Three new souls enter the fray in Namco's latest.
Which doesn't correspond to the mixed reviews and commercial death it received on release. According to the game's detractors, the new modes were pathetic, the sound wasn't improving any, and the gameplay had gone the way of Tekken 4. Having played it for myself, though, I can confirm that SC III has lived up to the hype, delivering possibly the best 3D fighting experience yet.
Let's start with the new characters. Zasalamel, a white-robed, eternally reincarnated pseudo-antagonist, combines the damage potential of Astaroth with the speed of Seung-Mina/ Kilik. Setsuka, a vengeful iaito disciple, combines an even more dangerous blend of speed and strength.
Tira, a murderous, bi-polar assistant to Soul Edge, is relatively low-damage, but makes up for it with sheer unpredictability (btw, Tira's 8-Way Run infinite combos pwn AI). In addition to these three, virtually all characters from the previous installments in the series have returned, either as a standard fighter or as a 'bonus' unlockable.
Now to the new game modes. Chronicles of the Sword, a bizarre attempt to breach into RTS territory, has attracted the most ire from reviewers. True, it will never challenge the likes of Aoe,CotS neverthless represents a pleasant diversion, and resembles one of the main ways to unlock Create-a-Character clothing (more on that later). Namco-designed characters also only surface as adversaries, as your team of world beaters are comprised entirely of CaC warriors.
Create a Character is perhaps the most successful of the additions, with a wide range of clothing/ facial options, and weapon disciples (most of which have to be unlocked, thus creating a vicious circle). It's not perfect though, with limited movesets for custom character weapon disciples, and the fact that CotS characters cannot be transferred to Vs. mode.
Tales of Souls focuses on the Namco-created characters, and resembles a more option-driven arcade mode, as at certain points in the fighter's story they can choose between two courses, determining their path.
Also of interest is Soul Arena, featuring scenario-based battles (eg. facing off against a giant statue of Hephaestus), World Competition (sadly not an online mode), three new shops and a tutorial. The ever reliable Vs. mode and arcade is also accounted for.
Graphics, understandably, are the best seen in a Soul series game, and really bring out the PS2's latent power. The sound isn't bad, though it hasn't really changed aside from replacing a few voice actors.
The amount of unlockable material is mind-boggling, from character art, to new weapons and levels. Needless to say, unless you seek a simple scrap or two, this isn't a rental title.
Several negative issues though. 1. The AI is capricious, changing from a lobotomized statue to a whirlwind of destruction that tears through your health bar in nanoseconds.
Soul Calibur III's 'true' boss, Night Terror, is also the cheapest opponent this side of Jinpachi, being immune to ring-out and having near-omnipresent range and damage capability.
There's also the file corruption bug you may have heard about. If you buy this, remember to have a backup file.
Overall, Soul Calibur is a superb piece of gaming, and is highly recommended to all gamers, fighting fanatics or not.