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first SOUL CALIBUR 3 review written on 10/25/05

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 16
Date: October 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

(this review is comeing from the tgs (tokyo game show) playable version of the game)ok from what i seen at tgs this game is very solid and very fun, even though i couldnt read most jappanise the game has a in deapth char creation system from eyes to hair ETC.

but the major thing of this game is the modes the modes presented at tgs was... cronicles of the sword which is basicly a rts version * note this is an all new type of game*, your avrage 1v1 *speaks for its self*, char create *speaks for its self*, story, and char edit which is a greate idea cuase i hate nightmare and now you can make him pink!! i know its stupied but hey it'll make your friends luagh

this game also features 3 new chars none of which i know the names of * i played the japan version member*. but this game sorta fails in the part of environments, unlike doa this game uses the old "Ring Out!" type of stages but now there are borders in the stages you can break your opponite through (Doa clone much?)

while im trying the american version i had fun with the jappanise but htis game lacks in online support by not going to xbox (ps2 live sucks) so its a basic 4.5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10

Talk about the game when you actually have it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: October 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

How can you say this game is 4 stars, thats insane, I mean, it has story (DOA lacks of it), it has various wepons for all the characters (DOA is still with punches), you can create your own character (no fighting game has this awesome feature),a lot of stages (there are ring outs, yes, but, how cares, havent you seen the number of stages the game has (a lot more than DOA you jerk) and online, well it doesnt have, but who cares, only you care and belive me xbox isnt worthy of this game, ps2 yes, gc of course yes (even though there is no cube version), so the deal is: WHY YOU WANT IT FOR XBOX; IS IT MAYBE BECAUSE YOU WANT SPAWN AGAIN IN THIS TITLE, BELIVE ME SPAWN DOESNT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SOUL CALIBUR (HE DOESNT MATCH), THE TEKKEN OLD MAN NEITHER BUT STILL HE IS BETTER THAN SPAWN, LINK DOESNT EITHER HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS GAME BUT IS THE ONLY ONE THAT LOOKS FROM THE TIME THIS IS LOCATED.

So the thing is:
You like fighting games; buy it
You dont like them; why are you reading this review
You liked the last soul calibur; the answer is obious, buy it
You love Spawn and want an xbox version of this game; dont even bother, better buy that crappy spawn game

So people be inteligent, this game is THE FIGHTING GAME, dont wait for DOA4, buy this, DOA is more a fan service than a fighting game but still it is a good one, but make yourself a favor and buy this first then you decide if buy or not buy the DOA4

The best keeps getting better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: October 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Soul Caliber 3 - Circa 2005

GOOD:
- Good/Tight controls
- Really balanced gameplay
- Lots of different and unique fighters
- Minutes to learn years to master gameplay
- Literally TONS content to unlock such as new Fighters, costume pieces, stages, and extra modes of play
- A 3D fighting game that really uses the 3D space (with eight way run)
- Three all new characters
- All returning characters from Soul Caliber 1 and 2 have their move sets/styles upgraded and slightly changed (in most case for the better)
- A nice upgrade over the original Soul Caliber 2, which to many gamers is considered classic
- Build your own unique characters
- Lots of different modes of play from an arcade type mode to the real time strategy mode
- Considered an Instant classic to many fans and many hardcore fighting fanatics

BAD:
- Some might say that not much has changed (gameplay wise) since Soul Caliber 2
- Have to unlock most of the game content like fighters, stages and items through many different modes of play, which takes time and skill (some people do not have either)
- Slight lagging in a few areas
- Loading is short but present and when buying items or checking out new content it can be annoying
- Saving the game (which happens often while trying to unlock new content) takes a bit of time also

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- Has medieval theme, both European and Chinese/Japanese
- Not traditional fighting game in the sense that there is no real combos and supers, or even projectile moves
- Game has built in quest type mode, where you pick a fighter and complete a number of challenges in a type of semi arcade mode (with story), the end result is you unlock more content and are a better player
- Fight with weapons, like a 3D Samurai Showdown type of game or a Tekken/Dead or Alive with weapons
- Build your own unique characters (pretty much costume only, you pick a pre-set fighting style) and fight with them in versus modes and Chronicles of the Sword mode, (Lots of the new items and costume parts should be unlock to really get a better selection of costume accessories, not much to pick at default)
- New different modes of play like Chronicles of the Sword mode you fight in a type of real time strategy game (using your custom character) which plays out like a tactic game when instead of turn based battling it's fighting game battling, then there is even a World Tour mode where you fight in mock tournaments
- Lots and lots of stuff to unlock from new fighters to new costume items for your custom character

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Soul Caliber 2
- Tekken 5
- Samurai Showdown

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This game is only for Sony's Playstation 2 unlike Soul Caliber 2 which was also for Xbox and Game Cube, note you can still get Soul Caliber 2 for a pretty cheap price and it's a also a great game
- This game came with a pretty lame demo disc, which in my opinion neither adds nor takes away anything from the entire over all experience of Soul Caliber 3, although it should be noted that this demo disc has all unlocked content for Tekken Tag, Tekken 4 and Xenosaga (the original)
- I am going wish that a version comes to Xbox-360, which would be cool :: Crossing Fingers Now ::

Very well done

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: October 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When Soul Blade and Soul Calibur came out, this series had one of the most beautiful graphics you've ever seen. This is the same with SOUL CALIBUR 3. This is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Characters are well designed, and this time around, you can make your own characters. Cool. Add to the fact that you unlock more characters the longer you play, it has the potential for months.
The fight engine is pretty much similar to its predescessors, except for some new added moves. Controls are responsive and when you fight, you see the characters grimace in pain when they get hit. You can't do too many combos which I think is cool, however, as with any Namco FIGHTING GAME, when you are up in the air you are quite helpless.
The quest is an upgrade over the SOUL CALIBUR 2. I haven't finished it yet but I like what i see thus far.
Game arenas vary from EUROPEAN, CHINESE, JAPANESE AND MEDIEVAL. Some environments are more interactive than others while some are too colorful that it gets distracting at times. This is a disadvantage when you are trying to focus on beating the tar out of your opponent.
All in all it is a great game worth playing and to keep in your collection. It is on par with TEKKEN 5 and DEAD OR ALIVE 3.It has some features that is above the 2 mentioned games, I would recommend buying it.
BREAKDOWN: SCALE OF 1-5;

GRAPHICS-5
GAMEPLAY-4.5
FEATURES-5
CHARACTER DEPTH-4
SOUND FX-4.5
MUSIC-4
Not bad!!

Critics Reviews-----Ahh Screw em This Game is amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: October 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game a few days ago on the 25th when it came out. I usually get games that get about a 9 outta 10 from critics. This one got about an 8.5 in all average.
WELL THATS A LIE.
This game is at least a 9.5
Everything about it is great and the new modes are entertaining and addictive.
Everyone gave soul calibur 2 a great review. When i got it it got old after a few days. Single and Multiplayer is boring.

SOUL CALIBUR 3 is a completely different story. There is so many characters and items to unlike. Trailers for different games, demos. All that stuff.
Well most importantly the new modes are great.
The story mode (TAle of souls) is very in depth and isnt just an arcade mode like most other games. It has different scenes where you can choose whatever you want to do.
The new modes are Chronicle of swords which is what the devolopers obviously focused most on.
To be honest it does not look great, require much strategy and doesnt have much a purpose but "OH IT IS ENTERTAINING". Whenever i have the time to play it keeps me busy all the way through. Its a crappy verson of final fantasy tactics, except with real fighting battles. You get a whole squad of people and your main character in WHICH YOU GET TO CREATE. JUST LIKE IN A SPORTS GAme!
The character creation mode has just about everything you could want. The only and serious flaws it has is that you can not adjust the height and Weight for the characters. It is already set for you and you can not change it around. You have several classes you want them to be such as a clown ninja and barbarian and about 5 more that i dont remember. It is great though and If it becomes more detailed than it will become even better.

THERE are tons of unlockables, more than neccessary such as cinematics, other game trailers and all that stuff. Special items, weapons, game demos and all that stuff.

ANYWAYS IM TIRED SO ILL WRAP THIS UP.
IF YOU LIKe fighting or action games than this is a must buy.

Graphics-9/10
Sound-9.5/10
Gameplay-9.5/10
Value-9.5/10

OVERALL THIS IS A 9.5! BUY It

PEACE THIS IS A JWILLIE REVIEW

Great graphics and fun gameplay

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 48 / 67
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Soul Calibur III is the latest release in a great line of fighting games. The graphics are really impressive, and the character customization adds a great new dimension to fighting gameplay.

There are whole complex back-stories to all of the characters, developed over the game series. You can go into the 'museum' in this game to learn all about that, if you haven't been keeping up with the series. That will help you really understand the interactions between the characters. It's like being a part of a complex, epic story.

The graphics are simply gorgeous. There are pirate ships, where the floor moves and sways beneath you. There are elegant Chinese temples with mosaic tile floors and lovely mountains in the background. You've got renaissance mansions in flames, cages in grimy port towns, and much more. Each environment has moving elements to add to the realism.

The sounds are pretty traditional. Most of it is BASH - SMASH - YAAAAH! along with the background music, themed to match the environment. I do love this kind of background music far better than games that have rock music.

Gameplay itself has good and bad points. On the good side, there are a GREAT combinations you can learn for your character, so if you are diligent you can come up with awesome fighting sequences. You can learn which combos match well against your enemy's weaknesses and exploit them. On the other hand, if you're more the type that likes to button mash, you can have a fair amount of success with that, although you will get frustrated in the higher level battles.

The game is marked for teens, although it's far more tame than other fighting games I've seen. Many of the females *gasp* actually wear clothing. There really isn't any blood involved in the combat, although some parents argue that little tykes shouldn't see swinging swords and flails at all. There's no swearing.

That being said, the game is fairly challenging, and unlike the previous game, there's no way to set the difficulty up or down. If you play one on one you can adjust the difficulty so the younger person can have an easier time, but for regular gameplay you're stuck with "hard". I find this to be a shame. While experienced players will get along OK, it really would've been nice for new players to have an 'easy' option to go through the game in, to learn the game and have fun. They could always have upgraded through 'normal' and 'hard' later on.

With the customizeable characters and multitude of opponents, you can really replay this game for months without getting bored with it. There are always new combinations to learn and perfect. Well recommended!

Rating: 4.5/5

Great way to kill time!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 20
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are great, and the control is about as good as it gets for any game I've played on the PS2. I've been playing since Soulblade for the original PlayStation, and there've only been imporvements made here. You can unlock just about any of the previous characters from the old games. There's also a strategy/rpg element added in as a side game. Over all I found to be very worth owning and would recommend it for killing time by one's self or with a friend.

SO AWESOME!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love this game! I liked Soul Calibur 2 and the one before that a lot as well but this one is definitely the best installment in the series. Hers's why:

Tales of Souls mode: This mode lets you play each character's story. There are actual cut scenes too. For some of them, you'll have to do specific commands at any given moment (the commands appear in the upper-right corner of the screen). Whether you do it or not, it will affect the outcome of your character's story. You also get to make choices for what your characters aim on doing or where they travel. The exciting about this mode is that you can play a character over and over again and get a different ending. It's very, very entertaining to watch characters interact with eachother.

Character Creation mode: Create your own character! You choose gender, then occupation, which affects what weapon your character will use, and customize their appearance. You can decide what their voice will be like, how good or evil they are (depending on what clothes you give them), and their name. For each category (head, chin, upper leg, arms, etc.) there are 20 items each for male and female. You will have to unlock most of these, but it's extremely fun nonetheless.

Chronicles of the Swords mode: This is where you create your own character and play them in an RPG-like fashion. You create a team by using your own created characters or a created character plus a couple pre-made ones. There are levels which need to be cleared. You can gain more items for character creation through this mode. It's very fun, but sometimes it takes a little long for the battles to load.

Soul Arena: Mini-games! Yes, mini-games. They include fighting a giant stone statue, which can stomp on you if you're not careful, battling other characters to gain coins, and much more. You get lots of money for the shopping mode with these.

VS mode: As good as it's always been.

Shopping mode: There are three shops you can buy from. The weapons shop (buy weapons for original and created characters), the items shop (character illustrations, weapons demo, etc.), and the armor shop (items for character creation mode). You get hoards of money from Tales of Souls, Chronicles of the Sword, Soul Arena, and just about everything else. So getting money won't be too hard.

Graphics, gameplay, and music: As solid as ever. The graphics have improved and so has the gameplay. Button-mashing is not as reliable as it used to be. The arenas are absolutely wonderful! They are now set in real-time simulation, so you can now see the flow of surrounding water and trees that actually sway. Some of them are moving (ex: raft flowing over water). The music is great! It's not the regular electric guitar music that you find in other fighting games. I don't have anything against electric guitars, by the way, but it tends to get boring after a while.

Soul Calibur 3 is worth every penny. It's fun to play both by yourself and with others. The new characters are all great, and the returning ones are all upgraded. Namco definitely went all-out on this one. There is a massive amount of content that you don't want to miss out on! So, here are my final words:

If you don't have this game, go out and buy it!

If you are a fighting game fan, and you don't have this game already, then why aren't you out buying it already??

Excellent fighting game for beginners and experienced players alike

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

While the fighting system is deep enough to provide an entertaining challenge to hardcore fighting game fans, it is also easy for beginners and even younger children to pick up the basics well enough to enjoy the game after a little practice.

We babysit my 9 year old niece and 5 year old nephew frequently, and often end up playing PS2. We played Soul Calibur 3 for a while tonight, and they both got the hang of the game quite quickly. In two-player versus mode, the players are given the option of adjusting the amount of life their fighter begins each match with, so players can adjust the amounts relative to each other to even the odds a bit. Of course, you can just let the kids win most of the matches to keep it fun for them and save your best moves to use on your friends.

Although the ESRB rating is T for Teen, I don't believe a reasonable adult would find any of the content inappropriate for younger children. Some of the female characters were obviously designed to appeal to young males, but there is nothing in the game they couldn't show on prime time network television. The fights do not contain any blood or gore, and there is no foul language, unless you count the antiquated "cur". If you have a child or teen that enjoys fighting games, this one is a must have, and more appropriate than many of the other fighting games on the market IMO.

Soul Calibur still has that soul!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: October 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Soul Calibur 3, the first to be released exclusively to the Playstation 2, is a grand game. It has a few good upgrades, but one should note that they're not noticeable right off the bat. Three new characters, and some fine modes make it fun. Still, you can't deny the fact that if you've had a lot of enjoyment with Soul Calibur 2, you're virtually getting the same thing. This isn't neccesarily bad, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Soul Calibur does this very well, without the series dying like say... Dynasty Warriors does.

Soul Calibur 3 has a lot to live up to. Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast is said to be the greatest fighting game ever made, and the wide success of Soul Calibur 2, giving each console a unqiue character, made it so much more worthwhile. Soul Calibur 3, doesn't introduce much new, and so it's hard to rank it among the better ones. But again, the game is still pretty good.

The gameplay has remained unchanged. You have a wide variety of attacks. Horizontal and Vertical attacks, kicks and punches, grabs and throws. The stuff that made Soul Calibur good in the first place. You match up against a character and see who can beat who to a bloody pulp first. Usually a match will end by someone being KO'd, but they can also end by throwing someone out of the ring, executing a "Ring Out". As usual, it's funner to play against a friend rather than play against the computer.

The new characters introduced are actually not sucky. Most games that constantly throw in new characters tend to make them lack and not worthwhile, this is untrue of Soul Calibur 3. The new characters are actually unique and worthwhile to use, and even deadly to some extent.

There is no Arcade Mode in Soul Calibur 3, instead it's called "Quick Play", but it's disturbingly buried down low in the menu. It's really no different than if you were to choose Arcade Mode.

There are varying modes in Soul Calibur 3 besides Quick Play. The first one being the story mode, Tales of Souls. This sounds really cool, and it can be. It's nice to go through battling all the computer opponents, with your strongest character eventually making it to the final boss, but the story itself is rather weak. Between matches you usually have some sort of text to read and a cutscene to watch. You can't skip cutscenes though, and the text is rather boring. The time to load the next round though, is pretty long and you'll see that in the time it takes to load, go through the cutscenes and storyline, you could've had the next match over and done with.

Chonicles of the Sword, the other story mode, is not much better. Giving a tactical approach in your style of fighting, again with the cinematics and text storyline. The loading, again, takes time. Chronicles of the Sword takes a bit more time to load, however, and the text storyline is very uninteresting. Likewise, the load times are almost as long as the action itself can last.

One new nifty feature, however, is the ability to create your own fighter. Although, you're very restricted. You create a character with a weapon and stance and all that, but all you'll be doing is creating a reincarnate of a character that already exist. All the moves are actually given to your character based on what weapon you chose, and not really something you can control. Likewise, there's no online play in Soul Calibur 3, so if you create a character, you can't really show him off the world. You can show him to your friends, but that's about it.

Graphically, Soul Calibur 3 looks to be the most visually stunning of them all. However, case in point, while the characters look different, they take the same stance in battle that they've taken since the 1995 classic Soul Edge. Their victory stances are the same and old moves are the same. That's not to say there aren't new moves, because there are. And the new moves are worthwhile, and can drastically improve (or harm) your strategy. More moves that allow you to break your opponents guard. There aren't enough new moves however, and so a lot of it feels recycled. However, if blood makes you uncomfortable, you'll be happy to know Soul Calibur 3 doesn't use blood at all.

The sound is pretty good, though. You can choose between Japanese and English voices, and the voice overs are actually pretty good in English. The background music is great, and so are the sound effects. Everything from weapon clashes to grunts and groans shine in Soul Calibur 3.

However, the two big things still keep it from getting five stars. The fighting style feels too familiar to the previous games. It's too much like the previous Soul Calibur games and even Soul Edge. Die-hard fans will be instantly impressed, though. The other big thing that keeps it down is simply that there is no online play. Fighting games SHOULD have online play, especially with how some of them have drastically fallen.

For what it's worth though, the game is still good. The gameplay, while the same, is still top notch. The graphics are great, and so is the sound. The game truly does shine as being a great game to add to your library.

THE GOOD
+Excellent Gameplay
+Excellent Audio
+Fast paced action that never gets old
+New characters that don't suck
+A great roster of unique characters

THE BAD
-Load times in the game modes can be a pain
-No online play
-The custom fighter mode isn't as worthwhile as it should be
-You can't help but admit the gameplay is too recycled, even for a fighter game. This won't turn too many people away, but when characters have the same move, stances and victory dances they've had since 1995, a small change to this couldn't hurt. Some may not even notice the small tweaks in gameplay right off the bat.

The game is still worthwhile, and I'd say is worth the buy.

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