 Review By: Cameron Morris |
Developer: | Namco |
| Publisher: | Namco | |
| Genre: | Fighting | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Rating Soulcalibur III is a difficult thing for more than one reason - the core mechanics of this game, the fighting engine itself, is absolutely my favorite experience in a fighting game since Killer Instinct Gold, and the game has so many good things going for it that, taken by themselves, the game should be groundbreaking. I mean it's got all these new features and modes, a Create-A-Character amongst them. That should be some great stuff. However, like too many games before it, Soulcalibur III is rather too ambitious for its own good, and the new components are not entirely...well, they don't always feel whole.
Let's get this out of the way first: I have accepted fighting games, as a genre, to have rather bad storylines. That's just a matter of course, and a bad story in a fighting game doesn't bother me as much as it bothers other writers on the site. Soulcalibur III has shortcomings in this area that are similar to nearly every other fighter on the market: there's precious little depth of characterization, the continuity is tenuous at best, et cetera. There are a few characters that have amusing stories, but they never really get any farther than "amusing", and that is a shame. Still, if you don't hate fighting game stories as a rule of thumb, you can either take this one at face value or ignore it and just play the game, which is probably best.
Historically, this series has had one thing going for it above everything else, and that is a weapon-based combat system that is easily accessible to new players while being rewarding to veterans. Using the combination of three attack buttons and the directional pad or control stick, a person can pull off some brutally effective moves. Since even the simplest movements tends to merit a rather cool sequence of attacks from the character, people who aren't into fighting games at all (like my father) can easily get into Soulcalibur III and, if not play particularly well, can at least play decently. The system has depth to it too, though, and as large a twitch factor as just about any other game out there. You need to possess extremely quick reflexes in order to parry attacks from your opponents, and even blocking can take on a different tone if you are not good at telling whether your opponent is coming with a high attack or a low one. Each character feels and plays decidedly different, and each of them requires a decidedly different set of skills to be used effectively. Soulcalibur has long been known as a series with one of the best fighting engines on the market, and that holds true here as much as in any of the game's predecessors. If you're looking for a game where you can sit down with your little brother or best friend for weeks, playing versus matches and learning the intricacies of different characters in ways that actually affect the outcomes of matches, by all means, look here.
Another thing the Soul series is known for is gorgeous character models: while the bar has been set almost ridiculously high in the fighting genre, thanks to the Xbox's Dead or Alive Ultimate amongst others, this game manages to stand out for one important reason. Simply put, character design is almost boundlessly interesting: everyone in the game is designed in a way that's striking and, where not original, at least as an interesting take on the archetypes that they're based on. While it's true that some characters such as Maxi or Kilik border on nondescript while characters like Nightmare and Yoshimitsu are so stunningly recognizable at a distance, each one is infused with a personality that makes them stand out from the rest of the game's cast. I don't think Raphael, the debonair swashbuckling aristocrat, is going to win any awards for his uniqueness or originality in terms of visual design, but his personality as a haughty, lunatic megalomaniac is both refreshing and enjoyable. He's just one example, of course, and not a particularly good one, but that kind of eccentricity is something that can be expected from the entire cast.
Another advantage that this game has over others in the genre, visually speaking, is the areas you fight in. Unlike some fighting games, which are often bogged down by fighting game clichés or too realistic to be interesting, Soulcalibur III is an example of what can happen when a developer really cuts loose in terms of design. The designs here are meant to be visually arresting and little else, and to that end the designers have succeeded wonderfully: the array of colors used in the clock tower level alone border on breathtaking, and each level is full to the brim with imaginative design and open space, making each as memorable as any character from most fighting games. Fighting the final boss in any single player mode, one can't help but marvel at the heat waves coming off of meteors soaring across a backdrop of a sky set ablaze. Each level has its own distinctive charm, its own special dynamic, and there are very few that you won't remember long after you've turned off the console.
The game's sound is oddly lackluster in comparison to the refinement of its fighting engine and graphics. The music is there, and it sounds mostly good, and the same can be said of the voices and sound effects, but the fact of the matter is that we've heard it before. I am not afraid to say that pretty much everything in this game sounds woefully familiar to what was heard a couple of years ago in Soulcalibur II, and while what's there is not bad, I can't help feeling a bit disappointed in the lack of some really original or engaging content. If you're new to the series you're going to love what you find here, but for everybody else it just feels recycled.
Now, to the meat of the matter, the real changes between this game and the previous Soul games. There are two new additions that everyone is really raving about: a Create-a-Character mode and a new RPG-style mode called Chronicles of the Sword. The arcade-style single-player game from previous games has been expanded somewhat and renamed Tale of Souls, so it bears mention too - I'll give a brief overview of all three modes here.
Posted: 2005-12-15 12:31:04 PST