Fighter's
Destiny 2 (FD 2) is just another pebble in a stream of all too common
storylines. Eleven warriors from around the globe compete in a tournament to earn the life
opportunity to train under the “Master.” Following the tournament guidelines,
victory is achieved through a point system based on ringouts, counters, specials, an
off-scale judges decision system, throw downs and take downs.Fighter’s Destiny possessed solid graphics for its time and its successor has received a notable graphic enhancement, but still misses the chopping board in a few areas. There’s nothing intriguing about the combatants, donning some of the dullest names and wardrobes. Characters bear good facial detail with fewer uneven frames that overlap each other, and causing less disfigured movement. Backgrounds sadly do a poor job of portraying the nations that they hail from.
Sound also suffers more burdens than before. The sub-par soundtrack from the previous Destiny has been amateurishly reused with a few new songs that fail to fuel the fighting adrenaline. Character voice work is clearer but the one-liners come off as more lame than serious. Sound effects are as good as silent.
Serving as FD 2’s greatest asset; the gameplay that earned Fighter’s Destiny its black belt has aged with honor in this continuation. Amidst all the Capcom button mashers, FD 2 draws its strength from forcing players to use their wits with precise button combinations. The amount of moves and techniques that can be accomplished with merely two buttons and the D-pad is impressive. Some may find it an uncomfortable fit that Southpeak opted out of the analog stick in favor of the D-pad but it works for better control management.
With less buttons to master comes a fall in difficulty. Those who honed their skills at Soul Calibur will easily pick up the rhythm here, but there are enough challenges and secrets to keep players’ hands on the controller. The options to adjust time, ring size, point system, and number of rounds also make it suitable for players of any skill level.
A welcome addition is the Fighters’ Arena where players guide their character through a game board using a roulette wheel. The roulette wheel determines how many spaces their character can move and face off against which character they land on. When a player lands on “Master,” they have the chance to increase their character’s stats and abilities. The freedom to use an upgraded character in other modes makes this by far the staying feature of the game. Returning modes are the usual vs. mode, vs. computer, training and record attack.
It are the wise ones who say a quality game is measured by the quantity of gameplay over graphics, and FD 2 is a true testament to that. Unattractive graphics and sapless sound place it at an immediate disadvantage against its competitors, but the return of its compelling gameplay should make it a destiny worth revisiting for discouraged N64 owners.
