2nd Op By

Ben Hopper 7.5 RATING

The original Power Stone was the best Dreamcast game available at the system's launch as far as I'm concerned. It was a new approach to a genre that Capcom itself helped pioneer. My expectations were sky-high for the sequel. There were rumors flying around while Power Stone 2 was in development in Japan about a network feature making it into the game. That idea seemed like the obvious next step for a Power Stone sequel to take. The first game was such a fun two-player game, why wouldn't Capcom take advantage of Dreamcast's modem and get the online multiplayer ball really rolling with Power Stone 2? The timing would have been perfect—the game was released around the same time as NFL 2K1 and right before NBA 2K1 and Quake III. It just seemed like a no-brainer to me that an online battle mode would be included in the next Power Stone game. You can imagine my surprise (disappointment, actually) when I bought the game and found that such a feature was no where to be found.

I hate to criticize games for the things they don't have. Heck, who am I to tell developers what to do? But the only thing wrong with Power Stone 2 is exactly that—it underachieves at a level that's impossible to ignore.

Power Stone 2 seems to have lost a bit of its focus when compared to the first game. Despite the fact that four players can now duke it out all at once, there's more of an emphasis on single-player action. The Adventure, Arcade, Item Shop and even the 1-On-1 modes all favor the one-player experience. In fact, the Original mode—where up to four players can fight it out without having to complete a mission objective—is surprisingly dull in its set-up and execution. It's fun to play, but after only a few rounds the levels tend to get repetitive no matter how big they are. It's as if the versus mode was an afterthought and was just slapped on near the end of development. The focus all along should have been the multiplayer fighting aspect—not only between four-players per Dreamcast (a given since the first game lacked such an option), but also between online opponents. There shouldn't be any doubt that multiplayer brawling is what this game is all about. But because the game leans so heavily toward the single-player objectives of escaping the castle and collecting items and money, Power Stone 2's concept is blurry and confused. Why the developers put so much time into the Item Shop mode—which I saw as more of a distraction—and put no time into implementing a network mode is absolutely baffling to me. Is there anyone else out there wouldn't rather have online fighting than mixing and trading items?

I still like all of the things that are in the game, like the new characters, levels, weapons and game modes. And the game looks amazing. One of the main draws of the first game for me was its unique visual style and authentic representation of different cultures and time periods. Power Stone 2 continues down that same thematic path for the most part, and the game is even more ambitious graphically. The characters still all speak Japanese despite the fact that they come from all over the world, and they still all kind of look like dolls or action figures when seen up-close—their faces have no expressions, and even their eyes don't move—but the scale of the levels has been greatly improved. Instead of the action taking place in one room as in the original, the stages span across oceans, skies, castles and fortresses. The game now plays somewhat differently as a result, and the characters don't uncover parts of the level as they fight like in Dead Or Alive 2. Instead the game prods the combatants along, and if they can't keep up they take damage. Overall the gameplay feels more balanced though, and it's still fun to play. I might even call Power Stone 2 an "almost-blast."

My reaction to the game is similar to Chi's. I have some mixed feelings about it, but I tend to lean more toward its negative aspects. What's there is good, but there just isn't enough in my opinion. The developers should have aimed higher when designing the game instead of just settling with the new level designs, characters, items and the four-player option. Not only should there have been new level designs, but much more of them. Not only should there have been new characters, but ones that perhaps speak different languages and actually blink. Not only should there have been a four-player battle mode, but there should have been an online battle mode as well. (I'm not hitting anyone over the head with all of this am I?)

Maybe I'm being too demanding. But if I am, it's because I feel the nature of the Power Stone series demands it. When you make a sequel to a game like Power Stone, you don't half-ass it, you go for broke. I don't think of Power Stone 2 as a half-assed effort, but it could have been a monumental game instead of just a sequel.

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