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Power Stone 2 Dreamcast Capcom - 2000 Trying to explain the phenomenon that is Power Stone 2 to someone who's never played it is like describing a sunset to the blind, or cultural depth to Ari. But since I haven't give up on Ari yet, I'll venture the next half hour typing up a little review. For those who have played the original Power Stone, it's very similar. The stages are much bigger and much more dynamic. More characters, though most of the new ones are too wacky for my liking. Tons more power-ups. 4 Players. Nuff said. Stop reading and go buy it. For those uninitiated, Power Stone takes the fighting genre in a completely new direction. While most fighters have focused on realizing the physical dynamics of hand-to-hand combat, this game instead centers around more significant, realistic aspects of actual fighting: collecting the mystic gemstones that appear on the ground around you. This makes for a very different game structure. Instead of just darting in and out, delivering and blocking blows, players jump around a fully interactive 3-D arena. Yes - the environment is very much part of the game. Just about everything is a weapon or a tool to help take out your opponent. You can swing around poles, operate catapults, launch yourself off walls, warp around with teleporters, pick up boxes, and leap to platforms for a height advantage. The levels are loaded with booby traps (heh heh. booby) and all of the stages change over time. For instance, on one stage you have to jump between different submarines as they dive underwater. Each sub has different weapons like turrets, missile silos, and little jets you can commandeer to drop bombs on enemies. After a while, you crash into an iceberg and fighting continues on slippery ice (which also cracks and disappears when you throw objects at it). Another level has a moving elvevator and a giant alien at the end. Another is a flying airship that falls apart, leaving fighters to plummet to earth, fighting in the air for two falling umbrellas. Sound good? Now add over a hundred crazy weapons and the game's title power-up, the power stones. Collect three of these and you turn into an anime superhero in the style of your character. Then you have a limited charge to execute powerful super moves. As for the controls and combat, each character has the same moves, but executes each one slightly differently. For instance, some characters jump high and slow (SMB2 Luigi style), some can double jump, and one has an umbrella to float down slowly. Some are faster, others have stronger attacks or power moves. The smaller characters can spin around poles and fling themselves at enemies; the big guys instead uproot the poles and swing them. Et cetera. If you're not sold yet, let me tell you about the adventure mode, in which you try to gather money and items during fights. Then you go to the shop where you can buy new items or combine items to form new ones. Once you get an item, it'll start appearing in the game. These include a chargable Mega Buster, various magic wands, elemental swords, crazy firearms, and animal companions. Needless to say, these are very cool and collecting them keeps you fixated on the 1-player adventure mode for much more time than anyone should spend playing a fighter by himself. "Wait!" you say, "I have fiends. Maybe this isn't the right game for me." "Tisk, tisk" I say, pronouncing the words in place of the tounge clicking sound for maximum condescention, "You can play up to 4 players." Then your jaw hits the floor and you rush out to the GameStop to join the ranks of Dreamcast dorks who own this title, AKA your new obsession. But, if you're still reading, I feel obligated to mention the game's few shortcomings. First, all the weapons really make Power Stone less of a fighting game than a run-around-and-grab-a-gun game. This is most prominent in fights with 3 or 4 fighters, where the winning strategy is running away and letting your opponents beat up on eachother. Of course, that's also the strategy most likely to get your ass beat in real life, but I've gotta throw in antiprops for encouraging cheap and unfun gameplay. Also, with four fighters jumping around and booby traps going off everywhere, it can get a bit hectic and hard to follow. Though this is a minor issue and an inevitable side-effect of massive arenas and 4-player capability. What I liked: What I disliked: What to expect: a brilliant concept in fighting. Power Stone 1 on steroids... enough to put Jose Canseco to shame What not to expect: a traditional fighter What sets it apart: revolutionary game design Ratings On:
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