Soul Calibur Reviews
This game truly amazes me. I never thought Namco could pull of porting this arcade classic to the small screen, but they did. At least 97 percent did. Before explaining that cryptic statement, I'll tell you about the game. It starts out with a spectacular intro with Anime flavor that seems so Namco but gets your blood rushing and makes you want to play, and now. Then you get into the game. Now, I give this games graphics a ten, but that is an understatement. Everything is perfect. The sleek movement of the fighters bodies, the totally 3D backgrounds, the moving elements (also 3D) in the water out of the ring, and the sweet particle affects of the characters weapons as the clang together. It seems like genuine martial arts masters are in your screen performing for you. Amazing. I think, to truly appreciate the level of detail in this masterpiece, you need to do this: battle Mitsurugi, for his true to life Samurai stylings, versus any of the scantily clad females of the game (you'll see why when you play it :)), and play at Voldo's underground river level for it's amazing water and lighting affects. I guarantee it will blow your mind. If you own the Dreamcast, you'll feel pretty damn proud at that second. How could PlayStation 2 or Nintendo Dolphin ever top this? How?
But, now for the negative. There are no negatives about the game itself, but this is my one gripe - this game, despite it's upgraded graphics and game play, still doesn't capture that certain something of the arcade version. To me it's the bustling arcade atmosphere, the glowing screen in front of your eyes, the tenor voice shouting "Mitsurugi!" Into your ear, and best of all, finally beating that proclaimed "master" of the machine, and being able to stay there at wait for your next challenge. Now that is Soul Calibur in it's truest form, and although the Dreamcast is technologically superior, the arcade version is the soul of the game, and in my opinion is the highest Calibur (pun intended).
-Sam Wiebe[source:videogames.com]
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