very big game, perhaps a little TOO big.
I'll be short, there are ALOT of things to unlock in this game. If you dedicated yourself nonstop to unlocking everything, it would take you a couple days, close to a week I estimate. It's very difficult to figure out WHERE and HOW to unlock the specials though.
Graphics, Soul Calibur III seems more like a direct sequel to Dreamcast's Soul Calibur rather than Soul Calibur II. In short, it looks like Soul Calibur II, but moves like Soul Calibur. The graphics are good enough, that's really all I can say tech-wise. Some characters have dropped their remade Soul Calibur II outfits for outfits that resemble their Soul Calibur I appearance, take a good look at Nightmare if you don't know what I mean. You also have the choice to edit a normal character's colors if you choose to.
Sound, there have been quite a few tweaks. Several returning characters have had new voice actors selected for them, takes a little bit to get used to that. The music is a mix between remixed Soul Calibur I music, Soul Calibur II music, and new tracks created for III. It's sure to please any fan of the series.
Control-wise, it's identical to PS2's Soul Calibur II, meaning it's really easy.
Playability, this is one of Soul Calibur III's weakest factor. Simply put, the AI is horribly unbalanced to the point where it won't even give you a proper opportunity to stop their onslaught of attacks until you're dead. Be ready to dedicate alot of time to some fights, it's guaranteed you'll be stuck at SOMEONE for a while. Other than that, it's the same as the past Soul Calibur games.
The character creation feature is amusing and innovative. However, it can also be a source of immense frustration since you have to actually purchase over 80% of the parts avaliable to the feature to make a "true" custom character, which slows down the completion process to the main game.
Chronicles of the Soul is only for those with alot of free time and patience. If you don't have either of these, don't bother selecting it.
Final words, it's damn hard and INCREDIBLY time consuming, but it you can look past that, you'll enjoy it