Astaroth is one of the most notable characters in Soul Calibur II. He is named after a demon from Christian mythology who is supposed to be the Grand Duke of Hell. In the Namco video game series, however, he is a golem created by a cult that serves the Greek god of war, Ares. He is mostly portrayed as an evil character who is pursuing Soul Edge for himself one way or another. Soul Calibur II was his second appearance in the series after making his debut in Soul Calibur I.

He is obviously one of the tallest and heaviest characters in the entire game. His giant axe is nothing to scoff at either. Per attack, he likely has one of the highest damage outputs in the game.

That said, he is really big and bulky, and I do not think the trade off for power makes up for his lack of mobility and speed. It does not take much for me to lose a match when using him, whether against a human opponent or the CPU.

I never really had the chance to play against many human players using him since the game was not truly online, but he can definitely be dangerous with the right skill set. I have struggled against him when the computer controlled him during certain parts of the single player modes.

Still, I have never liked him all that much. I would not cut him out of the games completely, but I am never thrilled when I see him on the roster. Since I have not played a Soul Calibur game since IV, I am not sure if he has gotten any better, though I honestly doubt it.