Borrowing design ideas from Depression-era fashion, the characters themselves are bright and silly cartoon personas of popular stereotypes. Visually, Power Stone 2 is one of the best looking fighters for any system. As big a fan of games such as Tekken and Street Fighter that I am, you'll never see anything like this in one of those monsters. That my friends, it but a sampling of the many triple and quadruple layered courses to be had in Power Stone 2. Slugging it out freefall-style, you crash land onto the precipice of a man-made waterfall with an empty (but highly deadly) tank sitting in the distance. Do enough damage and the vessel breaks into tiny little pieces, throwing you downward at an alarming rate. Beginning on the deck of a great airship you must battle your way through your opponents while slowly tearing the ship apart. The first time I played on "Blue Sky" I couldn't believe the complexity and variety buried within the level. Much more elaborate and detailed than the rooms from the original game, each area is a mini-world unto itself. Coupled with the fact that you can also gain healing items, a genre that is typically known for fast action in a short amount of time is now transformed into a genre with fast action that can last for quite awhile before the next stage. Ducking behind crates and boxes, jumping into gigantic rotating cannons, and picking up scores of offensive items is the means by which you can survive. Instead, strategy and placement of your character is key to gaining a victory. Usually huge aspects of fighting games, combos and multi-hit chains have been demoted to a less important role in Power Stone 2 (not that they aren't in there, because they are). Fighting game purists out there may curse it's name with blasphemy, but take the little time you need to get used to it, and you too will begin to appreciate it's more intense benefits. Difficult for me to fathom in the beginning (after all we've been blocking our opponents attack since the 8-bit generation), the idea that you have to take cover behind obstacles, or just plain dash for your life when confronted with oblivion is a refreshing change of pace. Counters and Blocking have been removed yes, but in it's place is the far more realistic reaction that most of us would have if we were being chased by a giant sword. More of a platform-fighting hybrid, Power Stone 2 does away with all familiar notions that battle can only take place in a 20x20 circle. Going in you have to realize that this is unlike most fighting games that you have ever played before. Countless hours and plenty of excited giggles later, I'm happy to say that I finally understand what hordes of people were trying to convince me of all those months ago.
"What the hell" I thought, "Perhaps I didn't give the first one a big enough chance". Seriously dreading the notion of having to go back to the land of fast food character designs, I took a deep breath and popped the disc in.
Using the same basic fighting engine as the first game, there was still no way to counter an attack and the possibility of blocking was zero. Going into the newly pressed follow-up Power Stone 2, I had the distinct feeling of deja vu.
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