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If you were to look up a list of the greatest fighting game of all time, undoubtedly you
will find some entries from Soulcalibur. The original for the Dreamcast will always be
remembered as one of the all time greats and many will say the second game was even better,
improving and fine-tuning the already great fighting. But how do you follow up on that
kind of success? Well, Soulcalibur III tried to do just that and what it made was one great
fighter. One of the best of all time? Maybe not, but still great in its own right.
Soulcalibur, like many fighters, has a crazy deep and complicated backstory. The game takes
place in 1591 and there are many different characters, all fighting for control of two
dangerous swords. Some want to destroy them, some want to use them for evil, and the motives
of some are not fully understood. What this means is, there is going to be some fighting.
The game continues the fighting of the previous games of weapon based fighting. Each character
has their own unique weapon and move set, and a very deep fighting engine to bring it
all to life. This is one of those fighters that demands you learn every move of every
character if you want to stand any chance. It might take some time to develop your skills,
but after you do the fighting is very rewarding.
And there are plenty of different modes to fight in, not just an arcade mode like other
fighters. There is the Tale of Souls, which acts as a way to drive the story. You fight
through a series of matches, ending with the end boss. Each character receives their own
narrative, although they are a little thin, with endings that only series fans will understand.
But there is also World Competitionship, a large scale tournament with group stages and
knockout rounds.
But probably the most interesting mode is the Chronicles of the Sword. This is an ambitious
mix of a board game, real time strategy and a fighting game. You move around the board,
winning fights, and hoping to win each chronicle, which will get very challenging. Disappointingly,
there was no online play which would have been a nice icing to this delicious cake.
But the game does introduce a create-a-character mode, and everything you do will earn you
credits which can be redeemed for new costumes and weapons at the in-game store.
There is plenty to do in Soulcalibur III, but fighting against your friend is still
the best. It would have been great to see the inclusion of online play but there are
more than enough modes to make up for it.