All Out 4 Player Action (Power Stone 2 (DC))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Power Stone 2 (DC)
Date:	26/04/05 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great 4 player mode, Nice graphics

Disadvantages: Lack of online mode

Capcom is a company well known for its 2D fighting games but when it
come to 3D the likes of Namco, Sega and Tecmo rule. After a few 3D
fighting titles such as Star Gladiator/Plasma Sword and Tech
Romancer which met luke warm success Capcom felt the need to do
something a little different for a 3D fighter. About a year and a
half ago Capcom released Power Stone in Japan for the Dreamcast.
Power Stone was different from any 3D fighter out there with the
only thing similar being Ehrgeiz for the Playstation. Power Stone
was all about fast paced fighting which had 2 fighters squaring off
using several different weapons and objects around the room. Power
Stone was no button masher like some may think. Players had to learn
to utilize everything in the levels from support beams to tables and
chairs. The play style more or less reminded me of a Jackie Chan
film, except there was no Jackie and it had an anime theme. Players
could also power up there characters by collecting 3 different
colored Power Stone gems. This could turn the tide of fights around
really fast with a near dead character and added a lot to the
playability.

With the release of Power Stone 2, Capcom has taken
everything that made the first Power Stone so much fun and made it
better. Combat is no longer restricted to 1 on 1 fights. Capcom has
now added 4 player support making Power Stone 2 perhaps one of the
best multi player games ever. Unfortunately though players looking
for online fighting will probably be abit let down, as this feature is not
included.

What else is new to Power Stone 2 besides 4 player action? Well,
Capcom has now added 6 new characters to the line up 4 of which are
playable from the start and 2 which must be unlocked. The first is a
Toy doll named Pete who transforms into a robot once he collects 3
Power Stones. Second is Julia who sort of looks like a southern
belle with her long dress and umbrella and transforms into a super
hero type get up complete with candles on her head. Third is
Gourmand a pudgy red cheeked chef who transforms into Barney like
dinosaur when he collects 3 gems.
Fourth is Accel a cowboy with 6 shooters who can transform into a
robotic cowboy with the aid of the Power Stones.
Finally the 2 hidden characters are the shop keeper who plays almost
exactly like Julia and Falcon's father who plays just like Falcon.

Other additions include much larger play areas which have multi
levels. One level has players fighting high in the sky on an airship
complete with gun turrets players can mount and use. Then the
airship begins to fall apart and player are forced to fight it out
in the air while franticly searching falling treasure chest for an
umbrella to land safely. Unfortunately there's not enough umbrella's
for everyone so players stuck without will slam into the from and
take damage. Once all players have landed its time to finish the
fight out on the ground.

Additional play areas include and ancient temple complete with and
Indiana Jones style boulder chase. A submarine level where players
must fight it out on subs which constantly surface and submerge
before slamming into an iceberg at the end and there's also a fight
onboard a space station complete with giant alien on the top.

Players still cannot block which I did not like at first but
eventually got used to. But there are several new weapons and items
which players can use.There are 120 items in all. These weapons
range from things like bombs, umbrella's, machine guns and
megaphones to stage based weapons such as tanks, catapults and gun
turrets.

Play modes include 1 on 1 for 1 or 2 players.
Arcade mode which pits up to 4 players through several stages until
finally facing the last boss.
Original mode for 1 to 4 players which allows you to choose from
different rules such as 1 on 1 and 1 on 3. If you don't happen to
have any buddies around you can also set CPU controlled characters.

And finally there's the Adventure mode. In the Adventure mode every
item the player picks up is stored. Once done playing this mode you
can go to a shop and sell your items or buy new ones. Players can
also merge items in hopes of making a new or more powerful weapon
which players can use in other play modes. However making the right
combination can be tricky as not everything will work. If the
combination does not produce an item you will lose all the items
used in trying to make the combination.
Also in the shop Falcon's father will frequently pop in. Sometimes
he will give you an item and others he will steal money from you.
This does get a little annoying at times though.


Graphics 9: Graphics in Power Stone 2 are quite good. Levels are
much larger then in the first Power Stone and things are scaled back
a lot more to accommodate 4 players and the bigger levels. This can
cause some major confusion especially during 4 player battles. Add
this to the fact that the camera isn't all ways the greatest and
blocks the few of you character in some instances.
Still though everything is very impressive looking and runs at
around 60 frames per second and in high resolution with only a
little slowdown here and there.


Sound 8: Sound in Power Stone 2 is pretty well done. The music has
sort of an adventurous theme mixed with anime overtones and fits the
game quite well.
The sound effects also sound pretty impressive and are all crisp and
clean.


Control 9: What's a game without control? Not much of a game at all
im affraid but fortunetly Power Stone 2 features some pretty tight
and responsive control. You can move your player around with either
the analog stick or regular D pad. A is your jump button, B is to
grab items or throw opponents, X is an attack button, Y will discard
items and the L and R triggers are used for super attacks once your
character has acquired 3 Power Stones to power up. The control
system makes the game simple for even novices to master after a few
minutes.


Overall I would highly recommend Power Stone 2 to fans of the
original game or for people who are looking for a good party game.
Its easy enough for novices to jump right into yet the gameplay is
deep enough for veteran gamers. Capcom has done an impressive job
with this series and im really hoping they make a 3rd in the series someday.


Guile176/Phantasystar77

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