9.3	9.2	9.1

Compared: September 25, 2003
Compared by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Namco

Developer
Namco

Genre: Fighting
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen

Well GCM is here to settle all those arguments or at least give you plenty of valid ammo to continue your online insults. A quick glance to your left at the scores show that all three versions are incredible, and it was even hard for us to differentiate between the three systems. Only after spending more than 20 hours with each version and picking apart every last detail were we able to come up with the following conclusions.

Round 1: Gameplay

The most obvious difference between the three versions are the platform exclusive characters, Link (GC), Spawn (XBox), and Heihachi (PS2). This is totally a matter of personal fan preference and I wouldn’t presume to tell you one game is better than another solely based on one character. Each special character has their own strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I thought Spawn had the most fluid moves, but the Xbox won’t receive any extra favor based on that opinion.

Controls are usually the criteria that separate cross-platform games, but Namco wisely sidestepped this issue by only have four main commands and then allowing you to map them to any buttons you choose. Again, much of your enjoyment with the game will be based on the controller that feels best in your hand for extended periods of time. There is no doubt the PS2 Dual Shock is one of the more comfortable controllers out there but with all of the third-party gamepads and arcade sticks available I wouldn’t presume to guess what you might use to play this game.

Every other aspect of Soul Calibur II including gameplay and features are identical across all the systems. Since the only things that differentiate these versions are matters of personal preference we will leave this round as a stalemate.

Round 2: Visuals

Rating the graphics in Soul Calibur II is much more challenging and most of the differences will go unnoticed by the casual gamer. Unless you are piping this game out on a 64” HDTV chances are you’ll never see any of the flaws I’m about to mention.

The PS2 brings up the rear with some excellent graphics that are plagued with PS2 shimmer and aliasing effects. The more detailed textures will get pixilated and the real-time lighting effects are less pronounced.

The GameCube comes in second with some impressive graphics that manage a consistent 60fps, even where the Xbox falters. The textures are much more detailed than the PS2 and don’t blur or shift as the camera moves. The colors are more saturated giving everything a rich vibrant look and there is support for Progressive Scan.

The Xbox squeaks into first place out of sheer technical muscle. Even though the framerate might dip under heavy effects situations it never gets unplayable and with 480p and 720p HDTV support you won’t find a sharper version of this game anywhere.

Round 3: Music & Sound

All three games feature identical sound and music content, but the quality does vary among the systems as does the supported sound formats. The Xbox leads the pack with some crystal clear audio that plays in a wonderful Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix with special attention to low frequencies to get that subwoofer thumping.

The PS2 slips into second place with a Dolby Pro Logic II mix that sounds great but just isn’t as spatial as the Xbox. The highs and lows are also clipped giving you a more midrange audible experience.

Despite its own Dolby Pro Logic II mix, the GameCube falls into third place, once again victim to Nintendo’s persistence at nonconformance. By using a 3” disc they simply don’t have the space to pack on the same amount of data and when it comes time to make cuts sound clarity is the first place to start. The audio package on the Cube is just flat and not very exciting.

Round 4: Other Deciding Factors

The mark of a truly optimized program is when it performs identical across three systems of varying processing power. While there is a slight variance in load times the longest of these was about 8 seconds to load the game (Xbox vs. PS2). The GameCube split the difference. During the rest of the game all levels on all the systems loaded within 1-2 seconds of each other. So even though the Xbox is faster than the Cube and both are faster than the PS2, the times are so insignificant that it’s not even a viable issue when making a format decision.

Bottom Line

So after 60 hours of gaming we have come to the conclusion that there are no real substantial differences between the three versions. If you want to micro-analyze our findings you will see that the Xbox does in fact come in first with the GameCube second and the PS2 in third. But even in our individual reviews of these games there was only a variance of 1/10th of a point.

Chances are, if you own two or more systems then you probably have the funds to purchase copies for each format, but one special character is not really worth an entire purchase. My personal recommendation is to go with the Xbox and rent the other version(s) just so you can play the special characters assuming you are even curious.

Soul Calibur II is an amazing game and you won’t be disappointed with any version you end up getting. Just make sure you play it on one of them.