[PS2] Soul Calibur III

[Hard core Rikki]

Allow me to rush into the review section along with the gurus , with Soul Calibur III


Output: 480 interleaved, played via SCART


Synopsis:
The wicked Soul Edge survived its fated encounter with the wielder of Soul Calibur, Xianghua, and restored its control over the body of Siegfried Schtauffen, turning him back into the Azure Knight Nightmare. Four years later Nightmare was about to restore Soul Edge, when suddenly a man wielding a thin rapier (Raphael) appeared, intending on taking Soul Edge. Nightmare defeated him, but was distracted by Siegfried's latent will trying to restore his body. Using the distraction, Raphael pierced Soul Edge's eye, giving Siegfried the edge he needed to break free from Soul Edge's control once again.

After waking up, Siegfried found the holy sword, free from its entrapment within the wicked sword, and out of instinct used it to pierce Soul Edge. The result led to both swords sealed together in a fateful embrace, an Embrace of Souls. Siegfried took both weapons and started a quest to find a definitive way of sealing Soul Edge, but memories of his slaughters, plus the attacks of those resentful of the Azure Knight, drove his mind towards insanity. Unbeknownst to him, the evil soul of the blade escaped and obtained a temporary shell, starting a new killing spree to strengthen himself while seeking its body, Soul Edge.

What neither of the two warriors know is that a man behind the scenes is controlling their steps, searching to end an everlasting curse. And that many other warriors ventured in search of the blade as well.



Description:

Soulcalibur III is a 3D fighting game featuring a variety of characters, each with distinctive weapons and a unique fighting style. Characters engage one another in 1vs1 fights, ending whith the opponent grounded by ko, ring out, or time out.


Newly introduced characters in Soul Calibur III, are:
- Zasalamel, a shyte-weilding wizard.
- Setsuka, who's totally into razor-sharp parasols
- Tira, a chakram user.
- Olcadan - a fighter who imitates random characters' gameplay, depending on wich weapon he uses. Think, Charade or Mokujin.
- Abyss: actually, Zasalamek, affected by the power of the eternal blades.
- Night Terror: similar to Nightmare in gameplay. Not selectable, too. Duh!!

Note: this games a PS2 exclusive, so no Link, Spawn or Tidus here.



For this 3rd SC, we're rewarded with two major gameplay modes as well.

First is Tales of Souls (much like the Weapon Master mode in Soul Calibur II), where the player selects any one of the available 24 characters and unravels their individual quests for the Soul Edge. Most challenges encountered are regular fights (with increasingly challenging conditions, like defeating 2 opponents under a time limit, while poisoned), as well as there being (sometimes rewarding) choices to be made on the world map and actions to be performed during cut scenes.

- The second mode is called here Chronicle of the Sword, where you can create a personalized character and use him for serving during a conflict. This mode requires strategic thinking, and isnt too different from wargame rules. Like in most PC wargames, most missions end either with the capture of the enemy strongholds or a ranked commander.


Aaaand of course, the usual suspects:

Versus mode
Soul Arena (actually, a team-battle mode)
World Competition (a tournament mode, elimination-based. Ever played Budokai ?)
Survival mode
Practice....

Your previously-created characters can be used in most of these modes.

With a very vast array of clothing and acessories to customize your fighters with (on par with Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection), I can say the play's gonna be worth it, for those latenight home tourneys on saturday nights.


================

Verdict :
Unsurprisingly, Soul Calibur III was universally welcomed by gamers and gamers newly introduced to PS2 fighting games alike.
Since, SC III entered the Platinum/Greatest Hits category, wich means it's become even echeaper to purchase, for those who had not discovered it yet. Now's a good time.


Gameplay : 10/10
- Very rewarding for the patient among you.
- Nicely balanced.
- Only Tekken 5 comes any close to Soul Calibur III, srry DOA/VF fans !!


Sound : 9/10
- Stereo, Dolby Logic II...
- Crystal-clear voice acting.


Graphics : 9/10
- Vast improvements on the graphic rendering area. As a result, the visuals simply look stunning, with more dynamic lighting effects (for dramatic effect).
- The arenas are very detailled, and way larger than in SC II. A feat for the eye. The characters also look even more detailled, even at close distance. Those who use higher quality output cables will get even sharper visuals.


Replay Value : 8/10
- Obviously, multiplayer. 2 players may compete against each other at a given time.
- NO online play, but had been considered.
- Many bonuse/secrets available, that require replaying the scenario-based modes more than 1 times.


Overall Score : 9/10

A satisfying improvement to the previous hit Soul Calibur II, Soul Calibur III did not fail the highly expectative PS2 masses.
This game can be safely recommended to the veteran and the newcomer alike, for the fighting category. Definitely recommended.

Are we close to perfection? Pretty much, for a PS2 fighting game. Time for a PS3-based Soul Calibur. WE ARE WAITING !!

=================

Soul Calibur Intro Sequence



Pictures of game running emulated through PCSX2 are available HERE

[Densetsu]

Beside the cheap AI and kinda,crappy character creation mode and a boring mini-game called Chronicle of the Sword, it was a pretty good fighter. Still, i prefer Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur for DC more than SC3.

[Paratech]

I preferred Soul Calibur as an arcade game, I don't want to choose a path, I want to fight other characters. The choosing a path version derailed what I liked about the original Soul Calibur.

[Kane]

I liked it. The Chronicles mode was a little long winded, but hey. I liked being able to create a character even if it was somewhat limited. The new characters were a bit meh to me, but I've only really ever got into playing as Mitsurugi or Seung Mina.