Graphics 9/10

Very, very, well done. Without having any graphical powerhouses to play on, gamers got worried that the third game would lose its graphical polish. Well, it didn’t. This is an incredible looking game. With a returning cast of classic Calibur combatants, Soul Calibur III makes each one look pristine and detailed. The attacks are beautifully animated and when you feel a giant sword slam down, it hurts just looking at it. The different Soul Charge attacks and signature techniques feel as they did in the past and keep their polish and fluidity in animations. The backgrounds are absolutely stunning and are diverse in their actions. The camera angles are perfectly set-up and don’t conflict in gameplay. The only problem is that while there is a lot going on in the background, some attacks will bring some slowdown when both the background and attack are flashy and full of effect. But this is rare and doesn’t stop the fact that Soul Calibur III pushes the PS2 to its limits.

Audio 8/10

Soul Calibur III brings back the climactic and heroic orchestral sounds of the previous games and includes some classic scores among some new sounds as well. The orchestral sounds are well-played and fit the bill when fighting against the opponents. Each character’s theme is appropriate for their style, appearance, and origin. The voice acting returns, cheesy writing and all, but Japanese voice acting returns as well, if Mitsurugi’s samurai speak or Tira’s creepy phrases get on your nerves. The game’s audio doesn’t change much, but provides some great scores for battle.

Gameplay 8/10

Soul Calibur III does take many new steps toward fighting finesse, but not all of these are perfect. Each character has their own specific story mode, as they search for their respective sword goal. There is a nice variety of characters to play as, including old favorites like Cassandra and Nightmare and some new ones as well. The three big newcomers are Setsuka, a hidden-blade-wielding woman, Tira, an assassin girl with a giant ring weapon, and Zasalamel, an immortal scythe-wielder. These new weapons do provide the developers to try some unusual weapon styles. While Setsuka’s techniques are smooth and fluid, Tira and Zasalamel’s weapons are much different, and therefore, don’t keep the fluidity that other weapons like Mitsurugi’s katana or Kilik’s staff have. The weapons feel clunky and don’t feel as polished as others. I was severely disappointed with Zasalamel’s controls, mostly because he was my most anticipated addition to this installment. Fortunately, the old characters keep their controls smooth and provide a nice diversity in fighting styles. Other new character additions include Siegfried, the man who became Nightmare, and some unlockable fighters. Another minor problem is the amped-up difficulty. Any newcomer will have their hands full in the difficult fights. While they aren’t impossible, they will encourage good blocking and well-timed attacks. While Soul Calibur II was accessible and easy to play, Soul Calibur III feels like it was made for fighting fans first. If you can overcome the difficulty, the third game will give you a challenging and fun time.

Namco brought in a Character Creation mode for the third game, allowing players to design a character, choose their fighting style, and let them loose into combat. This idea provides some nice outfit design and color choice, but from the start, feels lacking. The majority of items to use are unlocked from the start and encourage a lot of game time to get the payoff. Also, fighting styles feel confined. From the start, only a handful of fighting styles are available and it just feels incomplete and tacked-on. Once the unlockables are unlocked, creating a character can be much deeper, but fans of the series will be excited to create their own fighter at the beginning and for that reason, the game doesn’t completely succeed there. A fun addition is the ability to customize colors for already existing characters. You can make Kilik wear yellow, or give Siegfried pink hair. It’s surprisingly fun and entertaining.

Namco included a very nice variety of modes in Soul Calibur III. The story modes (Tales of Souls) for each character use a choose-your-own-adventure motive. This is cool, but doesn’t affect the actual game too much. During the story mode, the player will deal with Resident Evil 4-style cutscene interaction which can turn the tide of a battle or the story itself, a pleasing bit of interactivity. The second mode, Chronicles of the Sword, is a strategy sub-game where you create leaders to use in battle and defeat your enemies. It does feel slimmed-down, but is a nice diversion when the other modes get boring. Tournament mode is pretty much a basic tournament. Arena battles provide many different battle types, including classic Time Attack and Survival. Museum gives the player some background on the characters and allow them to view art, cinema, and more. The shop provides many items, weapons, and armor types to unlock. One rather large problem I had with the gameplay is the many load times throughout. Load during the story, load before an encounter, load to see your weapons in the shop. I didn’t like having to wait five seconds before seeing a weapon, not wanting to buy it, then waiting for the next one to load. It just got tedious. The gameplay of Soul Calibur III has some downsides, but overall, the game is still playable and fun.

Replay Value 9/10

There is so much to do in Soul Calibur III, it’s not even funny. There is a huge amount of things to buy in the shop, and getting the gold to do that will take up most of your time from there. But even if that bores you, Arena battles, the Museum, and the Chronicles of the Sword mode will keep you coming back. Vs. Mode (though without the online play) is also solid and remains a major player in the game’s replay value. There’s just so much in this game.

Final Verdict 8/10

Soul Calibur III is a good game. It just feels a bit toned-down compared to Soul Calibur I and II. The idea of adding more difficult AI is a polarizing deal. You’ll either love the challenge and satisfaction of your enemy’s defeat, or you’ll just feel cheated. The new character controls and lackluster Character Creation also were letdowns, among the lengthy load times. But the original characters and solid gameplay remains true to its roots and creates a very fun weapon-based fighter for your PS2. If you have the soul, Soul Calibur III will still be a fun game. Not as good as the first, but good nonetheless.