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Aussie Ninja also feasts on human souls.
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Australia
Sun, 2 April 2006
by: Australian Ninja
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Playing Soul Calibur 3 is like visiting an old friend. Look, when it comes down to it, there are two fighting game series' I truly love and will still be playing several years from now. One is King of Fighters and the other is Soul Calibur. The characters and gameplay appeal to me on many levels. Sorry, but Street Fighter comes third for me, followed lastly by Virtua Fighter, with Tekken and Guilty Gear somewhere in the middle. Sadly Dead or Alive remains my most unplayed fighter ever. Let's just say they are all good at what they do, but for current fighting games Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur 3 kick more ass than they have any right to.
Before I forget, let me say that Soul Calibur 3 [SC3] plays as well as its predecessors and looks gorgeous while doing it. It adds in a ton of excellent new features and modes of play. There are some tiny valid criticisms that are so insignificant that they should not even be a consideration for anyone interested in buying this game. The main thing is that even on the easiest difficulty the game is hard. Sometimes it even turns psychotic forcing you to continue 3-4 times on one character. I've been playing the series since the beginning and never had this problem before. So the game is not friendly to new players. The others issues I'll briefly cover later.
NAMCO do a few good things. They make Tekken, Galaga, Soul Calibur and constantly re-release Pacman on every gaming interface known to man. Of these things the only one I give a damn about is Soul Calibur. Because it's the best baby. Technically Tekken has deeper fighting mechanics and far more combo possibilities. But when it comes to variety of gameplay and overall fun, Soul Calibur rocks my world. Fortunately anyone has the choice of playing both series of wonderful games but only Soul Calibur 3 has dancing tambourine warriors. As good fortune would have it I own all four games in the 'Soul' series and each is unique and beautiful in its own way. Let's take a brief look at them then you magnificent buttonhole reading people:
*Soul Blade on PS1 had amazing graphics for the time and the best music soundtrack in the series overall. Also, cool cut scene endings, two for each character.
*Soul Calibur on Dreamcast remains unparalleled for its time and what it accomplished with its variety and depth of gameplay. Best quest mode, voice acting and art gallery in the series. Sure it came out a while back, but some people's jaws permanently dropped after one look at this spectacular game.
*Soul Calibur 2 on Gamecube / PS2 / Xbox beefed up the character roster and featured exclusive characters for each console. Link of 'Zelda' fame for the Cube, Heihachi of 'Tekken' fame for PS2, Spawn of movie, comic and animated fame for the Xbox. Additionally another Todd McFarlane character "Necrid" was added to all three versions. The voice acting was mixed and the endings pretty much sucked although the quest mode was decent. The "extra" this and "extra" that for each mode of play was shit.
*Soul Calibur 3 shines like a diamond around the neck of the most beautiful woman in the world. The PS2 is pretty much maxed out running this beauty. A ton of genuinely FUN modes and unlockables. The quest mode is gone but replaced with an entirely new mini-game that should be called a 'maxi-game' as it is long and fulfilling. The main arcade / story mode is stupidly hard even on the easiest difficulty and has long annoying cut scenes that cannot be skipped.
*The voice acting simultaneously sucks and blows, few games have accomplished this so consistently. Overall however SC3 wins the award for "Bestest Most Rockingest Soul Calibur." Sure I just made that award up, but its true and SC3 really is the best of the series despite its few flaws.
 | | Don't fear the reaper. |
At a time when people are eagerly anticipating the next generation of console gaming I am content enjoying the fantastic games that appear at the end of the current consoles lifespans. I don't know why it is, but every time a new Game Station 2600 comes along people rush out for the often crappy release titles and miss out on the sweetest current generation games.
What I'm saying is; I like games and all that, but don't let yourself miss out on any of the awesome games out now because of hype for something you've never seen.
Soul Calibur 3 is one of those games you should not miss. SC3 is a pretty game that throws as much fancy lighting and high-res graphics at you that it possibly can. The character models are richly detailed and possess more style than the funky red-sneaker-wearing John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." The backgrounds are simply amazing. While they were good in the previous games, NAMCO have really outdone themselves here. Words cannot do the backgrounds any justice you will just have to look at them yourself to appreciate them. SC3 is a gorgeous game that keeps you coming back for more every time you take a break.
New to SC3 is the Custom Character creation. Think Smackdown with much less options. This is probably my favourite new feature. In around twenty minutes I made a Bizarro Superman and a crude Dante from Devil May Cry.
Then I made up a character of my own called "Shadow." A female superhero with black clothing and white skin, a Robin style mask and a cape. I made her black and white as if she was from an old 1930's movie.
The freedom to create your own fighters and choose their fighting style/ weapon is a real treat. At first there is Barbarian, Martial Artist, Thief, Monk and Dancer disciplines. Later on you can unlock Assassin, Gladiator, Knight, Pirate [ooh arr, Captain Jack Sparrow ahoy], Sage, Samurai and Swordmaster disciplines. What does it all mean?
Well it basically means there is a multitude of fighting styles [special moves] and clothing or costumes to choose from. The good and bad news is that you have to play a lot of SC3 to unlock all the custom character 'parts.' In addition to these characters, you can choose two 'edit' colours for each of the main characters in addition to their normal two colours. I made one Astaroth totally black and evil looking. For costume two I gave Astaroth green skin and dark purple pants. "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I get angry." He looked pretty sweet.
While the custom characters cannot be used in all the modes of play, there is enough on offer that you can use them in. Thankfully you can play an arcade style mode minus story and cut scenes with any character. In addition to the main characters, and your own custom characters there are pre-made custom characters that you fight during the game. They can be unlocked and chosen in certain modes. While not too exciting, it's like getting more game for free without sacrificing anything in its place.
There is such an amazing amount of unlockable content in SC3. The things I care most about are the art galleries and custom character parts. However to unlock everything you have to be beyond hardcore. For this reason I suggest you check out the link I've added later in the review.
The new minigame Chronicles of the Sword is a simplified strategy game. You have a map screen, where you order little men and women about. Destroy enemy fortresses and protect your own. When you encounter an enemy the battle goes into the usual one on one fighting. All your characters are given to you [premade customs with names and all] or you can ignore them and make you your own customs for battle. But some of the characters given to you are on such a high level you would be stupid not to use them. Small anime style heads chat with noisy text in every battle like Final Fantasy Tactics. It is simple to play but simple does not mean easy. It gets progressively harder forcing you to adapt. At twenty stages long and averaging 30-60 minutes per battle it takes a fair chunk of time to finish.
While the music is good in SC3, it's not spectacular. I may be sounding like I'm stuck in the past when I say that the PS1 Soul Blade game had hands down the best music in the series. 'Khan's Super Session' I'm thinking of in particular. And not to sound like I don't love SC3 to death but the voice acting of SC2 and SC3 is mediocre after the awesomeness that was Soul Calibur #1. That said, I genuinely feel that the American voice acting has improved and I much prefer it now [in SC3] over the Japanese voice acting - which comes across as 'lite' and not nearly guttural enough for the male characters [Mitsurugi excepted].
 | | I see your schwartz is as big as mine. |
The biggest difference for me was hearing Nightmare and Astaroth in the first Soul Calibur and then again in the two sequels. The voices were perfect in the first Calibur and only got worse as the series progressed. However, the voice acting is still a million miles away from the ludicrous Virtua Fighter 4 Evo voices. Now there was some of the lamest 'Lamey McLame' voice acting I know of. Of course I wouldn't be nit picking if I didn't enjoy both of those games so much.
Three new characters arrive amidst a mix of the good old boys 'n gals of previous games. Fun custom characters enter the stage of history. Pre-made custom characters enter the ring. The excellent strategy minigame Chronicles of the Sword takes a bow. The usual gang of idiots unlockable weapons swaggers in at 500 pounds. A wide selection of amazing backgrounds, proper cut scene endings and some alternate endings parade down the catwalk. More gameplay variations than you can shake a pointed stick at beckon you forth. Stupid unskipable cutscenes in story mode and mixed quality voice acting make themselves painfully known. Three shops are available to buy the millions and millions of the Rock's [and everyone else's] axes, swords, art, custom character bits, extra gameplay modes etc.
Perfect controls, brilliant gameplay tempt you like cheesecake left on the kitchen bench. Sadly no regular quest mode as in the previous three games. But enough other stuff to keep you busy a very long time. Most of the old gear is in there too - weapon demos or 'kata', the usual profiles and all that junk, I mean content. It's all good!
That's SC3 in a nutshell. And if it could talk it would say "Help, get me out of this great big bloody nutshell."
Link to list of unlockable content;
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/code/927089.html
by: Australian Ninja
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More articles by Australian Ninja
11 Soul Stealing buttons. This game is for people who like really, really, really good games and who want to be good at playing them too. Get it now or it could be your own "eu-leggy" you'll be attending. | |
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