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Patrick's Web Site- Power Stone 2 for Dreamcast
Power Stone 2 is a unique fighter. It is a 3D fighter in which a maximum of 4 players can cooperate to defeat their fellow cartoonish opponents by throwing and using nearly any weapon imaginable. Many hours of multiplayer fun are possible. But single player is entertaining as well. In Adventure mode, your primary goal is to escape the castle, just like in the Action modes, but you earn items to use in the Item Shop by using them. Combining or buying items with money you earn gets more items that you see in the game as a result. In other words, the entire game starts off with the weapons of pistol, bazooka, sword, and iron pipe, among others. All of the weapons from the original Power Stone can be mixed to make other new weapons like animals. This makes for an even more enjoyable expereince. All of the characters from the original are here, and two new ones can be earned by beating the Action mode with all of the old ones. The stages are very long, large, and ever-changing. In one stage you start off fighting in an airplane complete with flying bird, 3 cannons, crates, and the usuall number of treasure chests, which supply weapons and power stones. Then the airplane falls apart, and you gradually fall from the sky with the chests, which supply food, which restores health and umbrellas which keep you from losing health from the fall. Then you land in an area with a waterfall, current, tank, chests, crates poles, and two catapults. Other stages are not quite as changing, though one features the famous Indiana Jones scene.
Graphically, Power Stone 2 is not as good as the original. With the capabilty of two special attacks when powered up, the Dreamcast is still not pushed to its limits. The animations are excellent, but the usually distant camera does not show them in all of their glory. It's basically a cartoon game, much more so than the original. The sound is great, but the announcer and most of the voices are not nealry as good as the original. Falcon sounds particularly unsatisfying. But the music is decent, though not as good as the other Dreamcast games I just finished playing.
Graphics: 8.5 The animations are excellent, but the distant camera cannot show them very well.
Gameplay: 9 Cartoonish fun. Not deserving of it's Teen rating, but still a very enjoyable experience.
Replay Value: 10 With a Top 10, 4 player capabilities, the great Adventure mode, and the unlockables, this is more lasting than DOA2 or VF3.
Sound/Music: 7.5 About half of the voices are crap when compared to their original Power Stone counterparts. The other half are nothing special, and neither is the music.
Average: 8..8 The most fun I've ever had with a cartoon. The voices are easily ignored because they are not annoying, especially when you break out the extra controllers.