Art of Fighting 2 ~ Ultra Realistic Combat Action
Graphics 8 - Nice big colorful characters, as is expected from the AoF series. The characters move a little choppy, but not too choppy and the immense size of the characters even it out to looking better that average. It seems to be more colorful than other neo fighting games, but it's just an opinion. Another cool effect is the fighters faces get beaten up as the match progresses. Glasses and masks fly off, and characters faces become swolen and purple. this only occurs when a blow to the face is completed, which is fairly realistic compared to the rest of the game. Overall the graphics are very good, although lacking in frames of animation that large size of the characters and colorful feel more than make up for this.

Sound/Music 8 - The sound in this game is nothing special. There are many voices, some of which were changed for the english version for an unknown reason. most of these changes are for the worse, particularly John Crawley's whose voice irritates me in the english but doesn't bother me in the japanese version. The music isn't very memorable either, which doesn't mean it is bad, just nothing special. Yuri's theme song is about the only catchy song in this game, but it sounds like it was taken from a japanese workout video. Mr. Big's theme is very 'pimpin' which doesn't mean i like it per se, but its appropriate. also the hidden bosses (the infamous Geese Howard) theme song is one of the better mixes of this song, with the exception of the bizarre rap sequence towards the beginning of the song. Overall the sound and music is very good with a few memorabel tracks, but not many.

Control/Gameplay 9 - The control in this game is very good. The interesting part about it is the fact that you can string together special moves while a move is being executed, and when the move is finished it immediately executes the next move. however the 'spirit bar' seems the decrease way too fast limiting the amount of special moves greatly, without any feasable way to recharge it. the given way (holding down A+B and standing there completely open for attacks) is just asking for a nice sock in the face and isn't worth the effort. i think there shold be other methods of recharging this bar, ie completing attacks or combos. Overall the gameplay is great but could be changed for the better with ease.

Overall 8.3 - This is a very enjoyable game, umpteen times better than its sequel AoF3. Crisp graphics a fairly nice soundtrack and rewarding gameplay all combine to make a real nice game. I was suprised to see that Mr. Big works for Geese's crime syndicate. I thought it was really cool playing the 'spot the Geese thugs' in every characters stage, and its a real nice touch to see Geese thrown in as a secret boss, not something you see every day.  If you haven't played AoF3, don't. get this instead and steer clear of that stinker. This game is light years beyond that in every respect.