Soul Calibur

I can remember a time when a fighting game on a home console was considered a running joke. In fact, I will venture a guess and say that like the arcade, Street Fighter really opened the console market to quality fighting games. But it wasn't until the invent of the Saturn and the PlayStation that we really started seeing good fighting games. A vast mirage of 2D and 3D fighting games in every make and color!

But as good as Virtua Fighter was, it was not the reason people were buying Saturns ... well, people weren't buying Saturns. Just the same as people weren't buying the PlayStation on the merits of Toshinden. However, Soul Calibur is the ONE game you should have bought at the launch.

To this day, Soul Calibur is the best fighter on the Dreamcast. Dead or Alive 2 is good, but without question Soul Calibur is a much better all around game. The graphics are so well put together that they come off natural, almost like they had known the hardware for years. The characters are some of the most creative, interesting, grotesque group of fighters in a game. There is just nothing bad to say about this game as a fighting game.

However ... the one downside is nothing more than a minor gripe. Believe it or not, I miss the ability to pick any number of weapons ala Soul Blade. Gave a lasting factor I have never seen before in a game. Beyond that, however, there is nothing bad to say about this game.

There is an in depth, well crafted one player game that trains, tests your skills, and also entertains as a game in and of itself. And the desire to continue playing until you have everything is intense like a drug. I'm afraid I have nothing bad to say here.

I look forward to Soul Calibur 2, for whatever system it ends up on.