[2/1/08] Soul Calibur III [Quick Review]

[Devia Eleven]

 

Published by: Namco

Developed by: Project Soul

Genre: Fighting

Number of Players: 1-2

Release Date:

US: October 25, 2005

Japan: November 23, 2005

ESRB Content Descriptors: Suggestive Themes, Violence

Also Available On: Arcade

Media Size: 1 DVD

Emulators: PCSX2

 

 

Throughout the years namco has released some pretty swell fighting titles. They started with the Tekken series which was a great success and became one of the best 3D fighter franchises to ever hit the arcade and the home console. After Tekken's success namco decided to release Soul Blade, which was a 3D fighter using weapons. Later on they released a sequel, (Soul Calibur), and from there they kept releasing sequels. The sequel to Soul Calibur II (Soul Calibur III) is the last Soul Calibur game to be released on Sixth generation consoles. This time around namco stuck with the old formula and decided to exclude any characters that didn't belong in the game, considering that this version of the game was a Playstation II exclusive. A few new characters were added, Zasalamel, Setsuka, and Tira, these characters fit well into the Soul Calibur genre and are well balanced enough to be included in the character roster. The authentic hype over this game was the new "Create a Character" mode. This is the first time that namco has ever implemented a mode such as this into a 3D fighter. Considering that this is their first attempt, it's not much to get excited about, it is not the WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw variety, but it has enough options to keep the customization decent. Created characters can be selected in Vs. mode, and "Chronicles of the Sword", which is a strategy RPG mode. Your custom fighter can have his/her own fighting style, so you can have different fighters fight along your side in Chronicles of the Sword. You can create a few characters of your own, and you get a few pre-made characters for you to play around with. This mode can become enjoyable to a certain degree.

 

 

Chronicles of the Sword, is a strategy RPG, which can be played from a created character that you have created. Throughout this mode, your character(s), can level up, and when they do they become stronger. The major effect is their health increasing. In this mode your goal is basically either defeat the fighters guarding the base, or destroy all of the land the opponent contains. Sometimes during this mode, you will encounter a Soul Calibur character, and they are usually level 60 and up. Unless you have a few people backing you up when you fight them, you are good as dead. Characters at high levels can possibly kill you with one hit, so it is wise to block often and cautiously. You can also customize any character that joins your group, the further you get in the mode; the more characters will join you. Most of the time, when characters join you, they are about five-six levels higher, this can become helpful when are having trouble fighting. Since each fighter has their own style, it would be wise to choose different types of fighters to choose from when you are fighting slow/fast characters etc. When you fight people you can have multiple people fight on your team, this gives you a higher chance of beating whatever opponent you are fighting, and it is also a great way to become stronger. Defeating high level enemies can give you humongous amounts of experience points. If you don't level up enough, every other enemy you encounter will be stronger than you, and it will be harder for you to defeat them. This mode takes most of the hours that are put into SCIII, and luckily there are other worthwhile modes to choose from if you do not prefer this one.

 

 

In Arcade mode, it is known that this is a basic mode to fight one on one with another character. You no longer unlock characters through this mode, it only gives you money if you win. Team battle mode has been taken out as well. This really doesn't make any since because they have been in the previous installments of this game. One thing about this game that truly sets it away from the others is the difficulty level. This game is extremely arduous, and the level of difficultly cannot be changed unless you are playing Arcade mode. In other one player modes, the AI is really advanced, and it becomes aggravating when you are trying to unlock another character. When unlocking characters in Tales of Souls mode, you have to fight them one on one, and usually they are highly sophisticated and will go at anything to kill you. They really don't want you to win, and they display their disliking through their combat. It does give you a challenge, but sometimes a player doesn't want a challenge, they want to unlock things easily. This can really be frustrating to those types of people. The Tales of Souls mode does not only let you unlock characters but stages as well, and their other missions to complete too. Each character you will play with has their own storyline and their own personal friends and foes. You can decide on where you want to go to, and what people you want to fight or chase. It basically has text for you to read, and then it asks you a question of where you want to go, or what you want to do. It gives the player a sense of minor involvement. At times when you watch cut scenes, there will be a button at the top of the screen, if you press it in-time, you can activate a movement or a maneuver, that will basically be the convenient part of whatever you are doing. It can get you out of incoming traps, etc. Failing to press the button in time can have a bad outcome, and can sometimes affect the following match, lowering your health, etc.

 

The sound effects are often spectacular, and the music contributes to create a good soundtrack. The presentations is outstanding, and not much has been improved since the last version. There really isn't much else to mention, there are few other modes that I have not covered, but you get my drift.

 

 

Controls - 8

Gameplay - 8.8

Graphics - 8.5

Sound - 10

 

Overall Score - 8.75

 

Grade - A

[Agozer]

Yeah, Soul Calibur III's presentation is top-notch. The soundtrack is one of my all-time favorites.

 

Great game too, but word has it that the game has a save-breaking corruption bug (haven't experienced that myself as of yet).

 

P.S. What's with the japanese version? Did you import?

[BlackKnight]

The save issue happens like this;

 

You save a SCIII Chronicles file on the Memory Card. You go back and load up data for an old game that was created before your SCIII data, and then play for a while and save it again. If you go back to SCIII, progress and save, everything on the card becomes corrupted.

 

To remedy this you'll need to format using a 3rd party app - the PS2 browser cannot recover these glitched Memory Cards - and just hope you backed up your saves somewhere. This actually happened to me but I haven't since tried to replicate it.

 

My understanding is that the Greatest Hits / Platinum print of the game, as well as the more recent Japanese print have this bug fixed.

[Devia Eleven]

P.S. What's with the japanese version? Did you import?

 

They were the only pictures I could find that didn't have water marks.

[Wizard]

Too bad overall the game sucked. Too much gameplay difference between to what SCII to SCIII transition. It's why SC4 is going back to SCII-gameplay.

[BlackKnight]

I didn't like how they split Nightmare between himself and Siegfried. Both came off weaker IMO.