Soul Calibur 3

You've built a franchise that has constantly been proclaimed the greatest fighting game on earth, despite the kind of flaws that would destroy lesser brawlers instantly. You've raised the bar consistently when it comes to smooth animation, detailed characters, and rich, vibrant backgrounds. You've eschewed the usual "rawk and tekno" beats in favour of a stirring soundtrack that mirrors not only the locales used, but the time period and style of fighting within. You've somehow managed to create a (mostly) balanced multiplayer that is button masher friendly as well as hugely rewarding to those who devote any amount of time to it. You've created, in Weapon Master mode, a reason to dust off a beat-em-up even though you've no friends around (or none at all, poor you).

What do you do next?

The big question for Namco, it seems. With fans salivating at the mere mention of a third iteration of the Calibur series, and a fourth Soul game overall, it was going to be a challenge meeting everyone's expectations. More so, with the announcement that it would not be seeing arcades, where the play is at the highest level, nor would it be multi-format, and neither would it feature an online mode. So what did Namco do? Everything and nothing, it seems.

They've left the basic engine untouched, as it was nigh-on perfect in the first place. Some characters toned down (Ivy and her insanely damaging special throws and stuns as one example), others beefed up (Raphael feeling more fluid for example), and the end of "cloned" characters (Rock is no longer an Astaroth clone, as is Lizardman no longer a Sophitia clone, what with their weapons being changed). The stages are more organic, that is, they can't be classified as simply a square, a circle, a triangle, and with or without walls anymore. Throw in different stuns, wakeups, and a tweaked Guard Impact, and that's essentially it for fundamental engine changes.

Graphically, the game is a testament to the power of a console purported to be past it's prime, and is a perfect example why we don't quite need the next gen just yet. The characters have more incidental detail than ever, such as jewellery and various tassles and robes that flow fairly convincingly, as well as hair with more of a flow to it, and a raise in texture quality. All the while, they still move with the speed and fluidity the series has become a benchmark for, with silky animation even beyond that of the Xbox 360's DOA4. The backgrounds not only benefit from a raise in texture and poly count, but an artistic flair only hinted at in previous installments. From the besieged ship in Battle In The Strait, to the absolute splendour of the Lost Cathedral (both versions), they are less mere painted on backdrops, but tangible pieces of the world, hewn from rock by the ocean, or built by a civilation long lost, soaked by rain, surrounded by armies... this isn't hyperbole, this is the truth. These constantly moving, vivid battlegrounds do so much more to absorb you into the clash you're experiencing. With all this in mind, the game runs at a constant 60fps, faultlessly so, making the pace nigh-on breathless.

I'll only give the multiplayer a cursory nod, since Namco afforded it the same. Team battle has been dropped, one of my few niggles with the game (and admittedly, one that is a real sore point for me personally), but you can still fight one on one, using normal or unlocked weapons, or even your created characters.

Which I've yet to mention. One of the much touted additions to Soul Calibur 3 is the Character Creation mode, tied into the myriad of single player modes (which I'll go into later). This isn't just a colour edit mode, like various 2d fighters, but more akin to the create-a-wrestler modes found in most modern wrestling games. Everything is customisable, from the faces and voices, to hair colour and clothing. You pick from an inital selection of five weapon disciplines (later rising to ten), with various sub-disciplines after that. The biggest flaw with create a character mode is that the disciplines and weapon styles on offer have a far more limited move set than the main characters, and are more powerful as compensation, making them feel old-fashioned AND overpowered all at once. Still, there is something to be said for pitting your labour of love, who you spent a good couple of hours fashioning, against someone else's.

That is, IF you can unlock all the necessary parts and weapon styles. To this end, you will have to traverse the biggest addition to SC3, the single player modes. Realising that without an arcade cabinet, and without online support, the game needed a hefty single player experience to keep the lonelier of us entertained. In this respect, it succeeds and fails in equal measures. First, you have Tales of Souls, essentially the story mode, where you pick a character and work your way through a supposedly branching story not unlike those old "make your own adventure" books, with the occasional "QTE" cutscene thrown in, where a single button press changes the cutscene (much like Shenmue). The problem with this is, there doesn't seem to be much deviation with the branching storyline, the biggest thing being who you fight at each choice. Add to this the fact that the interactive cutscenes are often repeated across every character to the point where you're pressing the appropriate QTE button before it comes up on screen (clock tower, anyone who's played it?), and it becomes an excercise in going through the motions for that much needed gold.

Next up is the Chronicles of the Sword mode. This is, when it boils down to it, RTS-lite, where you move units around a map to take over forts and strongholds, the difference being that when units meet you can take over and the game switches to a standard Soul Calibur style bout. The missions objectives are always along the lines of either "destroy all enemy units", or "take over enemy stronghold", and it usually isn't that hard, but is the best way to make gold and unlock characters/parts/weapons. While I personally found this mode quite enjoyable, it seems half-baked at best, and a chore at worst. You CAN still unlock everything by other means, only they're much slower, so if you dislike Chronicles Of The Sword, be prepared to wait for your goodies.

Finally, there's Soul Arena, which is a series of throwaway challenges not unlike some of those found in Weapon Master mode in previous games, but they yield little reward for their difficulty, and are merely there to test your mettle under odd conditions, such as fighting a giant statue, or beating coins out of your opponent.

So, should you buy Soul Calibur 3? Unequivocally, yes. Underneath all the single player padding, it's still classic Soul Calibur, albeit with balancing tweaks and astounding art direction and graphics. If you simply can't enjoy the extra single player modes, that's fine, because extended play unlocks everything in the end.

Boil away all the fat, and there's a lean and mighty tasty fighting game under there.

9/10