Capcom, or SNK? Street Fighter, or King of Fighters? In the world of 2D fighting,
this is generally as much argument as most people have over which is the better
franchise. On the Capcom side, most of their sideline fighters have been so similar
in style and execution to whatever their latest SF title was, people generally
don't see further than the main franchise.
SNK are a little more complicated, having a variety of styles and game mechanics
to their games, and in the mid-90s they released The Last Blade for their NeoGeo.
The game played like a blend of the highly cerebral Samurai Spirits series and
the more twitchy King of Fighters, and was interesting, different and good-looking
enough to win it many fans who were keen to see 2D weapons-based combat with a
less technical slant than the frustratingly slow-paced Samurai Spirits. SNK followed
this sleeper success up with the imaginatively-titled Last Blade 2, which advanced
the series with more characters, and more fighting styles.
The public reacted well to the game, which was essentially more of the same
highly-polished beat 'em up action which they had enjoyed first time round,
and although it was similarly well-received, it still didn't trouble the Street
Fighters and yearly King of Fighters updates in terms of revenue. Now, the struggling
SNK have brought the series to Sega's Dreamcast, possibly the last home of the
2D fighter in the console market, in the form of Last Blade 2: Final Edition,
and fans of the series finally have the chance to show people that 2D fighting
isn't necessarily a choice between the two big hitters above.
The game plays as well as it ever did, which is very well indeed. The mechanics
of the game are a hybrid of the up-close-and-personal, minimal projectile-throwing
fighting from Samurai Spirits, and the speed, fluidity, easy controls, and pick-up-and-play
accessibility of the Street Fighter games. The controls are simple and, given
its Neo-Geo heritage, well suited to the Dreamcast controller. Three attack
buttons are used, two weapon-slashes and a kick. The other face button is used
for the "repel" move, which works like the parries which came later
in Street Fighter 3 and Soul Calibur. Working alongside your standard back-to-block,
pressing the repel button at the right time will not only save you from a beating,
but also temporarily stun your opponent, leaving him (or her) open to a counterattack.
The system allows the game to become much more tactical, although you can play
the game quite happily without using it all, and it isn't so much of a spoiler
as similar features in other games, as badly-timed use of the move will leave
you wide open to attacks. This is a nice change, and works better than the system
in, say, Street Fighter 3, where there is no longer any real need for standard
back-blocking once the parry move is mastered, resulting in almost every attack
being countered.
Each of the characters has three available playing modes: Power, Speed and
EX. Power mode allows you to hit harder, but takes away a lot of your combo
potential. Speed mode tempers your power slightly but allows you to chain together
standard and special attacks for combo hitting. EX mode is, as you might expect,
a combination of the two, which also increases the time it takes for your super-bar
to fill up. The combo feature is particularly well implemented in the game,
giving you more scope for complicated sequences than most Capcom or SNK games,
but not getting into the realms of Killer Instinct stupidity. The combos work
almost like a 3D fighting game, Tekken or Dead Or Alive 2, and to watch the
moves flow into each other in a 2D game as seamlessly as they do in 3D games
is an unexpected bonus. This game's greatest asset, though, is its playability;
although it's outshone graphically by most new-style 2D fighters, it has a feel
all of its own, and it's a joy to play a weapons-based fighter which is as enjoyable
as a Street Fighter game.
Aesthetically, you'll either love it or you'll hate it. The game was developed
just before Street Fighter 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and SNK's own Garou: Mark
of the Wolves moved the goalposts for visuals in 2D fighting, and while the
animation and backgrounds in this game are impressive to look at, they certainly
pale when compared to the likes of Capcom vs. SNK or Guilty Gear X. That said,
fans of the genre will be more than happy with what's on offer here - the characters
are well designed and well animated, and the backgrounds are evocative and effective.
The game uses sound like no other 2D fighter - all the standard shouts and grunts
are in place, and the clash of weapons is well represented; what really sets
Last Blade 2 apart, though, is its choice of soundtrack. What music there is
sounds so different that it really makes you take notice - light orchestral
pieces done via MIDI which sound exactly right for the time period of the game
(1890 or thereabouts) but sound out of place for the genre of the game. Coupled
with the artwork in the game, the music is effective, but it's easy to imagine
players switching off the sound as it's definitely an acquired taste. More impressive
are the stages with no music at all - these levels are soundtracked by ambient
noise; far-off thunder, dogs barking in the distance, birdsong and wind. These
stages are truly ground-breaking, and sometimes make you wish that other developers
would concentrate more on this aspect of their soundtracks rather than yet-another
remix of last years' tune. The introductions to the stages are ported direct
from the arcade version, and also go a long way to setting the mood of the game.
Strangely, for a game where the music appears to be MIDI generated (it's certainly
not CD-quality), the disc makes a lot of noise in the Dreamcast while you play.
It seems strange that the game is noisier than, say, Street Fighter 3, and combining
the already-noisy DC disc mechanism with a particularly noisy title, and the
quiet nature of much of the game, you find it difficult to settle into the game
the same way as you did with the NeoGeo version. There is also at least one
glitch where a sample repeats itself, resulting in a broken-CD effect, which
is also irritating. The in-game loading times are minimal, although there is
a long initial loading time, and a long wait after the game is over to get back
to the start. The extras in this game over the original arcade version are few;
an unlockable card game, some extra characters and an art gallery, as well as
the by now standard training mode. The amount of Japanese text in the game is
fairly oppressive; although the menu and options screens are in English, you
won't have a clue what the story is, or even what the name of your character
is until you start playing.
It's an unexpected bonus that SNK took the time to port this title; fighting
fans who have no access to the NeoGeo version of the game, or who have never
played it before, owe it to themselves to have a look at this game, which is
an interesting break from the norm and one of the Dreamcast's most original
fighters.
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