But the groove system is a double edged sword. Part of the appeal of fighters is, well, the fighters. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. While that still applies, it is to a much more marginal degree. When Blanca on P-Groove can get to be almost as fast as Chun-Li on C-Groove, you’ve got a problem. Still this problem, like the fighter differences, is marginal.

While on the topic of the characters, it should be said that if you ever had a favorite fighter in either Street Fighter or King of Fighters series, you are very likely to see their ugly mug on the character select screen. I, being the non-fan (but also non-enemy) of fighters, was just glad to see a few stereotypical favorites, namely Ryu and Bison. So after choosing those two and hitting the randomizer like I always do for that third guy, it was off to the races.

Now here’s a tip if you’re completely into fighting games: don’t buy the game for the single player arcade mode. The game can easily be beaten in an hour, with about half of that hour spent on the final boss, on the default setting. Up it a couple notches though and you’ve got a challenge. It’s still nothing like Mortal Kombat 3 on normal mode mind you (horrible excuse of a game, but great excuse to play the SNES), but perfectly adequate.

Ok, now that I’ve gotten the boring chit-chat about single player mode done (you didn’t even read it, did you?) we can talk about the meat and potatoes of this game: multiplayer. I haven’t had this much fun beating the crap out of people since my friend Rachel made her finger double jointed by playing Tekken Tag Tournament too much. It almost goes without saying that the majority of playing hours with CvSNK2 will be spent with a friend. Obviously this means tremendous replay value. The game seems fairly cheesy and stupid to a bystander, but once handed the controller you’ll be hard pressed to take it away from them. When two skilled players fight, it’s a beautiful thing – combos, reversals, super-moves, the works. When you’re controlling this mind-boggling action you truly feel like a bad ass and the fighting spirit courses through your veins. Of course, this could be why so many arguments about who’s being cheap erupt (Hint: Only play this game with light hearted friends). But if a game can get you fussed up enough that you want to introduce your friends’ face to your foot, there must be something good going on.

So, great gameplay, good difficulty, sweet groove system, blood pumping multiplayer, perfect game, right? Nope. Like all games, this one has a few quirks. For starters, the animation. It’s…. how to put this… ass. Well, it’s very decent animation, but nothing to write home about. I figured that since they were on a next generation console they could finally get 2D nailed. Instead the animation of fighters is as choppy as ever. I don’t want to see four frames representing a flip, I want to see a fluid motion. Not great, not horrible, but very 2D fighter-ish.

While on the subject, the gameplay, even with its groove system, is still typical. I know that there’s not really much room for fighters to evolve, but I can’t completely forgive the fact that this game could’ve been made a decade ago. It wouldn’t have been as flashy mind you, but it would have the same basic elements.

Here’s another point that is almost unfair to judge fighting games on: control. The PS2 pad is a great and diverse pad, but it was not made with 2D fighters in mind. That being said, the developers did an admirable job of trying to convert to the black glob of plastic, but there’s just no substitute for six face buttons. Get an arcade stick if you're really into it.