It's Soul Calibur, need we say more.
And now in the third installment, we have a large character roster, many returning characters and some new people, plus the bonus characters. A great list of people, plus a character creator with some weapons to keep your character different from the main cast.
The new story, Zasalemel, our new antagonist has brought back that blood drenched azure knight Nightmare, after Siegfried has been freed from possesion by Soul edge, this time it seems like it's for good. So now we have these two guys with giant swords running around the world with manty others seeking one of the spiritual swords for one reason or another. Yes the basic story of the series, but like they say, "if it ain't broken don't try and fix it."
The gameplay remains unchanged for the most part, except for balancing characters out a little better. You have a button to swing side-to-side, one for up and down and another for attacks without your weapon, then a very nice button, a block button, kudos to the block button.
A new feature in the series is the slightly interactive cutsceanes, and the option to choose your next battle, it has been done in other games, but is a first in this series.
Chronicles of ths sword, the new mode of the game where you create the main character and run through another story involving those two swords that love to cause oh so much trouble in the world. Leading part of an army you can battle in a stratigic mode, or you can simply get up close and personal to beat the living daylights out of any person who crosses you (The favorite playing style of yours truly is the latter of the two) You actually can level up your character, yes it makes a huge difference at higher levels. and the story is very well done, you even get to beat upon the main cast of the game. (You better be high level or damn good at it to win against them) It's a quick way to unlock items and gain money in the game.
Creating a character, it's gotten more and more common in games, and it's a great thing as well, it lets you get into the game easier. Depending on what outfit pieces you choose, you get to have a good, neutral or evil character, two little bars on the bottom let you know how it's going. You get several classes, each with five weapon types. The last two weapons will be weapons the main characters use. The other three only custom and bonus characters get. The exception is Swordmaster, the class lets you use every custom weapon but no weapons of the main characters. (I'll be honest, I don't think you get to unlock soul of Olcadan, the weapon mimic with this class)
There are also several different game modes to choose from. you get to play each character's story, Chronicles of the sword (Your custom character's story) The quickplay mode, Eight battles with any main character, custom character or bonus character you have. A tourny mode, plus many other minigame type modes. The game has content that will keep you busy for a long time to come if you want to get them all completed.
Overall there is very little wrong with this game. Maybe some balance with some of the characters, but that is constantly changing, they'll get it right at some point or another.