Inscrible Your Glorious Name Here (XBox Version review) (Capcom vs. SNK 2 - Mark of the Millennium (PS2))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Capcom vs. SNK 2 - Mark of the Millennium (PS2)
Date:	11/04/03 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing gameplay, Lots of characters, Online play

Disadvantages: Whats with the extra load time?

(Note: This review can be applied to the PS2 version of the game. The only real difference between the versions, is the lack of online play in the PS2 game.)



When Capcom Vs SNK 2 hit the Dreamcast (import
only) and PS2 last year, it quickly became one of
my favorite fighting games of all time. The only
thing that I liked better, was Capcom's own Marvel
Vs Capcom 2. Capcom Vs SNK 2 was a 2D fighting
game fans dream come true. So, when I heard that
Capcom was going to port it over to the XBox
awhile back, I was quite interested. I had
wondered what sort of enhancements they would make
over an already amazing game. So, now that its
finally hit, is this a half a#sed port with little
or nothing new, or is it loaded with extras. Read
on and see.

Capcom Vs SNK 2 takes the original, and improves
on just about everything in it. There's new
characters, new grooves, new back grounds. Think
of the jump between Marvel Vs Capcom and 2, then
you'll get the idea.

First up, there's the characters. Capcom Vs SNK 2
now adds a bunch of new characters (all the old
ones are still here as well) from each side,
bringing the total characters up to around 44. Not

quite as many as Marvel Vs Capcom 2, but still
more then 99% of fighting games out there today.
So, has Ca
pcom added any new faces to the XBox
port? Unfortunately they haven't. I really think
they should have added at least 2-4 new fighters
here. It would have given people like myself, a
really good reason to buy this game a second time.
Anyway, here's a list of all the new characters
added to the line up over the first Capcom Vs SNK.


Capcom Side

Eagle: Eagle comes from way back in Street Fighter
1, so not many of you may remember him. He plays
pretty decent for what i've used of him. He feels
sort of like Rolento in a way, with the 2 sticks
he fights with.

Kyosuki: Kyosuki is from Capcom's underrated Rival
Schools/Project Justice games. He has a pretty
interesting, and original play style to him. Im
assuming alot of people are going to want to use
him.

Rolento: Rolento is from the original Final Fight
game, but has also appeared in The Street Fighter
Alpha/Zero series. His style is pretty much a hit
and run type. Not many people like to use Rolento,
but personally I think he's a blast to pla
y as.

Maki: Another rather obscure Capcom character most
probably wont recognize. Maki is from the not much

played Final Fight 2 on the SNES. She fights with
2 sticks and seems to play fairly well.


SNK Side

Rock Howard: Rock is from Neo Geo game called Mark
of the Wolves. He is crime boss Geese Howard's
son, who was trained by Terry Bogard. A really
cool character that mixes both Terry and Geese's
play style into a nice combo. He's one of my
favorite characters in the game.

Todo: This is Todo from the original Art of
Fighting on the Neo Geo. He's a rather boring
character to use, and feel they could have put a
better character in his place.

Haohmaru: The second character in the game to come
from the Samurai Shodown series. Haohmaru is a
welcome new addition to the series, and is
probably going to be one of the more popular
characters in the game.

Athena: Athena is from the popular King of
Fighters series, and is a great new addition to
this game. Ah, if only she did one of her famous
Psycho Soldier songs from the KOF games.

Chang: Chang is a big Ko
rean fighter, with a large
metal ball from the KOF series. This time, he has
his KOF teammate Choi fighting by his si
de. Chang
seems to be lacking abit here, but still remains a
very entertaining character to use.

Hibiki: Finally, on the SNK side we have Hibiki
from the Last Blade series. Hibiki sort of reminds
me of Ukyo from Samurai Shodown in the way that
she plays. A good characters, but takes a little
getting used to.

Overall im pretty happy with the character line
up. I am however, a little disappointed that Andy
and Billy Kane from Fatal Fury didn't make the
cut. They are 2 of SNK's most popular characters,
and definitely deserve a place here. Also, Dan and
Joe Higashi who were added in Capcom Vs SNK Pro
are back. Dan remains much the same as he did
before, while Joe is vastly improved. In Pro, Joe
had half of his moves taken away and just felt
like he was thrown in, rather then a serious
character. All this has changed for him now. He
now has all his moves back as well as 2 new
supers.

One of the coolest things about the first game,
was how it gave you a choice of 2 different

fighting styles called Grooves. There was one for
Capcom, which imitated the Street Fighter
Alpha/Zero style of play,
and one for SNK which
imitated the KOF play style. Also, depending on
which Groove you chose, your character would get a
different portrait drawn by the company of which
Groove you chose. All this is back in part 2, but
now you are given a choice of 6 different Grooves,
plus an option to create you're own Groove. Capcom
also carried over the special EO option from the
Gamecube version of the game. With it, you can
bust out special moves with ease, b simply hitting
a direction on the right analog stick. A rather
cheap, and useless option if you ask me.

C Groove: This Groove is pretty much like the play
style in the Street Fighter Alpha/Zero games. You
get 3 level supers, as well as air blocks and
counters.

A Groove: A Groove is sort of like the Custom
Combos from Alpha 3. This can be a really deadly
Groove, if your good at combos.

P Groove: This Groove more or less, feels like
play style in Street Fighter 3. It has parrying
ability, as well as the ability to short jump and
delay standing up.
r> S Groove: S Groove features a play style similar
to that in the KOF games. You can counter, dodge,

and do unlimited level 1 supers, if your life
gauge is at 15% or less.

N Groove: I haven't really messed much with N
Groove, but from what I understand its pretty
similar to the system used in the newer KOF games.
With it, you can run, counter as well as short
jump.

K Groove: K Groove seems to focus more on power
then anything, and seems to be based off the Fatal
Fury or Samurai Shodown system.


Playmodes in Capcom Vs SNK 2 are pretty much your
typical modes found in every fighting game. You
have your standard Arcade mode, Versus mode,
Survival and Training mode. New to the XBox
version is XBox Live support. With it, you can
play opponents from all over the world to test
your skills. While most games online are 90% lag
free, you do get the occasionally bit of lag here
and there. A small price to pay for the online
option I guess.

One complaint I found with the XBox version of the
game, w as its load time. In the Dreamcast
version, load between character was nearly

nonexistent. In the XBox game, you are now faced
with about 4 seconds or so, of looking at a screen
full of gold s
quares. Yeah, I know the load isn't
all that bad, but after spending so much time with
the DC version, it is a little annoying.



Graphics 8:
Graphically, this game is nearly the exact same
thing as every other version of the game. While
the backdrops do look a slight bit crisper then
they did on the DC, there's really nothing new
here. No new animation, no new backgrounds or
effects, nothing.


Fortunately, what you do get here is all good. I
especially liked the backgrounds. My favorite was
the desert background, where there's a rally race
taking place. Cars are jumping over sand dunes,
and right over your characters throughout the race
as they fight. There's also many other cool
details in the backgrounds as well, such as hidden
characters. In one background, it looks sort of
like a London street and in it, are numerous
characters such as Billy Kane, Lawrence Blood,
Rose and Palum. However, if I had one complaint
about the backgrounds, its that there aren't
enough
of them. It would have done Capcom good, to
add at least 4 or 5 more of them exclusive to the
XBox version.


Characters look fantastic, and animate ultra
smoothly. Not quite as smooth as SF3 or Guilty
Gear X, but they still look pretty darn good.
Capcom also changed around a few of the character
sprites as well. Chun Li's tired old Alpha
animations, have been replaced by her newer SF3
look.


Sound 9:
Like the graphics, there is really nothing at all
new about the sound. The sound track is a mix of
styles including hip hop, pop and rock, and fits
the action perfectly. I just wish they would have
used a few of the classic tunes from games like
Street Fighter and Fatal Fury.

Voices are mostly the same as in past games. The
only real difference I noticed was in Cammy's.
Cammy now has an ultra annoying voice compared to
her perfect one in the last. Then there's the
announcer. This guy is a riot. His broken English
(AKA Engrish) just has to be heard. When it comes
time to put your initials in, you'll laugh out
loud as he says "Inscrible Your Glorious Name
here." Whe
re in the world did Capcom find this
guy?


Control:
If you noticed, I didn't rate the controls
. Thats
because it all depends on which pad you're going
to be using. I've tried both the original XBox
control, as well as the newer Controller S. While
both controlled very well, I found that I had a
much easier time with the anchor sized original
pad. While its bulky size and smaller buttons do
take a little getting used to, the positioning of
the black and white buttons made all the
difference. Those buttons were just too awkward to
hit in the heat of battle on the Controller S.
Plus, to make matters worse, you are not allowed
to config your attacks to the L and R buttons

Overall, if you're using the standard pad, then
give this score a 9. If you're using the
Controller S, then give it an 8.



Overall, Capcom Vs SNK 2 is an amazing fighting
game that shouldn't be missed by anyone that's a
fan of 2D fighting games. So, if you own another
version of this game, should you buy this one too?
Well, that all depends on how important the XBox
Live play is to you. If you have XBox Live and

want a fighter on it, this is currently your only,
and best choice to go with. If you don't have your
console onli
ne, or don't care about online play,
then skip this version, as you won't find anything
new over the game you already have.