
	Platform PlayStation 2 Genre Fighting Publisher Namco Developer Namco ESRB T (Teen) Released Q4 2005

- The gameplay is as solid as ever - Looks great - Sounds good too - Tons to unlock - Character creator

- Extra game modes that are nothing but filler - Story mode is boring - Would many miss this game if it was never released at this time?

Review: Soul Calibur II (PS2) Review: Soul Calibur II (Gamecube) Review: Soul Calibur II (Xbox) Review: Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)
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Soul Calibur III

Score: 8.6/10

Since the series marched onto the Dreamcast in 1999, Soul Calibur has become one of the most popular fighting games out there. It has developed a reputation for sporting top notch visuals, solid gameplay, and plenty of extra gameplay modes to keep players busy. Now, with its third iteration having hit the PlayStation 2, the series continues this trend. However, Soul Calibur III feels an awful lot like its predecessors, begging the quest as to whether or not the game is necessary in the first place. Sure there are gameplay tweaks, and even prettier visuals, but these changes don’t feel like a noticeable leap for SC3 over SC2. There are some new game modes added, but they’re extremely superficial, and no one would miss them if they were never implemented. Be that as it may, Soul Calibur III is still a high quality fighter, but likely only diehard fans will appreciate the improvements in this edition.

As with most fighting games, Soul Calibur III has an extensive roster of combatants. Twenty-seven characters from previous Soul Caliburs have returned, with three new faces joining the fray. Playing these new characters, it feels like Namco simply added to existing archetypes. Zasalamel carries a large scythe that can be a bit clunky to swing around, but can take down enemies in a hurry once one gets a handle on his combos. Next there’s Setsuka with her sword and umbrella. She’s neither fast nor slow, but steadily wears down her opponents. Finally players can also play as Tira, the most agile of the bunch, as she dances around quickly stabbing and swinging away at enemies with her deadly hula-hoop. This in mind, there’s a little something for everyone in the selection of new characters for Soul Calibur III. Playing as the other 27 players feels instantly familiar, though some of the costumes they’re sporting are just intrinsically wrong. Why does Astaroth need to have a hammer on his head? Why does Cervantas look like a geriatric version of Rob Zombie? We may never know the answers to those questions, but one thing is certain, those images didn’t need to be in this game.

Despite some questionable wardrobe decisions, Soul Calibur III looks extremely good, though. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that developers are finally getting to the point where they can push the PlayStation 2 as far as the machine will go. The detail has been cranked up yet again this time around, and the animation is as smooth as ever. Generally the various characters look quite nice, and their special attacks look extremely devastating with all the flashes of energy, and debris that goes flying about. Most impressive are the various arenas in which players fight. Each of them are incredibly detailed, with little touches added to the architecture, fauna, nearby creeks, or whatever other types of eye candy that happen to be in the area.

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As always, the Soul Calibur series’ audio continues to impress, largely thanks to Soul Calibur III again going with a sweeping orchestral score. On top of this, the sound effects have a whole lot of punch, especially for those with a decent surround sound system since this game supports THX.

Combat itself is quite similar to that in previous Soul Calibur games. One thing that the series has always had going for it more than a lot of other

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3D fighting games is the scalability of the playing experience. Veterans of the genre can quickly learn the moves, and find a deep fighter. Meanwhile, those who haven’t played a whole lot of fighting games can still pick up the controller, learn the basics and have some fun without suddenly becoming overwhelmed. However, the game does suffer from some inconsistent difficulty in single player mode. Players can be going along fighting one opponent after then next with the difficulty slowly increasing when suddenly they’re up against an exceptionally tough individual. After finally beating the person, things become easier again for a time until players find themselves against another particularly difficult foe. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to this either with specific characters being easier of more difficult to defeat. It’s just that they bring their super A-game at random intervals. The one character that is consistently hard to beat relative to all of the other characters, though, is Abyss, the final boss. Compared to all of the other characters in Soul Calibur III, this guy is incredibly tough.

While Soul Calibur III continues to get the fundamentals right, a lot of the extra bells and whistles that Namco decided to throw in this time feel forced. There are all these extra modes of play in the game that may look good on paper, but sometimes fall flat when executed.

For instance, there’s the game’s story mode. Leading up to the game’s launch, Namco was hyping this up as being an incredible narrative experience. Hell, you’d think they were releasing the next Lawrence of Arabia the way the publisher was going on, yet what we see in Soul Calibur III is a bunch of uninspired stories delivered in the most uninteresting manner possible. As an added curve ball, there’s even a real-time strategy mini-game that feels more like an excuse to have characters run on a tiny map, and get into the occasional brawl. Frankly, if gamers want a strategy game they’ll fire up a far more robust product like Age of Empires. Chronicles of the Sword mode just wastes people’s time.

Strangely, though, the character creation mode is really quite fun. Players go in and pick their gender, basic class (barbarian, ninja, saint, etc.) and begin to customize the appearance of their budding warrior. What makes the enjoyment so surprising is that the armor and clothing one can cloth their warrior in doesn’t add any benefit while they’re fighting. It’s just for looks. Yet time and time again, I’ve found myself trying to unlock more armor, or earn enough gold to buy more in the shops so I can doll up my characters just that much more. This mode by far continues Soul Calibur’s ability to sink its claws into completionists that absolutely must unlock and collect everything in a given game.

Looking at the total package, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Namco simply played it safe with Soul Calibur III. The gameplay is very similar to previous games, and the game looks better than ever, but for the most part all of the extra modes aren’t a huge leap over that found in previous titles in the series. At the end of the day, Soul Calibur III is an extremely good fighter; just don’t expect it to reinvent the wheel.

Mr. Nash

December 4, 2005