A great game with some serious balance issues.
Let me get one thing straight: the controls in Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO for GameCube are great. The pad sucks on the GC controller, I admit. But guess what? There's this beautiful thing on the left side of the controller called the JOYSTICK. And it works wonderfully.
Also, the GC-ism control mode (which allows players to use the C-stick to do special and super maneuvers) IS silly and makes many characters overpowered. But guess what? There's another mode called AC-ism (i.e. ArCade mode) that uses the traditional control scheme. And it works wonderfully.
And - for the record - the Xbox version of this game includes a control scheme similar to the GC-ism, but of course that game got a glowing review from GameSpot. Hmm...
At any rate, the balance problem that lies at the heart of the game is not with the combat system, it's with the characters. 46 characters from several Capcom and SNK fighting games have been thrown into a game together, and many of these individuals are in need of some tweaking. Some of the characters (mostly the SNK characters) are a bit unbalanced relative to others and this is more than a little frustrating. If it's one thing I hate more than anything in games, it's overpowered characters. And this game has it's fair share and maybe even then some.
The rest of the game is beautifully put together, except for a few relatively small things. The Jazzercise soundtrack has to go (what were they thinking with that, seriously?). The game could use a few more levels; there are only about 8 or so. Some more of the classic characters would be nice as well. I wanted to see characters like Fei Long, Guy, and Gen in this game, but they were curiously absent. I even missed T-Hawk and DeeJay, who I hate (but like to beat up on). Capcom was sure to add obscure characters like Maki from SFA3 Upper and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, though, which I thought was stupid. Seriously, who is Maki, anyway? Oh wait, I don't care.
This game is worth buying if you are a fan of the Street Fighter and/or Fatal Fury/King of Fighters franchises, but I can't say I would recommend it to anybody else. And, of course, if you own a GameCube, this is the only action you're going to get in the way of Street Fighter/Fatal Fury/King of Fighters anyway, so you may as well grab it.
THE GOOD:
- Tight controls, GameCube joystick works wonderfully for moves, much better than any pad in my experience
- Lots of characters
- Smooth animation
- Some cool extras (color edit mode, a couple hidden characters, groove edit mode, etc.)
THE BAD:
- Major balance issues with some of the characters
- Needs a better soundtrack (for the love of God Capcom, the Jazzercise music has GOT TO GO)
- Could use some more levels
- Could use some more classic characters and fewer of the more obscure ones