |
| Single-player
Fun: |
7 |
Mulitplayer
Fun: |
9 |
| Gameplay: |
7 |
Replay
Value: |
9 |
| Overall: |
8
(not an average) |
|
