Buggy and dumbed-down; somehow Namco thought it was a good idea to release an incomplete game.
User Rating: 3.5 | SoulCalibur III PS2
The system is the same as it had been, dumbed-down throw game and a simple game of (high)-mid-low. However, what was destroyed was the concept of Horizontals and Verticals, as Vertical attacks track really well now. What else is added into the mix? Remove lots of stances/moves from all the characters (options), leave in a bug (VC) which completely breaks the game (fixed with the terrible arcade release at least), make guard breaks useless, unskippable cut scenes, a terrible "rts" mode, a useless character creation mode, throw in stupid new characters, and make an already unbalanced game completely broken.
Simply put, if you are paying attention, as most reviewers didn't, this is simply a terrible terrible game.
The only shining point in the game is Mina is still a relatively playable character (nerfed but still really fun), unlike in the next outing.
If you want a good weapon based fighting game, play Soul Calibur 2 instead, you won't regret it. 
