SoulCalibur III

"A Tale of Souls and Swords, Redefined"

Soul Calibur III is one of the finest fighting titles to grace the PlayStation 2. Weapons fighting, a series stable is well intact in the third installment, with some tweaks here and there.

I originally played Soul Calibur 2 on the Gamecube. Surprisingly, using the PS2 controller to play was much more comfortable. The Playstation 2 Dual Shock is probably the best type of controller suited to play this game.

The story takes place a short while after Soul Calibur 2 ended. Siegfried from the Holy Roman Empire is free of Nightmare's influence and is his own person once again. Mitsurugi, the Japanese mercenary is out to find stronger opponents as always. The French, Rapier-packing Raphael, now afflicted by Soul Edge's evil. All the characters have new tasks and goals, in the end it comes down to destroying or gaining the power of the Soul Edge. Almost very major character from the predecessors are present. The new characters; Tira, Zasalamel and Setsuka are great. Out of the three, I would have to say Zasalamel is the best one of the bunch, Setsuka is okay and Tira wasn't too fun to play.

The fighting engine is relatively unchanged from the previous game. The 8-Way Run, Guard Impacting—all have been kept intact with nothing changed and that's a good thing. Some characters were given new moves and had some taken away. Button commands for some characters like Ivy or Kilik have been changed, so series veterans may be disgruntled (but hey, there's a nice litte feature called “Practice Mode”). Some characters were upped in speed, especially Taki and Yun-Seong. Some characters were a bit slowed down, such as Raphael and Talim.

Load times are an issue in this game. This game would have run a lot better on the Gamecube or Xbox, since the visuals for this game push the limits of the aging PS2.

Many gamers have complained about the skill level of the AI. There was indeed times when the computer unmercifully juggled and combo-ed my ass due to a single mistake. The AI can get pretty damn tough and cheap at times but you, the player would just have to overcome it. After a few hours of play, you can easily adjust and there are even some moves that the enemy can't and won't defend against, so if you're just that bad of a player, then spam those moves like there's no tomorrow.

The Tales of Souls mode is what you get when you cross Arcade mode with Weapon Master Mode. You must play characters through their own stories and before and after every battle you can select from a list of options on what to do or where to go (Choose-Your-Own-Adventures style). Different choices lead to different events so this adds a lot to the replay value. The game also takes some liberties from Sega's Shenmue. In some cutscenes, button input commands flash on the screen and you'd have to tap them quickly. The proceeding scene depends on whether you correctly inputted the button commands successfully or not. Large sums of money are gotten from completing one round of Tales of Souls.
The biggest (and probably best) addition to the series is the Create A Soul Mode. Players can create their own characters and can ultimately store 10 creations per memory card. This new system isn't perfect however, it could have used a couple of tweaks here and there but is a very welcome addition to the series. The variety of items to use on your characters is vast. From samurai helmets to flowy gowns, from knightly armor to Zorro-style hats. Pieces of clothing, headgear, armor and other accessories are obtainable through the number of fights you have been in, the armor shop or Chronicles of the Sword.

Chronicles of the Sword is a real-time strategy game with its own story (a poor one at that). You can create up to 10 characters, and can use up to 3-5 characters in the actual battles. At the beginning of every mission, conditions of victory and defeat are displayed. It's played on a map, and your characters must ultimately take the main stronghold of the enemy, by whacking towers and buildings…with lances. After these structures are demolished, you might enter a normal, Soul Calibur style fight in a stage with special conditions (slippery floor, poison, etc). This mini-game itself is very dull but quite rewarding. Tons of money, weapons and armor can be unlocked. You can gain even more money if the bonus conditions are met (having captured at least 8 strongholds, having none of your units killed, etc.). I didn't like this part of the game very much, but it is necessary to complete (more than once) if one wants to unlock everything in the game.

The Shop is obviously where you spend your hard earned gold. There are three stores: Weapons, Armor and Items. The Weapon store sells…weapons, different kinds with different effects (guard breaking, life raises as one guard impacts, etc.) for every character to use. The Armor store sells a lot of the pieces of armor and clothing to be used in Create a Soul. The Item store sells items for the Museum. Character illustrations, videos, backgrounds, etc. can be purchased there.
The Soul Arena is a mode where you can battle under various conditions for extra practice and gold. You can fight a giant Greek colossus, fight by knocking your opponent back on walls, fight under one-hit-kill modes and more. It's very enjoyable, high ranking scores can net you a lot of gold.

Practice mode is still Practice mode. Nothing much to say about it, nothing much changed and it's still an excellent way to improve your game.

As said before, the visuals in this game are pushing the PS2's limits. They're absolutely gorgeous and are definitely a major improvement over Soul Calibur 2's. Character models have much more detail on them. And some of the models have freakishly detailed details. Frame rate is smoother. The martial arts animation is much more better than before, one of the biggest improvements the developers made since the last game. The stages are absolutely gorgeous, notably the Lost Cathedral. SC3 has absolutely the best stage designs in the series.

The soundtrack is emotional and atmospheric, just like Soul Calibur 2. Some tracks from the first Soul Calibur return, better than ever. This will surely please fans of the first game that didn't find the second game's music too hot. Sound effects are much more crisp. The sounds of blades whistling through the air and clanging against steel will contribute more than ever to the player's adrenaline during battle. The English dubbed voices are terrible, levels below Soul Calibur 2's somewhat decent dubbing. That's why I chose to put Japanese voice on default.

Soul Calibur 3 has so much to offer to the player. There's just tons of replay value. The number of unlockable items is nearly five times as much as Soul Calibur 2. I've unlocked a great deal of things in the game, my total number of fights is nearing 2300 and I still haven't unlocked it all.

Final Rating: 9/10

Pros:

+Stunning graphics
+Fighting engine remains the same
+Expanded storyline
+New characters are great
+Create A Soul Mode
+Tons of replay value
+Overall sound effects and music
+Slick animation

Cons:

-Chronicles of the Sword
-English dubbed voices, you CUR!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/05, Updated 12/30/05