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"An amazing fighter beaten only by its sequel"

By now, Soul Calibur is starting to succumb in its hype. Other games are now out with better graphics, supposedly better gameplay, and Soul Calibur is stuck on the Dreamcast, of all systems. Hell, now it even has a sequel for everyone to enjoy. So why bother playing this old hunk of junk? I wondered what it would be like to play the original now after forcing out over 50 hours into Soul Calibur II. It seemed like this game would become completely obsolete with SCII exceeding it in every way. But alas, I still manage to find this at the peak of 3d fighting games. Sure, SCII is technically better with all of its upgrades, and VF4: Evolution is also probably better in that respect, but this still holds a charm to it, and by no means feels the least bit dated.

First of all, let's go to the visuals. This game is beautiful, now matter how you look at it. When the thing came out, it was, and remained, the prettiest game on the Dreamcast. Everything about it was just drop-dead gorgeous. Besides having incredibly high polygon counts, the textures were some of the best ever seen. The coloring on all of the characters was vibrant and extremely detailed. Added to the fact that this game was a port of an arcade game no prettier than Tekken 3 made it all the more stunning. Now that I have Dead or Alive 2 for the Dreamcast, I've been able to thoroughly compare them, since both are supposedly the prettiest of their type. And yes, DOA2 has much prettier faces, and slightly higher polygon counts, but Soul Calibur beats it down severely in textures. You're ultimately left with the choice of super-detailed faces on top of plastic looking fighters, or slightly less detailed faces/bodies with amazing textures. I prefer Soul Calibur. And even now, this game doesn't look great by any means, but it doesn't really look bad. Granted probably every major fighter around looks way better than it, but it was good enough so that it didn't have the devastating impact of Soul Calibur vs Tekken 3, in which Tekken 3 now looked like a pile of blocks. And can I even go into the backgrounds? They are just awing. Some of the best levels will just be a small arena with a beautiful landscape of the sun setting in the background, or a castle. It gives the game a unique atmosphere, which fighters don't normally pull off.

Continuing from where Soul Edge left off, Soul Calibur continues with the magical swords. Soul Calibur, story-wise, was able to have a few interesting twists in the game. For instance, one of the main characters in the original, Siegfried, took the Soul Edge. However, without the blade's compliment to keep a balance, the blade was evil. As such, Siegfried was slowly consumed, and became Nightmare. Almost all of the characters from the original have returned (with the exception of a few, one of which was replaced by Maxi), and there are plenty of new ones to keep you going.

However, while there are a bunch of new characters, you find that almost every character winds up simply having a clone of themselves. Not that I really mind at all, since most of them are diverse enough in how they differ that it isn't too noticeable. Yeah there are some that are just straight clones, but I usually end up liking the clones more than I do the original (Hwang is far cooler than Xianghua), so it's not always a bad thing.

In terms of evolution, Namco could not have done a better job in bringing Soul Calibur into the world. Soul Calibur was really the first game to bring weapon-based fighters into mainstream fighters. Before, each was sort of in its own category. Weapon based fighters were either the fun games with awful control on using your weapon, or the extremely deep games with tremendously steep learning curves and tons of combination mastering. Namco took Soul Edge's premise, and then merged it with the learning curve and style of Tekken 3. The result is a nearly flawless hybrid. I love it. There's the easy to pick up feel and interesting characters of Tekken 3, but it manages to stay weapon based. And despite what people say, the game is by no means a button masher. Yes, many characters can be button mashers, but each character has a soul to them. An experienced player with Maxi will fight completely differently than a novice just button mashing (I should know, having regularly dealed with both).

But what I find most amazing about the game is the mechanics of your moves. In older games, there was rarely a time when you could safely know one character fairly well, and then learn the rest of his moves or styles on your own. Street Fighter II perhaps, but to a lesser extent. When I do a move with a character in Soul Calibur, however, it just feels right. I'm not pressing one button to have my character do an incredibly long combo, and I'm not putting in the infamous Konami code just to do a spin-kick. The buttons that are executed while doing a move actually seem to respond to how the move is done. A powerful move seems just like a combo now. That gives me a feel like I really know the character. It stops being pointless memorization and really feels like interaction.

On top of that, the characters are really admirable. Save Voldo, there aren't any characters I really dislike. I always end up picking favorites, but if I were stuck with a random character I wouldn't sigh and hang my head. Namco managed to give all of them a unique feel and charm. If this were not there, then the clones would be tedious. But even the closest characters still have things which set them off from everyone else. And the weapon variety is another aspect that a game has yet to challenge Soul Calibur for. The weapons everyone use manages to be vastly different in appearance and gameplay. Something as little as changing from a long sword to a slightly shorter sword completely alters each character's form of attack. Combined with the sheer coolness of all of the different weapons (nun-chucks being a huge one), it makes me want to try to master every character.

And Namco put in plenty to keep you playing for awhile. If not for the huge cast of characters, then getting the character's different costumes. Past that, the option of seeing each character perform an interesting and complex demonstration of their battle techniques. Or, if you want something extremely long an epic, you can do the Mission Mode. Truthfully, that ends up becoming the game's real single player. Battling through enemies is nice, but this is really what you end up doing with the game if you don't have friends or someone to play with. It will extend the single player time by at least 10 hours. It doesn't have the same addictiveness as say Tekken's Force Mode, but still really adds a lot to the game, and totally blows away extras in every other fighting game except Namco's others (and of course VF4: Evolution's, but this does precede that by about 4 years). And for artistic value, many points of the game feature a controllable camera, in case you want to do some nice rotations during a demonstration, or at the end of a fulfilling battle.

The soundtrack was quite remarkable for Namco, since I have never particularly liked any of their others to a high level. But this one accomplished an epic and well-orchestrated arrangement, for which I am grateful. It could have easily gotten away with crap, but it went above and beyond what I would've expected. The sound quality itself is also utterly amazing. The explosions, weapons clashing, and voices are all very polished. The characters speech remains in Japanese, but I end up preferring it that way (since Soul Calibur II showed me that alot of the characters have really crappy voices when heard in English). If I had one complaint about the game, however, it would probably be the announcer's voice, which is one of the most irritating bastards ever to grace a videogame. But, one can forgive a minor thing like that (although the ''______ was seriously injured, but the soul lives on!'' makes it harder).

So, it all boils down to this: Soul Calibur is a god. When you ultimately rate it, that's all one can say. I'm playing this four years later, even after a better sequel has arrived, and I'm still being blown away by this sucker. No matter what new innovations come along this still stays there as a game I can pull out at any time and just rattle off steam for a couple of hours. This is the game that carries the torch for weapon-based fighters. Remember that when we reach Soul Prominent Piercing Weapon 6, Mortal Kombat: People Are Still Buying Our Games for Some Reason, and Random Weapon Fighter 4. It all started here.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/04

"I hope I win Tagline of the Day. Really."

I’ve never enjoyed Tekken. I hated Battle Arena Toshinden (like every sane person out there). I don’t like Virtua Fighter. Dead or Alive, you say? Pfft. Don’t get me started. Seeing this, why, oh why, do I love Soul Calibur so?

I guess, like that moronic series of Apple Jack commercials, I just do.

From the first second I saw it being played in the arcades, I knew I need that. I craved it. I bought it (and a Dreamcast). It’s probably the best compulsive buying spree I’ve ever had.

I wouldn’t blame you for being just a wee bit skeptical about SC after my gushing praise. Allow me…to elucidate.

Hearts taste bad. Really truly.
First off, the story is more involving that your typical fighting game (Street Fighter, eat your heart out; Dead or Alive, your coffin is in the corner). Soul Calibur occurs in medieval times, when swords, not guns, were commonplace. The first installment (known as either Soul Blade or Soul Edge, depending on whether you played in the arcade or at home) ended with Sophitia and Taki defeating the possessed, Soul Edge-wielding pirate Cervantes. However, a young knight, Siegfried, discovers the evil weapon of destruction and is transformed into the hideous Nightmare. Later, all hell has broken loose all over the world, after a malevolent spirit known only as “Inferno” has been wreaking ruin, and many have come to either stop the Soul Edge’s romp of devastation or take it for themselves.

One complaint from the masses has been the endings of the characters. While I admit that a few nonmoving screens per character could have been improved upon, the story itself that is revealing within them is worth it. No character simply “wins the tournament and is a hero”; their actions have consequences, and each persona finds what they have gained or lost.

More action than a John Woo movie on fast-forward.
Soul Calibur is a bit different than other 3D fighters in two respects: it has weapons, and it’s actually 3D, not just polygons on a 2D plane. Its mechanics are nearly flawless; bludgeoning the other guy into a bloody pulp has never been this fun. There are four different buttons to be utilized: vertical slash, horizontal slash, kick, or guard. Guard and kick are self-explanatory, but the first two are quite interesting, and unique to the “Soul” series. Vertical slashes smash the opponent by having the weapon traveling up and down, while horizontal go left and right. While a vertical is much more damaging, a horizontal is faster and easier to combo with (ie, connect one or more moves).

Also included are several moves that “newbies” may have trouble with. An Unblockable is exactly what the name means; it penetrates through any block an opponent may try, but the time from input to results is lengthy. Another option is charging your fighter by holding down a few buttons at once, which will make them seem to glow and increase their damage potential. Additionally, it is possible to parry and counter strikes upon you by timing your action exactly right.

As stated before, the arenas are true 3D. Your character, by holding up or down, can do what Namco calls an “8-Way Run”. They can go anywhere in the battlegrounds, save outside of them. On the other hand, their rival can knock them outside. By using a forceful enough move, Ring Outs can occur (an instant win).

The warriors themselves are greatly varied. Kilik and Seung Mina, my personal favorites, use staffs and specialize in attacks from afar. Conversely, Maxi, a swashbuckling seafarer, revels in smashing his enemies up close with his nunchuck. Taki the beautiful ninja strikes quickly with her double daggers, employing various hit-and-run tactics. The two slowest characters, Rock and Asteroth, will administer a quite painful beating, albeit not very quickly. There is a large assortment of sword users, but each uses a different type of blade. While Nightmare puts to use the massive Soul Edge, Hwang equips a curved scimitar, and Mitsurugi has a Japanese katana. Each and every character (even Rock, the token person nobody uses) has the potential to become the best in the game, depending on your personal skill. All of them can cancel each other’s moves out, leaving the true expert on top.

My friend likes Seung Mina. He, like, like likes her.
If I had only one word to describe Soul Calibur, I would use “beautiful and striking” (I cheated). The fighters themselves are incredible; quite frankly, they look real, and have different facial expressions. Their clothes move as they walk, and the characters’ animations seem to have little difference with people in real life. The stages are spectacular, ranging from a castle in the winter to a raft floating through an underground cavern. They animate in the background; the raft really does travel through the tunnels, twisting and turning. Other than the one-month old Dead or Alive 3 (on X-Box, a more powerful system, no less), SC has been unsurpassed by any other fighter released since, even on Playstation 2. Truly awesome.

On the other side of the audio/video aspects, the sound is also wonderful. The combatants grunt and yell as they fight (in Japanese, thankfully), and their win and loss dialogue is great. Also, the music is beautiful and flowing, not unlike a river flowing through a forest of those omnipresent Japanese cherry trees. The melodies are sufficiently action-packed, but still retain a sense of calm, which is useful for those sweaty-palm boss battles.

We’re gonna party like it’s 1999…
I’ve had Soul Calibur for a year and a half, and I still play a round or two fairly regularly. This is mainly owed to the huge selection of options and mode and the Rock-solid (get the pun?) gameplay that my buddies and I adore. The most obvious option, Arcade Mode, sports many unlockable characters such as the beautiful Seung Mina and the original Siegfried, which become available after a sufficient amount of fighters’ missions have been completed. The Survival option, which pits you and your insufferable competitor against a seemingly endless stream of combatants to see how long you can last, is entirely splendid (my record is seventy-two, by the way).

However, the main pull is the Mission Mode. Within this massive quest are dozens and dozens of battles, each with a unique twist. For example, one challenges you to defeat an enemy whose life gradually rises. In another, standing still will lead to your sinking into the sand. One forces you to complete Ring Outs to win, which will be easier due to high winds. While just this would be excellent, the fun doesn’t stop there. By winning battles, points will be awarded. These points can be spent in an art gallery of computer-generated, hand-drawn, and fan works. By buying an adequate quantity of art, other options such as more costumes, a “demonstration” mode which displays each fighter’s method of fighting, or more arenas for multiplayer battles will become available. Sweet.

The legend never dies- thank goodness!
Soul Calibur is a treat for the eyes, hands, and every person out there who likes a good ol’ brawl. I can’t recommend it enough. The gameplay, the graphics, the mission mode all complement each other perfectly. If you’re itching for some fisticuffs (or more correctly, weaponicuffs), look no further than Soul Calibur.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/15/01, Updated 12/18/01