SoulCalibur III

"A bit flawed, but excellent nonetheless"

I never buy fighting games for their original $49.99 price tag. It's not that the games are particularly bad or I don't like them, I just don't think that the overall length of games in this genre warrants such an amount. Namco's Soul Calibur series however, strikes a different tune in my mind. Aside from an incredibly diverse roster of characters, the series has always featured lengthy (though somewhat challenging) adventure modes, and numerous weapons for all it's character so as to allow the player to choose how they want their character to fight. I just find the Soul Caliburs to be very well polished and lengthy treasures of a game. The latest installment does very well to build on this foundation.

The story mode, or Tales of Souls, makes a welcomed return to its original, individualized character paths. After selecting your character you are treated to some background information on them and then promptly dropped on to the world map. It is here where you receive a blurb of text pertaining to your character's current situation and then thrown into matches with whatever knave is unlucky enough to cross blades with you. As you go along you are given choices as to how you should continue along your path. Should you research knowledge on how to destroy the evil sword? Perhaps you should attempt to gain greater power? Or maybe you should chase after that dark looking man with the wickedly sharp scythe? In the end though just about all of the events are universal for all the characters and you'll end up seeing the same scenes (unskippable btw) over and over again no matter who you are playing with and what path you've chosen. The saving grace however is that some characters will treat you differently based on your character selection and whomever you're avatar is will make comments according to their personality. Returning from Soul Blade though is the interactive cutscenes (some might argue this is directly inspired from Capcom's Resident Evil 4) where when you're character is attacked during the cut scenes it is up to you to block incoming strikes or dodge hazards coming your way.

In addition to the Tales of Souls mode is the Chronicles of the Sword. Here you create your own character (more on this later) and lead an army (like five people) and fight for the glory of your country. Chronicles is played out in real time as you position your units on the map and send them off to attack enemy strong holds or defend your own. As each individual unit fights and wins or losses battles they gain experience and in turn levels. For tactical game vets who've played their share of Tactics Ogre and Kessen, don't expect a vast amount of depth. Chronicles makes a good distraction from the main game but it is by no means an alternative. As you progress throughout this mode you'll come into contact with characters from the main game such Mitsurugi and Astaroth whom you can also challenge to combat. The problem with this is that these battles are unfairly stacked against you. Whereas you'll be anywhere from level ten to level twenty and they'll be strutting around level sixty. To further put you in the corner they typically hold shelter in strongholds that add negative effects to the fight such as lowering the overall amount of damage you deal, increase the damage you take, make the floor you (and only you) walk on slippery. Not all main game characters rest in strongholds however and as such you can continue to fight them again and again, whittling away at their health. It can get downright frustrating though while facing off against a sheltered Seung Mina to get her down to twenty percent only to have her get a lucky shot in and knock you to the ground where you subsequently slide out of the ring.

This brings me to another factor about the game: the difficulty factor. Whatever you hear IGN or GameSpot say about the AI in the game let me tell you, it's more than likely true. The computer's inhuman reflexes and ability to perform repeated guard impacts and find even the most minuscule crack in your guard is insane. By the end of Tales of Souls mode you'll be lucky to get one in ten hits in with how tight the computer's defense is. It's frustrating to go through quick play mode (think Arcade) and blaze past all of your opponents till you get to the last set who throw you whenever they get the chance, impact guard all just about all of your attacks, and just downright humiliate you.

A great plus of this game is its character creation engine. The Create a Soul mode gives you an almost unheard of level of control and customization in making your own warrior. Granted these characters don't look as good as the main fray, but they're still pretty damn impressive. With over a dozen different areas to modify including and not limited to: mid torso, lower torso, shoulders, shins, and feet, you can make some very interesting looking characters. Admittedly though the move sets these characters can use aren't all that amazing. At first glance the grieve edges, or nunchaku or the katana move sets are diverse and play well but as you use your personalized character more and more and delve deeper into their move sets you realize just how underdeveloped they are in comparison to the real characters.

Graphically the game is very impressive, especially for a PS2 game. Though there are some very noticeable load times in between matches, they're easily forgivable once Siegfried waltzes onto the screen as his long blonde hair blows in the wind and the light reflects off his gleaming silver armor. As expected from a fighting game, real time physics is used to give excellent boob jiggaliage that should please perverts, young and old, alike. Graphic whores should be well pleased with the presentation they see.

Though it could use some polish on a few fronts, Soul Calibur III's solid fighting engine and excellent graphics deliver quite well. Despite it's inhuman AI and it's flawed real time strategy mode, SCIII can give you and some friends an awesome ride with it's versus mode, which in the end is the core experience of any fighting game. Though there are some blemishes in the create-a-character mode, there's still quite a bit of time to be spent enjoying the wackiness of the freaks you can make. If Soul Calibur III is a sign of what's to come I'm very much looking forward to what Namco's got in store for us in the future with their flagship series..

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/05