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As far as I can tell, the only real difference between DOA2 and DOA2: Hardcore is the new oufits and the addition of new modes of play. Ive played quite a few fighting games (All the Tekkens, Marvel Vs. series, etc...) and DOA2: Hardcore was by FAR the best one i have seen as of yet. In may not have much depth to it but it more than makes up for that in the gameplay.

LOTS of costumes is definetly one of them. Each character has something like a minimum of 4 costumes and most of the female players have up to eight. The physics engine(s) in DOA2:Hardcore are unbelivable. If a sudden gust of wind comes, your hair or your clothes will flap. If you stand under a vent, your hair and your ribbons will come up. When you move, everything moves with you.

The biggest theme your going to find in this game, is short skimpy outfits. No matter who you pick, the odds are you are either gonna fight somebody in a short skimpy outfit or you yourself are wearing a short skimpy outfit (Heck, even one of the guys is wearing a bra!). Not that I am saying short skimpy outfits are a bad thing....

The most interesting, useful and fun part of this game comes from the levels. Not only can you use the analogue joystick to move around, but you can knock your openent through everything, causing more dammage. On most levels theres a way to knock your enemy into a new area either by hitting them hard through a wall or knocking them off the edge. Even if you can't knock off your opponents you can slam them into walls for extra dammage and on some levels doing this will result in them blowing up or getting electrocutes (not a-la "Finish him!").

The music in this game is pretty good, with a wide variety to choose from like suspensful music or full out rage music.

Believe it or not, this is actually a 4 player game. The tag team mode allows you and a "friend" (I use that term loosely) to compete against two more "friends" in a fight to the finish. The key here is to knock one opponent or stun them, start a combo then switch and start another combo with the other character.

There are a few different modes to begin with. Story mode is where you pick your character an follow them as they progress to the top. Time attack is where you try and beat everybody with your character as quickly as possible. Survival is a gauntlet like event, where there is a limitless amount of bad guys (or girls case depending) that keep coming at you. Tag mode, see paragraph above. Team battle is where you pick your team composed of 3-5 characters and fight another team one at a time. Versus mode is where you and a "friend" duke it out. Sparring is like the training mode. Battle Rec. lets you record a battle. And watch mode lets you watch a match between the computers.

All those encompased into one game make this an instant winner.

First and foremost I just could not stand the oh-so cheasy sayings. When Kasumi and Ein are fighting, the begining dialogu will usualy sound something like this:
Ein: "Im coming."
Kasumi: "Why?"
Why? Who cares why, he is gonna hurt you and he is gonna hurt you bad! It doesn't matter if you know WHY he is! (well maybe it does, but the voices to tick me off). By far, the worst of all the characters has to be Jann-Lee, the Bruce Lee wannabe. Among his rantings are "My fist never betrays me!" and "You see the difference between you and me?". Other than the crap-tacular one-liners, there weren't really that many lows that I could find other than the game being a soap opera, which brings me to my next point.

The game is indeed one big huge giant soap opera. We found out who killed who's mother, who looks ugly, who wishes their daughter would be more lady-like. It's actually pretty funny to watch!

Other than the voices and the soap opera-ish feeling, this game is near flawless (nothing is flawless, except for flawless victories.)

Well since this was my first PS2 game, I don't really have much to compare it too. The graphics were amazing, the animations were fluid and life like, this is most definetly my #1 choice when it comes to a PS2 game. If you are looking for a fun game or you are a die-hard fighting game fan, this one's for you.