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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Sequel of same 'calibur' as predecessor

The weapon-based 3-D fighting of the "Soul Calibur/Blade" series has achieved an almost legendary status among gamers, largely because of the second entry, "Soul Calibur," and its exclusive release for Sega's short-lived Dreamcast console. As a result of its deep and well-balanced fighting engine coupled with its dazzling graphics, "Soul Calibur" established a cult-like following, and gave several gamers reason enough to maintain their deceased Dreamcasts into the Playstation 2/ GameCube/Xbox era.\nNow -- unfortunately for Dreamcast fundamentalists -- Namco has released "Soul Calibur 2" for the three newer gaming consoles. Refraining from altering most of the inner workings of the fighting engine, Namco has effectively preserved the gameplay that catapulted "Soul Calibur" to fame. The graphic beauty of its predecessor also remains intact in "Soul Calibur 2." The only real factor depriving the sequel of the greatness of the original is its comparative lack of innovation.\nPerhaps the only attractive new feature of "Soul Calibur 2" lies in the addition of console-specific guest characters. The Xbox version features comic book character Spawn, the GameCube version includes Link of "Legend of Zelda" fame and the Playstation 2 version receives Heihachi from Namco's other big-name fighter, "Tekken" (an obvious rip-off compared to the other two guest characters).

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