Originally released for the DreamCast and arcades, Marvel VS Capcom 2 finally made its way to Sony's newest machine. It offers the same type of lightning-fast gameplay, the same characters found in the other versions, and the rich 3D backgrounds.

Gameplay: If you're a big fan of the first game, this will offer no surprises. If you're a fan of fighting or 2D games, you will be simply amazed by the level of work put into this game. This game is unlike any Street Fighter games. It is a super fast and button smashing melee game with strategy. Basically there are a lot in this game to keep you occupied for a long time. You have so many characters to unlock. The only way you can unlock them is by gaining points in the types of game modes in the menu screen. You can even gain them while in Training Mode and VS Mode. You can even unlock new costumes, character art, and new levels.

Visuals: The animation and fighting techniques are very smooth and looks like a cartoon (a very good cartoon). The "Supers" in this game look great, very artistic, and colorful. The backgrounds are in full 3-D and simply look beautiful for a 2D fighting game. Let's face it, the game is almost perfect in this department

Sound: The music fits very well with the game. It makes you feel like you're in a fighting movie. The sound effects are great but that is my main problem with this game. At some parts of the game, you have great sound effects blasting through your speakers but at other parts, you have very sloppy sound effects. What I mean by this having sloppy sound effects is that you sometimes can't hear what your character is saying. You sometimes can't even hear anything other than the music. But this shouldn't stop you from enjoying this lovely port.

Replay: When I mention you unlocking characters, I forgot to mention you have a good work ahead of you. You get a total of 56 characters all in all. Let's not forget unlocking costumes and gallery art for all 56 of them and new levels to fight in. Not to mention the VS Mode is a blast and feels like you're in an arcade kicking the crap out of your friend in a coin-op game. This 2 player mode is enough to keep me playing for a long time (heck, when this game wasn't out for PS2 yet, I was still playing my DreamCast version with my friends).

Final word: I really don't have any gripes with this game other than the sound effects. You simply can't go wrong when it comes to this game. It makes me want to cry and wet my pants because I couldn't ask for a better 2D fighter. I was so surprised that, after all these years, I still find this game very satisfying to play. Basically, I haven't had this much fun from a fighting game since Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Editor's Note: Aside from the sound effects issue, the reason this game only got a B was due to the fact that it is a straight port of an older game with basically nothing new added. If Capcom had added some improvements of any kind, the game would have gotten a higher grade.

- - Earl Ferrer