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Friday 19 January, 2007
Today I played Soul Calibur 3 for the PS2. I've been a longtime fan of the series, having played the original Soul Calibur on both the Dreamcast and in the Arcade. Its your basic 3-D fighter, made by Namco, who also makes the similar Tekken series, which I am also a fan of.
The story takes place around the year 1600 A.D., and follows a group of fighters whose goals vary, but ultimately all revolve around finding the cursed sword Soul Edge. That sword, which was destroyed at the end of the last game by its former owner, has become connected to the holy sword, the Soul Calibur, and so finding one sword would actually find both. Some want Soul Edge for power, others want to destroy it, but no matter what the intention, the sword is the basis for this game.
You can choose your character from a wide list of premade characters, all of whom are connected to the game and have backstories. Each fighter also has a unique set of weapons, costumes, and attacks, so no two characters are 100% alike, making the game and each fight unique and fun, like any other fighter. In addition to these various characters, the player can also create their own character, from a list of jobs, such as Ninja, Pirate, Thief, Dancer, Sage, and a few others. Each custom character can be edited with different clothes, hair, faces, sizes, and voices. In addition, a HUGE list of equipment makes creating characters so fun, as characters will never look the same.
In order to fully unlock all of the premade character's weapons, the story mode for each character must be beaten, which is not too hard, and fairly linear, but Namco added a twist to this game. Almost like a dating-sim style game, players have to make choices, such as whether to seek knowledge or power to find the sword, where to go, and whether or not to venture deeper into caverns and ruins. This adds a unique and fun variant on the classis arcade mode of fighting games. Custom characters can't participate in this mode, but by beating this mode with premade characters, mode weapons and gear for the custom characters becomes available.
The gameplay itself is much like any other 3-D fighting game, you can dodge both forwards and backwards, but unlike 2-D fighters, you can also sidestep, which allows for more combos, more openings to be attacked through, and longer fights. As one might guess, this can be both a good thing and a bad thing. To counter the constant hiding and running away that could associated with larger maps and more dodging options, players can also be knocked off the ring, which results in an instant loss of that round. This also adds a unique feel to the gameplay, as you can attempt to knock someone off the edge for an easier kill, but also must be wary of your opponent doing the same to you.
Overall, I really enjoy the game. I use Seigfried for the story mode version of the game, but in multiplayer modes I use either my Custom-made Ninja or my custom-made samurai. Both my Ninja (named Luc) and my samurai (named Mukuro, a la Samurai Champloo) are failry balanced, and I can juggle with both of them, so I do fairly well against opponents, but tricky characters, such as Voldo, still pose a large threat. I usually play the versus mode, since a lot of people in my hall play the game too, so win or lose, the games are always good fights and a lot of fun.
On the downside, I personally get bored with the game when there is no one else to play with, and while each characters story is different, I've completed most of them, so there isn't too much that is new. There is another mode that follows the story along a strategy-type guidline, but I don't like that mode too much, because when I play a fighting game I'd rather it be a lot of fighting, whereas if I wanted a strategy game, I'd find one. This weird hybrid didn't go to well with me, and I rarely if ever play it.
The fighters are pretty evenly balanced, and although some are better than others, if you know your character well enough, you won't lose to a specific character repeatedly.
I like this game a lot, but I think I would rather stick to classic 2-D fighters, such as Melty Blood or Guilty Gear. However, if 2-D isn't your thing, there are few 3-D fighters that are as fun and enjoyable as Soul Calibur 3
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