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I'll be honest, I almost forgot about Soulcalibur 3 in the hubbublub that was the Xbox 360 launch madness this last week. I knew that I still had a review to write, but after feeling the warm seductive green glow from my new box how could anyone expect me to go back to that blue-cold monolith? –whack- -whack- Well, apparently it only takes a few hits to my kneecaps. So here I am with my review of the third Soulcalibur game.
At first I found myself thinking, "jeez it hasn't been that long since the last one has it?" Imagine my surprise to find that we've been without a new Soulcalibur title for just a hair over two years. This is a pretty standard development cycle. Maybe it just felt sooner because there was that four year gap between the release of the original Soulcalibur on the Dreamcast and Soulcalibur 2.
It only goes to show how popular and fun this fighting series is that sales for SC2 were very respectable even following a four year dark period, and given that the original only appeared on the doomed Dreamcast. I will confess to being a bit baffled as to why Namco chose to release Soulcalibur 3 on only the PlayStation 2 given the best selling version of SC2 was the Gamecube version.
Of course, since Soulcalibur 3 is now appearing only on the PlayStation 2 it comes as little surprise that there are no online modes to be found. Instead Namco has packed the disc with all manner of various single-player modes, combat options, characters, secrets, and even its own version of "hot-coffee." Ok, maybe no coffee but I'm sure that there's a kitchen sink buried somewhere in the game.
Heck, there's so much in this game that even the end-game boss is hidden unless you take certain paths through the single-player mode, "Tales of Souls," and do so without using a continue or losing a battle. That there's so much content almost feels like Namco's waving a hand in front of your face saying, "look here, and don't notice the gaping hole where you'd expect online play to be."
Not that any of us hates deep games with tons of stuff to unlock, earn, and buy. Even the basic single-player mode, "Tales of Souls," (which we old-timers used to call "arcade mode" when fighting games were released in the arcades) is more akin to a choose your own adventure story than a linear progression against every other character in the game. Kudos to Namco for allowing unlimited continues as well.
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