Power Stone 2
Reviewed by Clement Chan Zhi Li
Power Stone 2 is a major improvement than Power Stone, as it
has loads of modes to keep you entertained, four different
new characters, new type of created stages and more than a
hundred items for you to buy and collect for Mel's shop.
Thanks to Capcom, we have a new great game to play with a
different sort of internal battle system, loads of things to
get you entertained and up to four players can play the game
meaning four times the fun.
Graphics - 9
The models of the characters are almost identical as before
as Capcom still maintains its eight original characters plus
four new ones that we haven't known yet before. They
themselves are re-created perfectly into a true 3D model
with four different alternate colours add to them, depending
on what number of player you are. The background itself was
a great addition to the game as it is almost real; example,
the sky was pure blue with a few white clouds flying by
occasionally and a brown temple with lots of traps going on
in the game.
The light source itself was tremendously cool, especially
when you activates a character's Power Fusion and attack
them with flames or fireballs or such. The overall graphics
are totally nice, with different shades of colors for all
sorts of things there and a few new touches that enhanced
the graphics even more. And of course, the animations was
totally smooth without a single slow-down in the
frame-rates, which makes this game great without a glitch in
it. Nevertheless, you can see that Capcom has make a good
deal in this area.
Music - 10
There aren't any noticeable change in the background music,
just cool and steady as before but there are times when you
reached a monstrous area with eerie music effects and the
ghastly last bossÉ gosh. The music varies from stages to
stages, as well from time to time when you may have
proceeded far enough in stage, with their own talented
musical themes in it that made this game a whole lot better.
While the sound effects are almost same, you can say that as
there are more items in the game, more sound effects are
made. Explosions, kicks, punches, attacks, Power Fusions,
Power Drives and all of sorts of wonderful items that get
you going. The voices themselves are nice and suit every
single character in the game though all of them would be in
Japanese, even in the English version. There are some voices
which had been cut, like Mel in her shop where she is
supposed to be talking in the Japanese version but
completely mute in the English version itself.
Gameplay - 10
This is what I call fun! The game itself stands out superior
towards its predecessor as there are many more things which
you could do and play, which means that you spent your money
on the right thing and believe me, there are too many things
to do that you will simply need a day off from school or
work! Lots of modes + four characters at once + many items =
Power Stone 2, all of those massive features into one disc.
To make it better, you can play up to four players together
which means four times the fun against your agitated
friends. Plug in four controllers together and race against
each other to gain your title as a winner so that you could
brag about it. Not to mention that the stages are more
interactive than before as you can plainly go anywhere you
like in the stage without being restricted to one place. You
can say that this is like an action / adventure game.
The stages does not just stay at one point. It moves.
Example like the shrine stage, after you had fought a while
with your friends, there will be mini-meteors flying down,
causing fire which rampages the whole stage and you'll need
to jump from platform to platform to reach to the top (it's
not really that difficult, if you're stuck at the bottom
which the screen will casually moves, you're automatically
transported to the top with all of your Power Stones
forfeited). You don't just stop there. You'll have to run
into a small entrance where it leads you to another stage,
which means that would be the last stop you'll have to go.
Not too bad.
The new four characters themselves are pretty cool, though
one or two looks really quite silly, especially Gourmand.
There is Gourmand, a really fat chef which attacks with his
knifes and bowls of cooking stuffs, Julia, a western girl
who always carries an umbrella with her, tiny-tyke robotic
Pete, with all of his attacking toys that will hurt your
enemies dramatically and Accel, a sort of cowboy which
attacks using his guns and is simply mad of them. All of
these unique characters are nice to use and easy to play
with, but their attacks can be awkward to you so it's better
if you try out the original characters first.
To make it fun, there are seven Power Stones in default,
scattered across the stage. Seven, all together. Sounds
lunatic, isn't it? By collecting only three Power Stones,
your character will transform into a silly kind of look just
like before and for now, there are only one Power Drive and
different type of Power Fusions of certain character. At
this form, you are given a short time to attack with
powerful attacks and you can use a minimum of two Power
Fusions at one time in this game. Cool.
Not to mention that there are new modes added. The one which
is completely highlighted in the beginning is 1-on-1 Battle
which means you can choose either to fight against your
friend or computer, a simple choice which maintains the old
Power Stone feature of one against one battle if you still
like the idea of it. There are no special things gain when
playing this mode, it's just for the sake of fun and you can
make it act like Training mode (because there simply aren't
one) to get used to the new environment.
The Arcade Mode was possibly the one which you will spend
all your time on as it has great stuffs to keep you coming
and the more characters you have completed the game with,
the more options you will unlock in the Extra Options mode
and possibly lead to opening new secret stages and
characters. If you've got a friend staying overnight with
you, or your brother, or sister, or any other sibling and
members of the family, get them to play with you. That's
right. If you just played by yourself, you'll fight against
only an enemy. If you teamed up with your friend (which
requires you an extra controller), you'll have to match
against two different characters that will chill you out so
it's a two-on-two fight. You can hurt your friend at this
point, and your character will always blast against the
nearest enemy he sees, be it your friend or enemy. And of
course, if your friend is killed, you are given 9 seconds to
revive him back with a short life but it's worth it (you can
even do it to your computer opponents!).
What keeps the Power Stone to the series tradition is the
Original mode, which is basically a Versus battle which can
allow you to put in your friends in it or make yourself
fight against the computer. While playing this mode, you
must finish off all of your enemies, whether you're fighting
against two players or three players. You can't team up with
any friends in this mode so that means no co-operation. If
you fight against computers, you will see that computer
opponents will always shoot at the nearest character so be
wary about that. As this mode is completely different than
the Arcade mode, you can even choose which stages you can go
or just make it random.
The Adventure Mode is just a one-on-one battle against your
enemy but you'll gain money this time (g) by hitting your
opponent so it dropped off some bucks and whatever items
that you handled in the stage will allow you to keep it in
the Item Book. There are several cards which are scattered
in all stages and if you succeeded in getting them, you are
great as they're almost impossible to get at certain times.
Actually, the one that really adds most of the replay value
would be Adventure Mode and the Item Shop (both of them
helped one another) as you must get over one hundred items
if you want to (which I presume you certainly want).
If you have collected quite a number of money, head to the
Item Shop menu where Mel, the shopkeeper would be there. You
can mix items (which means combine, by the way) and watch
clues from her, whether she thinks it would work or not. You
can buy or sell items here, or even talk to her where you
can give her presents to make her give you something in
return, talk to her or ask for help. If you ever lose in the
mixing combination, you can earn a coupon. Collecting three
coupons together will allow you to play the Roulette game,
where you will play a game which is sort of Wheel of Fortune
that requires you to turn the wheel and see whether you earn
a prize or not. Pride, Falcon's father will occasionally be
there, asking for items and giving you items back in return.
If you have succeeded getting a decoration item, whether by
mixing or getting it in the Adventure mode, you can use it
at your character! He or she will look incredibly funny with
it and it's up to you whether you want him or her to where
it. You can also mark up to 5 items as a Handy Item and
download the Mini-Book into your memory card. If your friend
has Power Stone 2 and downloaded the Mini-Book, hook up both
memory cards together and you can now fight! It's cool and
nifty, especially if you are going on a long journey (like
in a bus or something) so you can easily use this feature
and play it.
Controls - 10
The controls, fortunately, still maintained all of its own
action and buttons so there are no real need to change them.
Jump, Throw, Punch, Kick, Power Fusion 1, Power Fusion 2 and
that's about it. You can also choose whether to use the
analog stick or D-pad and if you are not comfortable with
the current buttons, you can change it at the Options menu.
Story - 9
This is the story taken straight out from the introduction
itself. ÒWithout warning, a dark cloud fills the sky, and
then a huge shadow blankets the entire world, with a roar
that shakes the entire planet. Suddenly, a mysterious
floating castle appears out of nowhere. In the blink of an
eye, the Power Stone heroes are caught, and are transported
to the floating castle. What will happen to our heroes.. ?
Welcome to the Power Stone world!Ó Simple introduction, but
nice storyline.
Replay Value - 10
Power Stone 2 really provides endless entertainment, where
you will not be bored from every single thing that are
available here. What with the interactive stages, cool new
four characters, and you can hook up to four player at once?
Plus, there are still many things to do in the Adventure
mode and the Item Shop which you can create lots of items
and do many things more.
Overall - 10 out of 10
Power Stone 2 is a truly perfect game, really, five times
better than Power Stone itself. Nevertheless, the modes will
get you addicted for a long time, which you can never get
bored with it, even with more new games coming up. The mere
thought of having a mini-game that can be downloaded is
intriguing, even better if you have a friend to fight
against with. It's fully recommended that you buy this game,
or you'll regret bitterly for the rest of your life.
Stone
-----
+ Cool modeling characters and colourful graphics that are
nice to the eyes.
+ Simply super gameplay to get you addicted for a long time.
+ Interactive stages with many things to get through which
is cool.
Bone
-----
- Five stages to go through only, although there are quite a
lot of them.
- Perhaps too challenging bosses?
- Simply too addictive.
OR
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