Released on all three current generation consoles (Xbox, PS2 and Nintendo Gamecube), Soul Calibur 2 is a 3D fighter based heavily around weapon combat. The concept is simple - kick the crap out of your opponent and move on to the next one. In addition to that basic "Arcade" style fighting game mode, SCII also comes bundled with a wealth of additional modes: You can practice, go up against 50 opponents in an endless "survival" cycle, team battle, multiple arcade modes and more. But by far the most exciting and value-adding game mode is "Weapon Master". Like the original, you can enter what is essentially the story mode (with any character you have unlocked up to this point) and go on a journey in a quest to solve mysteries and eventually achieve the ultimate goal: destroy the "Soul Edge" sword, the icon of evil. In this mode, you can unlock up to 200 weapons, earn experience and gold (with which you can buy items) and generally learn the nuances of the game.

Technically, Soul Calibur II pushes Microsoft's black box to the absolute limit - yet there are no signs of strain. With complex, richly detailed fighting arenas and high polygon / well animated and gorgeously textured characters the game maintains a silky smooth 50FPS without ever skipping a beat! The combination of rich detailed characters in the lush backdrops with the gorgeous sights and sounds that go along with each and every attack is something spectacular to behold indeed - this is easily one of the best looking games available on the Xbox. Stunning.

The sound easily matches up to the impressive visuals, with Dolby Digital used in-game to provide 3D sound and crystal clear "smash" and "clang" sounds, to go along with the generally spicy background music. Snap in a cool opening video (complete with an eerily Anime soundtrack) and you have the complete package. Thumbs up here.

The actual fighting engine (the "point" if you will) is superb, as expected. The controls are tight, collision detection bang on and the variety of moves on offer keep you thinking on your feet. If you can't adapt your strategy, you'll lose. Simple as that. Combine this sort of precision with a vast array of characters, moves and weapons and you have nigh on inifinite variety at your fingertips - something acheived by almost no other fighters (save, maybe, the latest incarnations of the Tekken series).

Beginners need not be shy either. Whether you are new to the series or even fighting games in general, there are excellent learning modes (several practice modes plus introductory missions in "Weapon Master" mode) which will get you to grips with the controls quick-smart. The only real gripe here is the method used to tell you the moves. Occasional on-screen prompts (like during the introduction missions from "Weapon Master" mode) and the pause controls option explain the various moves and combos using letters like "A" and "B" - for example, "Press A B for attack ". Seems straight forward, you might think - press the "A" button on your controller, followed by the "B" button - right? Wrong. "A" is actually SCII shorthand for "Horizontal Strike" ("X" button on the Xbox) and "B" is SCII shorthand for "Vertical Strike" ("Y" button on the Xbox). So to do a combo denoted with "A B", you actually need to push "X Y". If you think it's confusing with two buttons, wait until you try an advanced combo with a whole string of them. This is confusing and just down right stupid - easily the worst implementation of in-game control description ever seen. Bizarre. This should have shown up during the Quality Assurance phase of the game's production and would have been easy to fix. Even a guide in the manual for all the moves would have been sufficient, but that is not present either.

Each of the platforms that Soul Calibur II is released on has it's own special and exclusive character - the Xbox has Todd McFarlane's Spawn. For those who are unfamiliar, Spawn is a rather dark comic book "hero" from the depths of Todd McFarlane's mysterious imagination. Hardly your archetypal hero, he fights the minions of hell in his personal crusade against evil - and he kicks one hell of a lot of ass. It's not entirely clear why he's in the game (probably to do with the fact that Todd McFarlane actually designed one of the other characters in the game - Necrid - as well, no doubt) but you'll be plenty pleased that he is - he has some devastating attacks and is more than a match for the more established characters in the game. And he looks absolutely fantastic - a very detailed model combined with killer animation and high resolution textures really brings Todd's creation to life. Fantastic stuff, hardly a "slapped on" addition.