Flea Sixty
07-04-2008, 05:08 AM
Hopefully this will help you make your mind up. If you do get it and get stuck with an achievement theres a guide here (http://www.consoleheroes.com/game_view.php?display=guide&id=2208).
:mvreallyhappy:
Soul Blade/Edge was just Tekken with swords but still amazed quite a few people, leaving hopes that they would get to see a follow up. Shortly after Soul Calibur was announced and appeared in arcades worldwide, console owners everywhere dreamed of a home version. But nobody expected what appeared on Sep. 9th, 1999 on the Sega Dreamcast. The conversion from arcade to console was a work of art that turned out a lot better than anyone had hoped for, and is still widely considered one of the greatest fighting games ever created. So when I found out that I would be able to play the game once again today courtesy of the Xbox Live Arcade, I was rubbing my hands with joy.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/Soul%20Calibur7%281%29.jpg
I first ventured into the arcade mode from the main menu was shocked by what I saw. Each one of the unlockable characters from the original Dreamcast version were already unlocked, including Inferno and the Edge Master. So I backed out of the character selection screen to the main menu, thinking that I clearly must have missed something. Upon a second look at was still included and what had vanished, my heart sank. The much loved Mission mode had vanished, gone without even telling me. If you have never had the pleasure of playing through the Mission mode, it was a sort of story mode, giving you objectives to complete on each stage to advance the story and unlock new characters, costumes, weapons, and stages for the game as well as concept art and other fanfare. When I finally regained my composure I was shocked again by an even greater sin...no online play.
Despite these two major faults though Soul Calibur is still a great game and probably one of the best fighting games on the 360. It's just that the only time you may play it is when a mate calls round and you fancy a game before Soul Calibur IV is released, or just to kill a quick 30 minutes here and there. Essentially this game is an Arcade version of the Dreamcast game with Time Attack, Survival and Extra Survival (You hit your enemy once to beat them and vice versa) added on to the normal Arcade mode. The controls are pretty solid though and work well with the 360 pad, so you wont be moaning about them like everyone did with Street Fighter 2 Turbo's dodgy controls. The graphics are very shiny and pretty awesome to look at when you consider this game is nearly a decade old and was ported to the XBLA, but then again this was considered the pinnacle of graphical prowess when it was launched on the Dreamcast . One fault I did find though was playing on medium just seemed too easy. It feels like they dumbed down the difficulty level a bit, but that's easily fixed in the options menu by switching to a more challenging difficulty.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/Soul%20Calibur1%281%29.jpg
Also the Museum mode now feels tacked on, since before you had to earn the right to see stuff via the axed Mission mode, but now you just have to complete the game with all the characters. Speaking of the characters, Sueng Mina now seems to be a bit weaker than before, but that could just be me as I haven't played the Dreamcast version in a while. Siegfried and Nightmare fans will be glad though as there is little change to them if any and they still inflict a major amount of damage with very little effort. Like all other fighting games there is a mix of good and crap characters, but enough choice for everyone.
So should you buy Soul Calibur? I would have to say yes, when you consider some of the crap that costs 800 points on the marketplace then this is definitely worth it. What you're getting is one of the best fighting games ever made for £5 or $10 depending on where you live. What's worth more to you, that Big Mac meal that will last you 10 minutes and make you feel hungry again 10 minutes later, or a gem of a game you can play every now and then for the same price. Face it, you're fat enough and could do with skipping a meal anyhow so get this instead.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/SoulCalibur%20Overall.png
:mvreallyhappy:
Soul Blade/Edge was just Tekken with swords but still amazed quite a few people, leaving hopes that they would get to see a follow up. Shortly after Soul Calibur was announced and appeared in arcades worldwide, console owners everywhere dreamed of a home version. But nobody expected what appeared on Sep. 9th, 1999 on the Sega Dreamcast. The conversion from arcade to console was a work of art that turned out a lot better than anyone had hoped for, and is still widely considered one of the greatest fighting games ever created. So when I found out that I would be able to play the game once again today courtesy of the Xbox Live Arcade, I was rubbing my hands with joy.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/Soul%20Calibur7%281%29.jpg
I first ventured into the arcade mode from the main menu was shocked by what I saw. Each one of the unlockable characters from the original Dreamcast version were already unlocked, including Inferno and the Edge Master. So I backed out of the character selection screen to the main menu, thinking that I clearly must have missed something. Upon a second look at was still included and what had vanished, my heart sank. The much loved Mission mode had vanished, gone without even telling me. If you have never had the pleasure of playing through the Mission mode, it was a sort of story mode, giving you objectives to complete on each stage to advance the story and unlock new characters, costumes, weapons, and stages for the game as well as concept art and other fanfare. When I finally regained my composure I was shocked again by an even greater sin...no online play.
Despite these two major faults though Soul Calibur is still a great game and probably one of the best fighting games on the 360. It's just that the only time you may play it is when a mate calls round and you fancy a game before Soul Calibur IV is released, or just to kill a quick 30 minutes here and there. Essentially this game is an Arcade version of the Dreamcast game with Time Attack, Survival and Extra Survival (You hit your enemy once to beat them and vice versa) added on to the normal Arcade mode. The controls are pretty solid though and work well with the 360 pad, so you wont be moaning about them like everyone did with Street Fighter 2 Turbo's dodgy controls. The graphics are very shiny and pretty awesome to look at when you consider this game is nearly a decade old and was ported to the XBLA, but then again this was considered the pinnacle of graphical prowess when it was launched on the Dreamcast . One fault I did find though was playing on medium just seemed too easy. It feels like they dumbed down the difficulty level a bit, but that's easily fixed in the options menu by switching to a more challenging difficulty.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/Soul%20Calibur1%281%29.jpg
Also the Museum mode now feels tacked on, since before you had to earn the right to see stuff via the axed Mission mode, but now you just have to complete the game with all the characters. Speaking of the characters, Sueng Mina now seems to be a bit weaker than before, but that could just be me as I haven't played the Dreamcast version in a while. Siegfried and Nightmare fans will be glad though as there is little change to them if any and they still inflict a major amount of damage with very little effort. Like all other fighting games there is a mix of good and crap characters, but enough choice for everyone.
So should you buy Soul Calibur? I would have to say yes, when you consider some of the crap that costs 800 points on the marketplace then this is definitely worth it. What you're getting is one of the best fighting games ever made for £5 or $10 depending on where you live. What's worth more to you, that Big Mac meal that will last you 10 minutes and make you feel hungry again 10 minutes later, or a gem of a game you can play every now and then for the same price. Face it, you're fat enough and could do with skipping a meal anyhow so get this instead.
http://www.consoleheroes.com/img/usr_mainpage/SoulCalibur%20Overall.png