Soul Calibur

Namco does it's magic on the Dreamcast with the amazing Soul Calibur. It has everything a 3D fighting fan could want & then some. There's a boat load of characters each with their own unique look, moves, & personality. (Ivy, is my personal fav - you gotta love that sword) The fighing system is based on a 3D plane as opposed to a 2D one. So there's complete movement anywhere in the rings. Each character has a ton of normal & special moves suited to the weapon they carry. On top of that is the fantastic Story Mode. Which pits a character of your choice up against many challenges. Some include fighting several characters in a row, defeat an enemy in an certain amount of time, performing specific stunts, fighting while invisible, avoiding poisonous scorpions, & so many other fun catches. Playing through the game can open up pictures in the Gallery (featuing fanart, production work, endings, & more), a Director Mode (dictact the opening sequence), Add More Characters to the Roster, Profile Mode (view each character & their backgrounds in-depth), & just so much more. My only gripe is that the game feels like it's too easy & even with all these extras, you can pretty much get them all in a couple of days. The difficulty could have picked a little more, but Soul Calibur is just fine the way it is.

Not to be outdone in graphics, Soul Calibur takes every advantage of the DC system & completely blows away the arcade version in comparison. Each character has a fully animated face. Such as eyes blinking occasionally & mouths that move in sync with the japanese voice actors. Their hair & loose clothing flap according to wind conditions. And in general the characters themselves have so much detail & animation in them, it's unbelievable. By the way, Cool Character Designs. The backgrounds are fully polygonal featuring weather conditions such as snow & rain. And there's just a bunch of tiny details like small rodents wandering around & leaves being blown across the crowd. In fact, I'd like to think of this game as a massive artpiece. It's looks just that good. No other game can even touch the standards set by Soul Calibur, not even Virtua Fighter 3tb. If you have a Dreamcast then Soul Calibur is a must game.

Overall 9.8