"Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold." Magic words those, and ones that sparked one of the best beat/hack-em-ups of all time. Those without the ill-fated Dreamcast never got to sample the delights of the follow up to the PSOne's Soul Edge, but Soul Calibur was, and is still, astoundingly popular amongst owners of Sega's hapless next-gen console. It's been a remarkably long time coming, but has Namco done enough with the spectacular sword swiping shenanigans to satisfy the fighting populous?

As far as opening credits go, Namco have always been on the ball with Hollywood style explosions, beautifully choreographed fight scenes, plenty of gratuitous flesh and mounds of wibbly-wobbly bits. Soul Calibur II is no exception and opens the game with suitable exuberance. For my money though, it's nowhere near as impressive as Soul Edge's timeless opening sequence and musically it doesn't really inspire. I couldn't quite make out a coherent storyline from it, but is that really a problem?

If you break it down, SCII is essentially the same as its predecessors; three attack buttons - horizontal, vertical and kick - and a guard button form the basis of the combat system with various combinations and D-pad motions enhancing the regular moves with specials - simplicity itself. That's not to say that it's not difficult to master, because it's one of the most involving fighters around, with twenty plus fighters to learn, most of which have completely different fighting styles. In comparison to recent fighters, you could say that SCII has taken a step back in terms of play mechanics, as there are no destructible environments, multi-level platforms or obstacles around which to fight. Also, unlike Soul Edge, there are no weapon health bars to consider, meaning that you can pull off specials whenever you like. This may make SCII sound overly simple by today's standards, but the minimalism is quite refreshing and it allows the beauty and balance of the command system to shine through.

SCII offers up all the regulars in terms of play modes, with team battle, arcade, time attack and practice forming the bulk of the competitive options. Weapon master returns for the single player and sees you journeying through the land in search of the great Soul Calibur, picking up numerous other weapons and unlockables along the way. It isn't a great departure from the regular modes but the match specific conditions, such as high winds or poison, add a little longevity for the loner. The dungeons, which are a string of bouts leading to a boss character, feature quite heavily in the weapon master mode but these are again not particularly inspired. They can only be managed with a high level of competence though, making sure that there's always something to do.

The battles themselves are tense, fluid, exciting, and vary a great deal. The larger characters, true to form, rely on reach and staggeringly powerful attacks, whilst the smaller ones range from the all rounder, like Mitsurugi, to the nippy and unpredictable, such as Taki. Due to the wide variety of styles, there's something in it for everyone from the novice to the sensei.

There's no one thing that sticks out about the presentation. The character models are of a very high quality but not stunning, as with the environments, which are atmospheric but not awe inspiring or particularly varied. The animation is top notch and as smooth as anything on the market at the moment, further enhanced by some exuberant weapon effects. There is a distinct lack of environmental niceties such as snow drifts and debris blowing in the wind, which doesn't augment the bouts' titanic nature as well as it might and makes the fights a touch dull when put up against the likes of Tekken 4 and Virtual Fighter 4 and it doesn't come close to the beauty and brilliance of Dead Or Alive 3 and Tao Feng. SCII is definitely a pretty game, but it's short of a few accoutrements that could have made it that much more dramatic given the current state of fighters.

Namco's fighting soundtracks have always been a bit of a mixed bag and SCII doesn't deviate from that norm, as the tunes do grate after extended periods of play. Triumphant orchestral pieces seem to be the mainstay of the score, much like the previous instalments and without any really punchy tunes the background music, despite being well suited, is forgettable to say the least. Obviously, many of the in-game sound effects are metallic clangs and crashes with the occasional grunt or scream thrown in for good measure, which are vibrant and copious enough to add that bit of extra pace to the fights.

Soul Calibur II harkens back to the days of early 3D fighters, with few of the extras that you might expect from a modern day title. I think that was the intention and regardless of the traditional format, Namco have succeeded in producing a deep but accessible game for all levels of competence. The fact that there's nothing outstanding about SCII shouldn't put you off buying it, because it's an excellent example of what a fighter should be: high quality, enjoyable and worth putting effort into. It's difficult to recommend to the single player who isn't a fighting fan, but for two people who are willing to put in a bit of time and see how deep it gets, you can't do much better than this.

Reviewed by Tom LeClerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).