Soul Calibur 3 proves that our souls still desire the tale of souls and swords and all the great fun associated with it.
Soul Calibur III brings back the great gameplay and fun of the classic Soul Calibur game from the Dreamcast with some ambitious new single player modes that are really cool and proves that fighters can still be innovative.
Now the one thing that many of you may be wondering about this game if is it the same old recycled thing that’s been rehashed and called a sequel. Well to those I say no it is not the same old thing, not completely which let me clarify right now is definitely not a bad thing. Some of you may think they aren't doing enough or too much and destroying this classic series. For those that think so I say no, SC3 still maintains the fun gameplay we all have come to love and added some new things that even though aren't fully polished, are quite fun. Soul Calibur actually makes a big step forward for the series and 3D fighters in general.
WARNING: This next statement is sad but straight up, SC3 has BRUTAL Loading Times, when you play in a Tales of Souls and are facing Abyss, in the cutscene just before it starts to load in between leaving you to look at a white screen with *LOADING…* blinking at the bottom right corner. Also while in ToS when reading through the little story you actually have to wait awhile but it’s not that bad, the story is ok and it gives you some time to cool off a bit. In CotS it’s the same thing it takes a while for your character to break strongholds. It’s not that bad comparing to other games though but Namco really need to fix this for next-gen SC.
Now to address online play, some of you may want online play for a game like SC3, but honestly I don't think online is that developed that it can support SC3 with no lag and no glitches. I believe the next-gen version of SC should have online though so I think Namco did good that they didn't risk anything with online and saving their online plans for next-gen SC.
Now let's get right down to it.
Gameplay: Soul Calibur III is great fun to play with friends or by yourself, it’s loaded with unlockables and many things to beat. The Guard Impact has been tweaked from SC2 and is more like SC for those who've played all three (excluding Soul Blade in this case). And when I mean lots of unlockables and things to beat I mean a lot, there are 32 characters and for each memory card you can have 10 CAS characters. CAS meaning Create-A-Soul, in which you can create your very own fighter. Something that has never been done in any established Fighting series. It is very cool and very deep for a first go but it's not the greatest creation mode but it’s not bad either. The one thing is though you have to make a new character for Chronicles of the Sword which is the main single player mode. It's like a RTS but it’s not that great, and though there can be data corruption as a result of resetting and soft resetting and messing with the files in your memory card. It's not half bad but hopefully in the future they do something else for the main story. It can still be entertaining as well as Tales of Souls which is like an arcade mode with a story added, these stories are nothing too special and the cutscenes for them are good overall but most are the same thing. There is also Soul Arena which is really cool with mission based fights in which you do different things like coin collecting or fighting a giant statue known as Colossus. There is one thing though that even master of past SC games will note, this game is quite challenging and even cheap. It is almost like the DMC3 of fighting games but when you win you get a great sense of accomplishment unless you were being cheap. :lol: Now another thing that's this installment doesn't have is Team Battles, which takes a bit away from the multiplayer but overall SC3 is a great game that sticks to most of its roots and delivers great fun for everyone.
Graphics: The environments are amazingly detailed and are beautiful to look at. As for the characters they're all nicely done but aren't as nice as the environments surrounding them. And the new characters being Zasalamel, Setsuka and Tira fit in well and look cool. Sticking on that the new characters, they’re all really unique and aren't throwaways.
Sound: Some of the voices have changed but overall the voice acting is great. The sounds of the environments like running water and breaking of the ground and those cool effects and the clash of weapons are all great. Some of the music has been used again from SC2 but they're great and I like the fact they're there, the new tunes are nice as well. Great sound overall.
Value: Lots of characters, lots of unlockables, lots of cool stuff to complete, and lots of fun. The main single player and the lack of Team Battle takes away from SC3 a bit but this game still holds up very well as it is simply fun. And you will be spending lots of time with it especially because it’s pretty hard but it can be beaten. If anyone masters SC3 then they’ll be amazing in the predecessors even more than before.
Tilt: I love this game; it is another great installment in the Soul Calibur series (including Soul Blade oh and Soul Edge). It's really fun and great to look at, lots to love here. If you're a noob then don't worry it won't take you long to love this game, just to beat it. :lol:
I believe the CAS here in SC3 is a big step forward for Namco and it will become more polished and with the added feature of online play the next-gen installment of SC will be amazing and between SC3 and Tekken 5 well they’re both amazing but Tekken 5 steps up a bit more from Tekken 4 than SC3 does from SC2 but SC3 is a more fun to play mostly because of it’s great style and battle system.
Soul Calibur III is just plain fun with all its cool features I can't wait for the next one. This game is a must have for fighting fans and those that just want to have fun and what person doesn't like to have fun. A definite buy!
I hope this review of mine's has helped you in making your decision of purchasing this game.
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Wind blows softly across the battlefield
Starving for victory so they could get a proper meal
Bloody and Beaten lives of their allies scattered
Blade in their hand, their dreams will never shatter
The falling sun prolongs the one on one confrontation
Neither will run, in this matter of complication
Night has fallen and soon one of these warriors will as well
They attack each other with their blades, no fear of possible hell