Ningyō Tsukai 2

The Good
The first thing that strikes you once you fire the sequel to Metal & Lace is that the developers heeded the criticism leveled at the original game and thus set out to release an actual fighting game.

Metal & Lace 2, thus, pretty much disregards any influence from the original (except that it keeps the "fighting robo-babes" concept and the "bunny" robot) and delivers a brand new game much more adjusted to the standards of one-on-one fighting games. Losing the tournament approach of the original, the game now has a standard "beat everyone until you get to the final boss" which pits a cast of animé styled characters against each other for various reasons. These characters are as far from the dull robots in the original as you can get, with diverse visual designs that give a distinct personality to each of them. Yeah, they all fall under the classic animé clichés we have seen a million times before, but they are a definitive improvement.

The fighting gameplay is where the game really shines, however, as it delivers a fast-paced, entertaining action game with good balanced characters and tight controls which thanks to the new Windows-based design can be easily customized to work with any gamepad you have around. Besides the standard gamut of special moves and combos, the game also includes a power bar that can be manually charged a-la King of Fighters and which allows the player to unleash a series of super moves (each character having 2-3 at least) that add a considerable level of "wowness" to the gameplay.

The graphics perfectly complement the action, with a solid engine that delivers colorful, smoothly animated and detailed graphics at considerably fast speeds as well as crisp menu screens and h-scenes with increased resolution. Soundwise, the game sports a completely redone set of fxs and music tracks, which are your basic collection of vague Japanese move-naming and hit effects, but which get the job done nicely.

The Bad
Why has the tournament mode left town?? That was the best feature of the original Metal & Lace (actually, the only good thing it had) and it's removal really hurts the game. You can try to unlock the boss and the secret character, as well as all hentai scenes (some of which rely on your fighting performance) but besides that there's hardly anything that adds depth or replay value to the game.

Finally the in-game graphics, while good for it's day, can be "discomforting" at times due to their low 320x240 blown-up resolution, which results in that "chunky" look.

The Bottom Line
Who would have thought that the sequel to one of the lamest fighting games ever would end up being a competent title? Not to mention one that is able to slug it out with the best the genre has to offer in terms of gameplay and fun-factor.

Sadly the game lacks that which could have elevated it above being just another arcade fighter, and that is the fact that it only has your basic "story" and free play game modes. But heck, in my book a good game with no complementing features is better than a shitty game with good features any day of the week.