365//365: Day 047 – Fighter Maker 2 (PS2)

When it comes to creation modes in any video game, I usually bee line towards them. Everything else is ignored for hours until I create my own stage, pay per view, story line or character. Having a whole game with a focal point on customization should be a dream come true! Enter Fighter Maker 2 on the PlayStation 2 – the only fighting game where you can create every single move, adjust every animation, set how you want your winning poses to look, and yet have the most generic and lackluster visual customization around.

For the most part, if you’re a creation nut, you’ll find quite a bit to do here. Setting the angles of your moves, head turns, waist bends, arm thrusts, and so much more. It’s pretty in-depth, and puts things like Create a Finisher from Smackdown vs Raw to shame. The massive drawback is that, due to the depth of the animation editing, not only will it take an extremely long time to get even a halfway workable build going, but to make it look plausible. In fact, it will take so long to get accustomed to everything, that it becomes more of a chore to get things just right. With so many angles, options, twists, turns and other odds and ends you have the power of manipulating, it feels like you’re making your own game. One that no one will ever play.

Meet Blandy McBland - One of the uninspiring looks you can create with the woefully lacking create a fighter option.

Honestly, aside from the massive undertaking that is character animations, everything else is beyond underwhelming. The actual fighting game that comes bundled with the package is deprived of any sort of innovation, entertainment or fun. It’s a uncomplicated, poor man’s 3D fighter that doesn’t provide anything new, nor fun. The default characters look rough, the limited number of backgrounds look like prettied up Nintendo 64 quality backgrounds, and the three button scheme is one I never enjoyed. It’s about as bland as bland can get.

But the biggest kick in the teeth comes in the form of a woefully subdued visual customization of your created character. Never mind the fact that you could spend two weeks painstakingly recreating the Macarena, you have literally a handful of facial features and less clothing options than eve the early PlayStation 2 incarnations of the Smackdown vs Raw series. The end result is generic looking avatar that you can spend weeks manipulating him or her to moonwalk, deliver the Stone Cold Stunner, make lewd hand gestures or even do the YMCA dance. Although, there are cowboy outfit options….

The actual game you bring your custom creations into is derived of any sort of strong visuals or depth in its combat.

In the end, the lack of visual customization, the bland arenas, boring controls and underwhelming necessities in Fighter Maker 2 outdo the deep move creation and manipulations portion of the game. Street Fighter 4 would be a great game to have a customization portion. Soul Calibur could compliment their create a fighter mode with the depth of Fighter Maker 2′s move creation system. If you have the patience to painstakingly create each of your moves, to go up against unimaginative CPU characters and share with just about no one outside your building or town, Fighter Maker 2 is the game for you.

Rating: 4.8