SOUL CALIBUR (DC)
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Capcom aren't the only ones who fight

By WILLIAM BARKER

With last week's biggie taking honours in the form of Powerstone, it is with much pleasure that I review yet another fighting game for the DC. I  raved about Powerstone, yes, but the sad thing is this game is even better. I'm serious!

Namco have been essentially tied to the PSX, and have only recently ported Ridge Racer over to the N64. But the DC, however, garnered support from one of Japan's biggest from the get-go, with a superb effort too.

I remember the arcade version of Soul Calibur - it ran in 320x240 res (PSX style) and although it moved smoothly and played well, the aesthetics left a little to be desired. The DC incarnation, however, would have to be  one of the best-looking video games around. Watch as Mitsurugi, the Samurai with an attitude, yells at his downed opponent, his hair getting tousled in the wind. His clothes swish and flap around in the breeze, his katana shines appropiately. All of the 17 characters have the most amazing sense of detail to them; skin looks like skin and, of course, bopping someone on the scone with a giant broomstick looks like it should too - the game engine is truly a work of art.

The environs are also of a high quality, but unlike Powerstone they are flat and usually symmetrical, such as ovoid or rectangular. The backgrounds, however, contain an astonishing amount of detail. A few good examples would be Sigfrieds stage, which has European (French?) style architecture spanning a long way into the distance. Cervantes stage is inside a castle, ruined, and in the background floats a huge fully 3D pirate ship and an equally 3D ocean. Scenes like this will have you gasping as you realise knee-caps are being splintered by an angry foe. Oh, and I just have to mention the river stage where you fight on a raft careening down an underground river - it really is quite something.

Soul Calibur is a fighting game established around weapons-based combat along with a hefty dose of martial arts, and, as such, each character sports a cool and usually deadly weapon. The graphical representations for the weapons are all spot-on with that oh-so-cool transparent motion blur. I love it.

The game is complete with a good sense of gravity bearing it's weight upon all, plus the physics are pretty damn accurate too. By this I mean that a thin No-Dachi blade can be wielded with flick of the wrist, is quick and piercing, whereas a huge eight-foot death axe with a head the size of Barbra Streisand's is slow and cumbersome. To that end, however, it deals out supreme damage if used correctly. It is this choice of both character and weapon that makes even the initial stages of Soul Calibur so intriguing.

When you actually get into the thick of things you will marvel at how tight and responsive the controls are, I found that mashing a number of buttons, and then drumming a few of my fave combos was a good way to win. I also know that first timers can do this too, allowing for some very even battles. When you get a know a few of the characters intimately (not that intimately), however, you begin to memorise moves, ergo knowing which move to execute in a number of situations is the key to success.

Now that I've established that this game has some seriously gorgeous visuals and some of the most fluid and intuitive gameplay since Pacman (huh? oh, Namco - Ed) I might delve into the motion capture which is the best bar none. That means no other games up to the date of this review have better motion capture. None. When you see the muscle-bound form of Rock wielding a huge axe, it actually looks like he is holding a heavy axe. All the moves look real, which is a good thing. When people are watching this game they are like "Oooh, that must've hurt. Quick! HIT the damn idiot - he's wide open, for Pete's sake!" The game evokes this amazing sense of realism, through the way the characters carry themselves to intuitive controls, which allow veterans complete control and newbies instant action.

The DC is a now the ultimate fighting gamer's dream machine with many Capcom fighters, and now the amazing Soul Ca libur, in its line-up. This game is going to sell the system, and I'm sure you've heard that saying before. It's true though, as the mix of stunning visuals, chunky sound effects and the easy-to-get-into yet unnervingly deep gameplay all combine to create an addictive audio-visual experience. The best 3D fighter on the market - this game rocks. 

ORIGINALITY 80%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 100%
PLAYABILITY 95%
ADDICTION 100%
ENJOYMENT 95%