Fighters Month: Battle Arena Toshinden 2

Game: Battle Arena Toshinden 2
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Tamsoft
Release Date: May 1996

As a launch game for the Playstation in America and Europe, Battle Arena Toshinden managed to reach a fairly wide audience at a time when there weren't too many games out for the console. Its sequel, Battle Arena Toshinden 2 was released less than a year later with various improvements and new features. The game features 4 modes technically, but essentially there are only two; Arcade Mode (in a regular, extended a single battle form) and versus Mode.

The regular version of arcade mode features 8 battles against any of the game's 11 fighters, while the extended version features 10. The final battle is against an unlockable boss, and a wall of plot based text with an accompanying cutscene appears once they have been beaten. Most of the endings are fairly simple, so it's not really worth completing arcade mode with every character just to see one paragraph of text.

The fighting action featured in the game feels incredibly slow as lethargic movement and attacks combine with a poorly executed dodging and targeting system. Players can use L1 and L2 to change 'lanes' around their opponent, as well as controlling their characters movement in the 2D plane with the D-pad. Much of the time players will find their character facing the wrong way to hit the opponent, or being attacked from behind whilst attempting to turn and face the opponent.

Attacks are also poorly programmed, with an almost random chance of hitting opponents, and the best attacks mapped to R1 and R2. There's hardly any point in using the attacks mapped to the face buttons, as they do far less damage and don't reach as far across the arena. As fights take place on a floating square of land, players are also able to fall out of the battle arena, which will result in a 'ring out'. On a few occasions, the AI managed to fall out of the arena of its own accord, and even at the best of times it wasn't particularly impressive.

Another frustrating feature is the fact that there are moves in the game which are able to take away almost half of a life bar. AI opponents often use these, especially towards the end of fights and it leaves players with little chance of winning. The best way to describe the fighting action in the game would be 'the gaming equivalent of swinging your arms around in a dark room, hoping to hit something'.

Graphically the game's characters look good, if a little polygonal. Backgrounds and arena floors seem to have much lower quality textures however, and individual pixels are visible. Animations are sluggish and basic, and contribute to the overall vibe of low quality in the fighting experience. The music featured behind gameplay is enjoyable and perhaps one of the best parts of the game, it seems to fit well with battles and set the mood nicely.

Overall Battle Arena Toshinden 2 has many flaws which stop it from being a classic fighter. The general frustration of trying to hit opponents with the targeting system combined with the narrow selection of moves and slow gameplay means that players will have a hard time getting their character to do the things they'd like them to, when they need to be done. Progressing through arcade mode seems to be a matter of random chance, and there's little reward for it anyway. Soul Blade is a far better alternative on the PS1.

Rating: 44/100
Grade: E