SoulCalibur II HD Online (PlayStation 3) Review

For those that have already traversed the pages of history and laid Inferno to rest in SoulCalibur II's storyline back in the day, there will be some extremely fond memories, and the thought of being able to relive playing through this fantastic fighting game again in HD is an alluring one. The number of single and multiplayer modes on offer meant there was enough enjoyment whether played alone or with friends, and it was with SoulCalibur II that a challenging and impressive single-player quest was introduced to the series.

The Weapon Master mode let a player tackle a text-based adventure, broken up with chapters of unique missions. Messing with the physics of the characters and arenas allowed for all sorts of crazy one-on-one battles against the AI fighters, where stages would be covered in slippery ice, bombs littered the field of play, characters' health would slowly drain away, or the ability to knock back opponents was greatly increased. These are only a sample of the very unusual types of battles that were allowed, and there is no question it made this huge portion of the game such a favourite amongst its fans. It really did give players that weren't able to get into the multiplayer side of things a reason to keep playing this fighter longer than they may have otherwise.

SoulCalibur II was packed to the brim with content, then, and SoulCalibur II HD Online retains all of that. However, it is those two extra words at the end of this updated version's title that will be what draws attention to it. In truth, though, the upgrade to HD really hasn't delivered anything substantially different over the original game. Detail on character clothing is sharper, but don't expect to switch this game on and be taken aback by the visual revision. It really is a minor graphical update, so anyone hoping for character models in the same league as SoulCalibur IV or V will be disgruntled.

The graphical clipping is also more apparent than ever in revisiting this decade-old game. As the years and technology have moved on, gripes like clipping have been reduced by greater extents, but jumping back in time to the weapons-based combat of SoulCalibur II reveals all of the ugliness in weapons, clothing and body parts passing through one another - notably in the short scenes before and after fights. That obviously has no effect on the gameplay, of course, but the clipping will be very noticeable after being spoilt by today's games' drastic improvements. Again, it shows that not much else in the graphics department of SoulCalibur II HD Online has been greatly enhanced.

Everyone can look past the graphics, though, and it's a given that anyone who has enjoyed a SoulCalibur game before, or is thinking about getting into the series now, will be far more concerned with the online additions. Well, brace for impact, because the most exciting new aspect of SoulCalibur II HD Online is a big let-down. For the complaints many people had with SoulCalibur V, the netcode, more often than not, wasn't one of them; it was praised for maintaining lag free matches a high percentage of the time, and for having a great lobby system. The same cannot be said for SoulCalibur II HD Online, however, where input delays can be rife and the options for matchmaking are very poor.

There is no lobby system, players cannot choose not to go ahead with a match once an opponent is located, the intro and outro cut-scenes cannot be skipped, and the number of rounds to win in Ranked is fixed at two. It seems like such a backwards step when compared to the online mode of SoulCalibur V. If the developers could have used the netcode of that game for SoulCalibur II HD Online, that would have been acceptable enough. However, for a game that gets 'Online' added to its title, and then receives an inadequate infrastructure, it really ruins all the hype built up for it. It's the one big addition that would have had old SoulCalibur II players ready to slam down the cash, so they could at last put their skills to the test against other players around the world in what will always be a great fighting game, but unfortunately for them, it's simply not up to the standards it deserves.