Developer: Takara Publisher: Playmates Release: Genre: Fighting
Battle Arena Toshinden alongside Ridge Racer helped give the fledgling PlayStation an air of legitimacy as a brand new console. Where systems like the 3DO and Jaguar floundered due to a lack of strong software at release the PlayStation came out swinging with these two monsters that rivaled arcade games at the time. But while Toshinden had the look the gameplay was lacking and it did not take long for most to realize how shallow it was. Battle Arena Toshinden 2 hit a year later after a stint in the arcade. But where some could overlook its predecessor’s shallow gameplay Toshinden 2 receives no such grace. This is a mediocre fighting game.
The story follows after the events of the first game. After the Secret Society discovers Gaia held the Toshinden tournament without their consent he is branded a traitor and marked for death. They hold a second Toshinden to lure him out of hiding. With no other recourse Gaia implores the previous tournament’s contestants for help to overthrow the Secret Society. But there is another sinister purpose behind the tournament they will soon discover…..
Say what you will about the gameplay but Toshinden as a series has always excelled in terms of character design. The returning characters have been redesigned and look better than ever. Some are subtle and benefit from the increase in polygonal detail. Others like Sofia and Fo have new outfits that look better. The newbies to the cast (Tracy and Chaos) are peak character design and Gaia looks even better without his armor. The true stars are the unlockable bosses. These are some of my favorite designs in the game and despite being broken gameplay wise round out the cast. That has always been the allure of the series, high production values and good looking characters. Too bad about the gameplay.
There are a number of mechanical additions that give the game depth. Dashing attacks make gameplay faster. Once down there are ground attacks depending on the character. Overdrive attacks are essentially super moves but are OP in that you can pull them off with two buttons (!). For defense the 3d roll is notably slower but this is a good thing. In the original it allowed you to endlessly dodge attacks with no drawback. Now you must be more strategic as it is slow and you can be hit during it. There is a simple combo system with two-in-ones and three hit combos that requires no skill as you can button mash to pull them off. It is cool the developers took the criticism to heart and went about addressing them but they still miss the mark.
Despite all the additions the gameplay is still sloppy. Movement still feels sluggish and the camera has a habit of being slow to orient itself after sidestepping. Jumps are floaty and leaping attacks are so slow and hard to connect you might as well not bother. When (not if) you miss characters are slow to face each other again. The special moves look cool but frequently miss as there is no sense of distance and spacing. But worst of all is the brain dead AI and ridiculous damage. You can spam fireballs and the computer is too stupid to move out of the way. They will also frequently use special moves that throw themselves out of the ring too. Some simple combos can inflict as much as 60% damage which is insane. It is a damn shame they botch the fundamentals; the ideas are there but the execution is lacking.
The reason why Toshinden 2 is not looked upon so fondly is timing. 3d fighting games were still new when the first game released, especially at home. But by the time Toshinden 2 came Virtua Fighter 2 and Tekken 2 were out and hitting their stride and Soul Edge did everything this game attempts but better. The clumsy gameplay really shows and is embarrassing in comparison. You can see that the designers had some ideas on how to advance the game but it does not come together in a compelling way in the end.
The gameplay did not receive all the attention necessary to be great. So where did all that time go? Once again the graphics. Toshinden 2 looks spectacular, once again rivaling and at times surpassing the popular arcade games of the time. The special effects look much better with lighting effects and transparency being particular standouts. 3d backgrounds were still a novelty for fighting games and Toshinden 2 excels in that regard. There are so many minute details that add character such as the crashing waves of Gaia’s stage, the traffic in Kayin’s alley, or the multi colored disco lights in Sofia’s rave. The character models are more elaborate with more minor details in their outfits visible. It is pretty amazing how closely they were able to mirror the 2d character designs so well. The presentation is the one area I have no issue, just, skip that awful FMV intro. Yikes.
In Closing
Battle Arena Toshinden 2 tries to be a worthwhile fighting game but fails on multiple fronts. The gameplay is lacking and the AI is stupid and cheap. The production values are once again incredibly high but not enough to willingly submit yourself to this subpar effort. The best I can say is that they finally get it right with the third game and some of that groundwork comes from here. Appreciate this from afar, it is not worth it.
