Soul Calibur III

Two legendary swords, one epic battle - it didn't take long to make up our mind, but we were too busy playing to do the review on time.

	Version PS2	Developer Namco	Publisher Namco	Genre Fighting

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But one of the more interesting features is the create-a-character feature, which creation of a custom fighter by selecting a gender and job title, then customizing the created character as much as desired. The character creation mode is pretty solid, allowinf for customisation from head to toe, altering physical features, clothes, and equipping various weapons, armor, and items that can be purchased from the shops in the game with the gold earned from battles.

Of all the game modes, the most interesting is 'Chronicles of the Sword', which puts players in the role of both spectator and strategist. Set in a war-torn era, the objective is to fight your way through enemies on a field map and successfully take over the enemy strongholds before they take over yours. The mode ties in with the create-a-character feature by utilizing your custom fighters in a series of AI-controlled battle simulations and real-time arena battles.

On the field map, players have no real control over their fighters and basically just issue commands to allied units, set them in the direction of the nearest enemy stronghold, and just sit back and watch the action unfold in a "set it and forget it" sort of way.

However, the battles aren't always relegated to AI simulations; often in order to determine a decisive victor, the combatants will be moved from the field map into an arena where players will have to battle it out in real-time against their AI opponents. The custom characters work pretty well in those situations, and as players successfully complete the missions in Chronicles of the Sword they'll be rewarded with additional parts and options to better customize their fighters with - a nice bit of game design.

Naturally you can go head-to-head in a standard Versus mode, as well as battle it out in a multiplayer tournament in Versus Competition mode, featuring leagues and editable tournament parameters.

As touched on earlier, SCIII contains quite a few unlockables that players can acquire as they go through the game. In addition to its bevy of gameplay modes there's also a pretty cool Museum mode where players can take a nostalgic trip into the history of the series, and view bonus materials such as an Art Gallery, where they can view various movies and images. Then there's an Event Viewer where they can view cutscenes unlocked from the Tales of Souls mode.

There's a lot to be pleased about in Soul Calibur III. The graphics and sounds are of a superb quality, the loading times are super fast, and there's a variety of unlockable stuff. While the A.I. can be quite brutal, almost to an annoying level, it just makes learning the combat system and fighting styles of the characters feel a little more rewarding, since you actually have to work for a victory now instead of just mashing buttons and hoping something cool happens.

Given the sales performance of Soul Calibur 2 on the Xbox, and especially the GameCube, the decision to make Soul Calibur 3 a PS2 exclusive can seem like an odd one - but as it is, the PS2 is the only home to this gorgeous looking fighter, with an arcade version due out in March.

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