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Soul Calibur 3
By admin | September 8, 2010
Soul Calibur 3 is the newest entry in to one of the best fighting game series ever. This entry to the series adds a few new characters and some interesting new modes. The gameplay is not all that different from the previous games in series but it is still a spectacular fighting game.
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As I said the fighting system is basically unchanged from the previous game. So as in Soul Calibur 2 square does a horizontal attack with you weapon, triangle performs a vertical attack with your weapon, circle performs a kick attack, and X blocks. You can string the attack buttons into many different combos. As always each of the games large cast of characters plays completely different from the rest of each other each with their own unique wide array of moves and attack combos. The “guard impact” system also returns, this lets you parry an enemy’s attacks by blocking and pressing either back or forward right as the attack is about to hit you creating an opening for you to attack. This combat system is just as intense, fun, and entertaining as it has always been and is what makes the Soul Calibur series so great.
In addition to the cast of returning Soul Calibur 3 adds 3 brand new characters making the total cast somewhere around 30 characters, most of which play really differently from the rest of the cast. The new characters to the game are Zasalamel, Tira, and Setsuka. Zasalamel is a large Egyptian looking man with a scythe, he has a white hooded costume that covers most his body and all in all he is a really cool looking character. He has mostly long range attacks which is somewhat slow, although he has a few pretty quick attacks as well. Next is Tira, she is a small fighter who uses what is basically a gigantic chakaram. She is quite scantily clad but what is there is green and leafy and in general she is also a really cool looking character. He huge chakaram gives her decent range and it’s generally pretty fast. Setsuka is a Japanese woman in traditional Japanese clothes, her costume isn’t as unique as the other new characters but it’s not bad. She uses a blade hidden inside of an umbrella as a weapon; her attacks are pretty fast and decently powerful. The returning characters all have had a few tweaks made to their move sets which experienced players will probably notice right away but they still play basically the same. One major addition made to Soul Calibur 3 is the create a character. This mode lets you create your own character and customize their looks with a ton of different clothing options that you unlock as you play the game. When you create your character you pick the type of fighter they will be, such as a ninja or samurai, this determines the type of weapons they can use and thus their move set. All in all the create a character mode is good but not spectacular, as most of the weapons and their move sets aren’t quite as well developed as that of the rest of the cast.
The main mode of play in Soul Calibur 3 is Tales of Souls which is basically a story mode. You choose a character at the start of this mode and play as that character throughout the mode facing off against a bunch of different opponents in one on one matches with a variety of changes in some of the battles, such as no blocking or health drain. At various points throughout the story you will get the option of what to do next which affects the character you fight along your path to the final boss. There are also a few cut scenes where you will have to press a button at the correct moment to avoid a surprise attack or something of the sort. Each character has their own unique story although they are all basically the same and purely text based except for the ending movies, which are actually somewhat interesting and often entertaining.
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Another new mode is Chronicles of the Sword. This mode is very unique, you use a created character that is in charge of a small group of fighters, your character and all his companions are put on a map which is populated with a bunch of small outposts and a main fortress for your side and your enemies. You move your characters about the map on one of the many paths and attack the enemies outposts when you run into them, there is usually at least one enemy in each outpost and once it is destroyed all of the characters you have attacking that outpost will enter the normal combat mode of Soul Calibur against all the enemies occupying the outpost, if you defeat these enemies the outpost will become yours. You can also run into enemies outside of outposts and fight against them, you can just let them stand there and swing at each other or actually play out the battle which is usually a good idea since you will generally lose less health that way. When your characters die you have to wait a little while and then they will respawn back at your main base. Your goal in most of these levels is to destroy your enemy’s main base without having all you characters killed or your main base destroyed. The story of the mode focuses on a war between a few different factions and takes a few decent twists. It isn’t an incredible story by any means but it is fairly interesting. The mode is pretty long and gets a bit on the repetitive side after a while as it takes a while to get into combat sometimes and it doesn’t really require a whole lot of strategy when choosing where to move your characters.
There are a few other modes in Soul Calibur 3 as well. The Soul Arena lets you play through a bunch of battles with some very unique conditions for winning. There is also a league and tournament mode which you can play against the AI or friends, playing this mode with a bunch of friends is really fun since it sets up brackets and what not for you. There is also a practice mode where you can hone you techniques or mess around with characters to learn all of their moves.
Soul Calibur 3 looks fantastic in all areas. Each of the games levels is beautiful and quite different from each other. All of the characters look unique and fantastic; most characters have two different costumes and two different color sets for each of these costumes all of which look great. The huge variety of weapons in the game all look great as well…and generally quite menacing. The moves these characters perform are animated really well and look really fluid and usually quite brutal as well. The sound is also really good. The sounds of the weapons clashing together is great and the mostly orchestral soundtrack fits the game perfectly. As for the voice acting you can choose between English and Japanese this time around which is great, both sets of voices sound pretty good though.
Overall, Soul Calibur 3 is a fantastic fighting game. Fans of the previous games in the series are guaranteed to enjoy this game. Any fan of fighting games in general would almost surely enjoy this game and its amazing fighting system as well. There is plenty to do in the game and it should keep you entertained for quite a while, especially if you have a lot of friends who are close to the same skill level as you, it would be nice if the game was online but oh well.
Topics: PS2 Game | No Comments »