SoulCalibur

"The best fighting game ever to be released, bar none."

SOUL CALIBUR: PURE EXCELLENCE

Let me begin by saying that the credibility of some reviews are highly suspect by the fact that they use either a 10 or a 1, as if the reviewer has no way in hell he knows what he's talking about. Believe me ladies and gentlemen, this game warrants that 10 as well as any game I have ever played.

Graphics
It's a true rarity when an arcade port has better graphics than the original. Pretty much every SNK port to the SNES will tell you that. However, with Soul Calibur, NAMCO went above and beyond what they needed to do in order to make it one of the most beautiful games ever. The Dreamcast version of SC has graphics that are so good, that they were not rivaled by any other DC game released in its lifespan. There are no rough edges where there shouldn't be, the lighting effects are awesome, characters move at a fluid 60FPS, always.
Essentially, everything looks like it's perfect. Nothing is bulky, uninteresting, or poorly animated. It really is stunning. In my personal opinion, I have not seen a PS2 fighting game to match the graphics of SC. You'll be amazed. Purely amazed at this game's sheer beauty and power to render it.

GRAPHICS: 10 / 10
Utter beauty.

Music / Sound effects
Okay. I feel somewhat dumb in the fact that I even need to judge the sounds and music of this game. While the music was not what I usually listen to, it fit well into the theme of the game and added to the fights. With music, some people like it, others don't, so it's really a subjective call on my part.
The sound, however, was great. Weapon clashes and voice samples are crystal clear. I had no problems with any samples overlapping or cancelling one another, and hits were meaty-sounding. What more can you ask of a fighting game?

SOUND: 8 / 10
Overall great sounds, music open to interpretation

Gameplay / Replay
One criticism I have with a lot of competitive games, or those that attempt to simulate them, is balance. SC got it down right. EVERY character can be played with and mastered. You'll find no Zangiefs or Dans here, only characters that have a distinct personality and fighting style. Even secret characters who have a similar style to a pre-existing one fight differently enough to warrant a status as an individual character. Let me reiterate that every character has a unique repertoire of moves.
I spent months mastering all the different characters, and each has moves that are in perfect harmony with all the rest of the other characters. No moves are so unbalanced that one can ''cheese'' with them. This game, while in the same vein as Tekken 3, has greatly lessened the overall cheesy character tactics.
To put in the most simplistic way possible: even the large characters are good.
Another thing that this game does better than any other game in my book is allow you to play defensively. It has reversals (mostly in the form of a parry that allows you to deflect an opponent's attack), but they aren't abused nearly as much as reversals are in Tekken or Dead or Alive. Additionally, one can evade people's moves by actually circling around them with the ''8-Way Run,'' allowing for a new set of moves as well as an opportunity to move past a large overhead swing by the enemy.
As a person that likes to think before I act (which is why I loathe the fighting in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2), I give complete thanks to Namco for finally allowing players to exploit certain weaknesses in an enemy offense. If they use overhead swings, you can circle around them. If they charge, you can parry and throw. Again, every aspect of the system seems to be in complete balance.
With the actual DC game, there are enough variations on the main Arcade mode to get people to play the game. Team Battle allows one to hone their skill with different characters, and give a good approximation to an all-out slugfest. The mission battle mode challenges players in somewhat of a sadistic manner: ''Beat 3 characters while you're poisoned, and they're invisible and speed up at random!'' Although some are very hard, none are impossible and allow a veteran player a fun challenge. With the mission mode, you can unlock secrets in the game, like character profiles, demos, and gallery artwork. Needless to say, the replay is very high.
Not only that, but the almost ubiquitous Namco survival mode is a great challenge, and the load times are SHORT. I really liked seeing how many enemies I could dispatch before getting killed (my best stands at 72 with Lizardman).
I really cannot think of one thing that SC does bad in terms of gameplay balance. There is a lot of incentive to master this game and unlock everything, which will take you a long time to do.

Gameplay / Replay: 10 / 10
The fighting system is absolutely flawless. Every fight is a fair one, every time.

Personal tilt
Let me say again that this is the best fighting game out there. I buy games regularly and play them even more often, and I have waded through every SF, KOF, DOA, Tekken, and any other game to be released. THIS IS IT. It's 3-d fighting on a level that allows the smart to do better than the quick, and every move can be custom-tailored to a certain situation. If you own a DC and do not own Soul Calibur, you are really doing yourself a great wrong not to go out and buy it. Forget DOA3, forget Street Figher 4, if and when it gets here. This game is exactly what a fighting game should be.

FINAL SCORE:
10 / 10
Absolute fighting perfection

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/01, Updated 02/18/02