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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.

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 ::

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??

Replay Value x1000!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Without a doubt the most in-depth fighting game I've played in my life. There is so much to do and so much to unlock in this game its unreal. Like most reviewers have said this game is hard even if you are a fighting maniac. Even on Normal mode certain characters will have you pressing Continue several times. It can be frustrating but when you learn the moves and the 8-way directional true 3-D you will get the hang of it.

The new fighters are incredible!

- Tira is the jester assasin with a giant bladed ring for a weapon. She is cute but evil and she fights somewhat unorthodox. Look out for unexpected attacks.

- Zasalamel is the scythe wielding Egyptian warrior with a long wingspan. He can hit you from across the screen with that thing and some of his moves are just jaw-dropping. Sometimes you can't even get mad when he beats you because he looks so damn cool doing it.

- Setsuka is the beautiful, mysterious female with the umbrella sword. She is lighting quick and has some very cool attacks. I have the most trouble with her because she is just too damn fast!

Every character from all the Soul Caliburs/Blade are in this game so you have a lot of unlocking to do. Some other secret characters are here too but I won't spoil those for you.

The new modes like Chronicles of the Sword and Soul Arena will pretty much take up the majority of hours in your day if you don't have a job. But the Create-A-Soul mode is the best. If you are mad that there is no Dante from Devil May Cry or Kratos from God of War you can create them! It may not look exactly like them but you can come close. You can create up to 10 fighters with everything being customizable except their fighting moves. That comes preset with what type of fighter you choose (i.e. ninja, saint). So far I've created Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 and they pretty much look exactly like them.

The graphics and backgrounds are still the best. I've gotten my butt kicked plenty of times just from staring at the details. My favorite stage is Cervantes on the pirate ship. Its raining hard and other ships around you are sinking or set on fire while you fight. The sound is the best I've heard. Its THX sound and it blasts!! I barely turn my volume on 10 and I can hear it loudly in the other rooms.

All in all this is the best Soul Calibur in my opinion is still the best fighting game you can get. It is well worth the $50.

Soul Calibur : Remedy for the Soul

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The fighting game industry has been in and out for the last few years with hits such as Soul Calibur II and Tekken and not so hit such as... well... most of the other fighting games. If you are a fan of fighting games, you may want to read on. If not, leave this amazon page immediately, this is a fighting game. A good one at that.

To a Soul Calibur fan, either a pick up player from the recent Soul Calibur II, or a dedicated player such as myself from the days of Soul Blade, the characters in a fighting game are everything. I take pride in saying that every character short of Inferno is back and ready in the roster. New characters such as the Sycthe wielding reincarnated Zasalamel, the Giant Razor-Ring demon girl Tira, and the Mysterious fan katana woman Setsuka add even more variety to the group. Old classics such as Rock and Hwang are back and ready to brawl. Besides the 25 main characters, there are nearly 20 bonus characters that are custom made, but have distinct voices and names. If this doesn't satisfy the player, Custom Characters can be made to look like characters from your favorite anime / series / game. Really the characters is the strongest point in this game.

Second are the weapons. Personally, I am not a huge fan of one-on-one fighting games, unless they are weapon based. I don't like the idea of men punching each other to victory, you could go on the streets and find that. This game is not like that, and has weapons galore, now accountable for almost every type of weapon known to man. From classic favorites such as Ivy's Whip-Sword to new weapons like Grieves (Bladed Shinguards), Sickles, and Ninja Stars, the weapons are vast and varied. Custom characters can equip special weapons that the standard characters cannot, and new standard characters like Zasalamel have wicked scythes that are out of this worldly awesome.

Now for the ratings:

GRAPHICS - At first when I heard this game was a PS2 exclusive I was thinking "If it's anything like the last one, a Gamecube or Xbox version would have been better." Granted, I do not own an Xbox, the Xbox version of SCII was the best. Anyway, the graphics really surprised me. The backgrounds and character models are better that ever, and it really makes you question if SCII was even for the same system as this game. The lag is small if any, other than the vast screens of Chronicles of the Sword. The move animations are cool, and the throws look as tight as ever. There is no blood in this game, a good choice if you ask me. Honestly, we don't need an Onimusha blood loss type game to break up what is already a good series. (Those of you who have played Onimusha know what I'm talking about.) Graphics are simply amazing. 10/10

GAME CONTROL - The PS2 controller setup does very well with this game, more so than the Gamecube, that's for sure. The moves are difficult at times to execute, but that can be said for any fighting game. Overall, good control. 9/10

MEMORY - The entire game save, settings, and custom characters take a very small amount of memory. Now for the drawback. It has been brought to the attention that there is a glitch in this game where in the game can say that the Soul Calibur III memory has been corrupted when the player tries to access Chronicles of the Sword. This is a huge problem and is currently in the process of being straightened out with Namco. If you do not want your data to become corrupted, DO NOT DELETE ANY FILES FROM THE MEMORY CARD THE SOUL CALIBUR III DATA IS ON, BE IT SOUL CALIBUR DATA OR NOT. For reasons unbeknownst to me, this action has a very good probability of corrupting Chronicles of the Sword mode data. It has happened to me, luckily early on, but still enough to be annoying. Really the only solution to this is to 1.) Make a backup of the SC data on another memory card. 2.) Don't delete anything from the current memory card. Ever. 3.) Let the data become corrupt after you have finished with Chronicles of the Sword mode to your content, seeing that everything can be unlocked with alternate methods. Overall memory rating: 1/10

SOUND - Bleh, sound is sound, music is music. Nothing too intense hear to tick anyone off, but nothing riveting I suppose. Weapon clanging is fairly cool. Overall 7/10

VARIETY - The main mode Tales of Souls is where you take one of the main characters through a one player adventure, able to choose paths and take part in certain events. Very basic, good enough for standard play. The new modes here are pretty neat. Among the best is Chronicles of the Sword. In this mode the player creates a main character to go through a story to save an empire. The action is split between a "board" which the character can traverse and take properties as well as attack strongholds or people, and the actual battling. Along the way you level up and gain more party members to aid you in your quest. If the characters that join you don't satisfy your needs, you can create them from Lv. 1. There are 20 Chapters in all, and the last few take almost an hour each, lasting the entire run at least a week the first time through. After the thing is beaten, you can restart with the same levels and finish it faster. The first time you beat it you get a blue unicorn emblem next to the left of your save file, and the second you get a red dragon emblem to the right. Can someone please AIM me at thesacredphoenix or email me at the previous name just at yahoo.com and tell me what happens after the third time please? Anyway, fun, but can get a little tedious after the third time through. Again, watch out for that corruption listed above. The other new modes include new demonstrational training, an extensive photo gallery, Versus mode(s), and a mission based mode. Certain almost minigame styled battles are in here, for example fighting a gigantic statue that can kick the crap out of you in a few hits. Also present is a tournament mode where you take a character though multiple tournaments through to the end. I honestly have not finished this yet, so I am not sure exactly what the player gets for beating this mode. Overall, the variety is decent with the main concept of fighting, so in a way the variety really isn't there. 8/10

FUN FACTOR - The most important part of a game. For me, this game is fun. The combat is awesome, the fighters are amazing, the arenas are dazzling, and the replayability has lasted a month (so far!). The combat is fantastic and represents all the things that can't happen in real life that every weapon fanatic dreams about. The fun factor in this game is enough to bring up the other categories rather high. Awesome, awesome, awesome! 10/10

OVERALL - The graphics are astounding, the control is not out of hand, the sound is... there, and the fun is present. The memory issue can be resolved and at this point needs to be addressed with Namco, but is that really enough to bring down a rating? I think it isn't. Lots of characters, even more weapons, and plenty of modes. The game isn't PERFECT, with a bit of repetition in the fact that it IS a fighting game, but that is to be expected. In terms of fighting games though, what else do you want? I give this game a 9.5/10

An instant classic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: August 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

While it is hard to beat and very challenging at times, the game has so many features. Custom characters with unlockable features like face,armor,gloves,boots etc. New characters,new weapons, and Chronicles of the Sword which is very hard as you progress through the levels. The costumes are excellent and the challenges are great. This game actually impressed me, though in many ways it is better than the Dynasty Warriors games and puts Koei to shame. This will keep all of you playing for hours and keep you coming back for more. Get ready for the new Soul Calibur 3!

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

A Fan since Soul Blade.

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

I bought Soul Calibur 3 because I am a fan of the series. I am so glad it has gone exculsive on PS2 (my fave console system)!!

The game is fantastic; to being able to create your own characters with hundreds of various outfits and accessories, to choosing your own way in the story mode and even to bringing your custom character to become the ultimate swordsman.

As usual - sorry Yaoi and Bishonen fans, the girls are still disguisting and revealing all skin they can (especially the shop girls). It was a huge disappointment for me and not only that but it disguisted me as well.

But what makes up for it? Seeing Siegfried make his grand and gorgeous return!! *fans self* god that blond is hot!

The good thing is, creating your own character, you can make any Bishonen wear a dress or nothing at all and go into a battle with his undies showing with any movement. Though the boys don't even come close to some of things the girls are seen to wear, but you can ignore them.

The gameplay is smooth. The annoying thing is the loading time, but its forgivable for such a great game.

If you like beat-em-ups and love extras, Soul Calibur 3 is the way to go. Not only does it have a Warcraft like game but it also contains different beat-em-up missions that involve doing different things (eg. like collecting coins).

You can buy Items (Illustrations, Movies, Demos, Extra Options), Armor (Clothing for your Custom Character) and Weapons (For your Custom Character and Main Characters).

The best fighting game ever made.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Simply put this is the best fighting game on any platform to date. Just as Tekken has gone vastly downhill and is a dying franchise soul calibur has taken its time to release only 4 games (one was a saturn port), yet each has been better than the last. It has rightly gotten great reviews, and sold past the magic million mark easily.

The main character stories have been even more improved and are now called tales of the soul. You travel on a world map and can make different choices depending on who you meet and what you do. There are also fully animated cutscene endings for all the characters, along with different outcomes depending on how you do and if you take certain actions. E.g A character in a scene might launch a giant cog at you and up flashes the button press you need to make to avoid it (like resident evil 4). The whole experience is very polished and its only part of the whole package. Superb.

There is a challenge section where you can face giant greek gods or race to collect coins. I won't spoil them as some are very inventive and they never feel like "space fillers".

A major part of soul calibur 3 is the chronicles of the sword mode mode. This is like an rpg with weapon and armour collection and party members. You play a young recruit in a vast army who though his/her actions can shape the world and history. It's very well made and there is lots to do in it. You can attack the enemy strongholds in groups or switch to vs mode and fight enemies in traditional soul calibur matches. You issue orders to knights, ninjas, infantry etc and many famous SC characters make an appearance. It's a big improvement on the weapon master mode of part 2. Top class. Did I mention that you create your own character with so much variety it puts most PC rpgs to shame, you can chose their class, their wardrobe (hundreds of items), their weapons, even down to eye colour and hundreds of shades to pick.

There's a great tutorial, a large tournament mode for various trophies as well as the excellent shops to buy weapons, armour and items from (all stafed by very attractive women!). An art gallery, exibition theater.....etc..etc. This will last you months and months.

9/10

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