SoulCalibur III

"Want an Objective Review?"

It seems no matter what dramatic faults a game has some easily amused fan boy is going to overlook them, fail to give a critical review, and grant a game the highest score one can excuse oneself with. This won't be one of those reviews.

This is a great game, particularly for multiplayer. If you asked me I'd say it's well worth buying, but it has some serious faults that you should know about.

Gameplay – 6 (Fair)
And the largest flaw is in the game play. Because this is a fighting game the gameplay has a lot to do with the enemy AI, and here is where we have the problem. Before reading on try not to misunderstand. I'm quite good at the game, I've unlocked everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) and I'm not complaining because the game is difficult, I enjoy difficulty in a fighting game. I'm disappointed however by how artificial the AI feels. Yes I know it's a Computer, but you will be VERY aware that you're fighting a computer all the way through as the every action of the AI seems utterly mechanical. Sometimes the computer fails, and falls for the same cheap trick over and over again so long as you repeat it and time it right (IE a Barbarian can do two overhead swings constantly and 80% of the time the computer will get hit by the second after blocking the first, it almost always works), but if you change tactics and mix it up, the computer becomes nearly unbeatable. More often however the computer blocks, counters, breaks grabs, and passes your guard in ways that no human ever could. Every odd occasion the AI may actually juggle you in the air for an entire match, and it will often block everything, no matter how you mix up your moves. Worse, there's no fooling the AI, but you can trick a Human into blocking high and then hitting low.

On another note, the Chronicles of the Sword is a nice bonus, but it seems grossly misplaced being in a fighting game. Though I have enjoyed it, most people of the gener have little tolerance for long drawn out strategy type games, and in reality the gameplay was very restrictive (you could only move on set paths) and it broke down more to moving from one normal battle to another with the "ice" or "earthquake" at enemy towers that would affect you and Only you. The problem with the Chronicles of the Sword is that you practically have to play it to unlock a lot of the things you'll want to use for character creation and multiplayer, and a lot of fighting game fans won't like this.

Graphics – 7 (Good)
Some people are very easily distracted by pretty colors, but to be honest the graphics haven't changed much since Soul Calibur 2. Sometimes objects will clip through other objects, such as the Horn on Nightmare's helm when he uses certain animations. This is painfully obvious when creating a character, if you're nit picky you may often find yourself not using the cape, helmet, gloves, or belt you want because they clip through eachother. In Chronicles of the Sword the graphics are what you'd expect from a Super Nintendo game at best, but overall, the graphics remain good.

Sound & Music – 7 (Good)
The music is rather good, though many clips are short and recycled. You won't be disappointed with the music, but sometimes it will get in the way of voice selection in Character Creation mode.

Replay – 8 (Great)
Due to the large cast of characters you'll replay many times just to see all the different endings. You'll also want to unlock a lot of stuff, so you won't be disappointed with the replay value. Even after you unlock everything multiplayer will keep drawing you back and the New Game Plus in Chronicles of the Sword will keep you grinding, once you've created your ideal character and started fresh after unlocking the different classes that is.

If you play Chronicles of the Sword the unlockables are virtually countless, and sometimes you'll end up doing missions and playing through the Tales of Souls just to get money to unlock items for your character in Chronicles of the Sword. You can also unlock the ability for your custom character to use the fighting style, moves, and weapons of Tales of Souls characters by getting certain classes to level 30, and trust me, this is something you're going to want to do for multiplayer. Having your favorite character (the one you created) able to emulate any other character is great. I personally recreated Kain from the Blood Omen Series and with the Soul of Siegfried and the Soul Calibur he does not disappoint.

Multiplayer - 10 (Wonderful)
Assuming you have friends who like fighting games, Multiplayer will be something that brings you back again and again. Most of your friends are going to want to create their own character though, so have some slots for them.

Overall - 6
Due to the sheer artifice of the AI, this is best for multiplayer. The game feels broken at times, like Namco had intended to make some characters challenging and accidentally set certain parameters too high making them just seem artificial (they put the Artificial in the AI). As much as I like it, the Chronicles of the Sword also feels a bit misplaced in a fighting game considering that it's virtually mandatory in order to create the characters you're going to want.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/05