Title - "Power Stone 2"
Alternative title(s) - N/A
Genre(s) - Party
System(s) - Arcade and Dreamcast
I'll make this quick. Well, I did a task I was never able to do until the year before last year I think: play "Power Stone II" and in the Philippines. "PSII", the sequel to Capcom's "Power Stone" came out four years ago in both regions, if I remember correctly. Just like the original, "II" was brought out to the Dreamcast as well. More characters, more crazy items, the ability to have four characters in action without any signs of the game slowing down, what is not to like in this game? Well, you'd be surprised.
Fun - 7
My heart was jumping for joy when I found out I had the chance to play this game. All I knew about it was that it is like the prequel plus the ability to have four characters in action. That's all I needed to know.
What's this? My smile seemed to diminish as each minute passed by? Oh, there was the occasional moment I would go and chuckle like seeing Julia, one of the new characters this time around that is like Princess Toadstool, but for the most part, this was a stripped up version of the original.
I feel like I am being real harsh with this game. Maybe it's because at the time, I was trying to speed up my one chance at playing the game and never got the chance to really see the true fun behind it. Maybe it's because I never liked the idea of having four players playing against each other to begin with as I prefer playing alone and seeing the marvelous features behind a game by myself. Whatever the reason is, I wanted to like the game even more, but I wasn't able to.
Life - 7
Well, this category as well as the last one depends on one's expectations. Did the game satisfy me? Well, sort of.
Control - 9
The controls are the same. Of course, with the way this game is playned now, you're more likely to lose track of your character.
Audio - 9
I can't recall if some themes return here, but the songs in this game keep the same feel. The voice actors are still good. The announcer really fiddled with your tolerance level though.
Story - 6
The story is somewhat the same, with not much changing going on. The heroes are captured in some mysterious castle this time around and they have to get out of it. Not the best story in the world, but at least it fits.
Art - 8
I'm going to give the art here an 8. No, it's not because that the presentation looks bad. In fact, I actually like it.
The problem is that the set of details seen here is not complete. Plus, not much has changed in this department which did let me down a bit. To be quite frank, I would have rather waited for another year for the game to be released, but because it was released in 2000 and not 2001, the game feels rushed as a whole.
Overall - 7
Like I said, it's best if you rent the "PS" games. While it may not be the sequel that I wanted it to be, it never the less is one where you should try at least once. That's what I can tell you.
+
Many of the new elements make this game worth your while and the magic is still there.
-
It feels rushed and because of this, the scores drop in just about every category.
Date of creation - 10/6/04
Last update - N/A