The Sega Dreamcast had one of the most impressive launches of any console, ever. They knew that after the disaster that was the Saturn they had to come strong out of the gates or else the new hardware was doomed. Among the early titles released for the system one stands above the rest. This was SoulCalibur. It was noteworthy for a few reasons. First of all the developer, Namco, was released almost all of their games at the time for Sony consoles. They passed up Sega’s previous system entirely. The second interesting fact about this game was that it was vastly improved from the arcade iteration. This was almost unheard of in that day and age. Regardless, SoulCalibur was easily the most technically impressive, and overall best game available at launch. Today we’re going to take a look at it. This is our review of SoulCalibur for the Sega Dreamcast.
Despite the different name this actually serves as a sequel to Soul Edge which came out both in arcades and on the Sony PlayStation. The setting is Europe circa 1500. A mystical sword called the Soul Edge has released calamity and destruction into the world. A group of warriors band together to reclaim it, and defeat the warped host of the blade in order to save the world. I do like that that the setting is very different from your typical fighting game. The story is also unusual in its execution. This is a fighting game so it makes little difference, but the scenario does allow for some fantastical historic landscapes meshed with fantasy elements. It just works, and is one of the driving forces that makes SoulCalibur so different from it’s contemporaries.
Now let’s talk combat. SoulCalibur is a 3D weapons based fighting game with a very solid engine that has a plethora of unique features to it. Each character is armed with a different sword or other offensive armament and this is their primary method of attack. Because of this there’s a big difference in range when compared to your typical fighting games. Each character can reach much farther when swinging their weapon which makes space a huge factor in strategy. Furthermore they also have longer recovery times than is traditional. This requires more planning, and draws players to focus more on which attacks to use and when you should counter and block. Also interesting is the fact that weapons clash with one another allowing you to cancel attacks. There are two other types of blocks both of which are useful in different situations.
The most innovative feature (for the time) here is the eight way movement system. Move fighting games of this era used the 3D space for simple sidesteps. Here you can freely move in any direction with your character continually facing toward the enemy. This has major advantages to a simple sidestep. You can easily circle around to your foe’s back which is especially useful when they are recovering from a missed strike. It also adds several layers of strategy and is particularly useful for avoiding getting knocked out of the ring. This takes some getting used to especially when it comes to low attacks and jumping strikes. You have to press the attack button as you press up or down otherwise you’ll simply walk in that direction instead. Despite this nuance the system is extremely intuitive. The timing for directional input and attack is very forgiving.
The roster is also extremely impressive. You have to account for the fact that the characters themselves handle differently from one another, but their weapons also have drastically different characteristics. Nine characters return from Soul Edge including the mainstays like Sophitia, Mitsurugi, Cervantes, Rock Siegfried, Rock and more. They each play fairly different than their original forms but honestly I prefer them here. Newcomers include the likes Ivy, Xianghua, Yoshimitsu, Astaroth and a few others. Personally I love the character roster, and just how differently the characters handle when compared to each other. The larger broadswords have tremendous reach, but swing slowly. The opposite goes for short blades and daggers. Some of them don’t even use swords, and the weapon characteristics feel really natural and realistic. Maxi in particular with his nunchucks is really interesting and adds some nice dynamics to the mix.
Special moves are where the game gets interesting. Rather than relying on sweeps Soul Calibur’s combat instead focuses on things like dashing before attacking, or hopping/ducking before swinging your character’s weapon. These offer a variety of strikes with different ranges, strength, recovery time and they even target specific areas of the opponent’s body. It should be pointed out straight away that this isn’t Street Fighter. Soul Calibur, despite the fantasy setting and anime aesthetic, aims for more realistic combat. You won’t find characters that shoot projectiles or defy gravity for insane aerial combat. Instead the engine keeps you mostly grounded relying on different manipulations of your weapon as well as kicks to deplete your foes life bar. You also have several different throws as well as counters, and blocks. To be honest the combat reminded me somewhat of that in Dead or Alive, but significantly better in almost every respect.
The amount of options included here are staggering for a fighting game of this era. It’s clear that Namco went all out on this home port. You have the typical arcade mode which tells the story of each character (mostly through the ending) as you fight through every character with a final boss waiting at the end. It’s pretty typical in respect to the arcade version. There’s also a team battle option where you select various characters to use and take turns facing down foes. You also have the typical versus mode where you square off against a human opponent. What would a home console fighting game be without it? The biggest addition however is the mission mode. Here you complete various tasks in battle which don’t typically involve draining their life bar. This is best considered a training mode, but it gets difficult later on. It’s a fantastic addition.
Soul Calibur is easily one of the most beautiful Dreamcast games ever released. It showed the clear void in power between it and the other consoles, and the visuals even put the arcade edition to shame. Not too shabby for a launch title, eh? Soul Calibur features highly detailed character models with superb animations and a lot of flare in each character. The backgrounds are fully 3D which was uncommon for this era and they look absolutely marvelous. These really strike home the medieval fantasy approach taken here. The most impressive part of the game however is that it runs at a solid sixty frames per second. Screenshots are one thing, but in motion Soul Calibur is truly a marvel even today. The soundtrack is pretty decent as well. It’s all very well composed and gives the game a truly epic feel to each fight.
