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Soul Calibur is the sequel to Soul Blade, a Playstation sleeper hit from 1996. However, I really didn't like the original due to its slow speed and rather clunky controls. The sequel in arcades was much improved over the original. However, through the Dreamcast, Soul Calibur was brought into the homes, with many improvements, and moving on to be the best fighting game to date.
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When Soul Calibur was released on the DC's launch day, it had the best graphics the world had ever seen. Its characters were very well rendered, the animation was excellent, the stages were cool, and the effects and movement were just so realistic for the time that even today they look good. The characters, too, are very well-designed, and each fighter has a distinct look and feel to them, yet they all are quite cool. The weapons are great-looking, looking quite realistic and adding to the overall effect of the game. To basically summarize the graphics, when you look at the opening, it is as if you are watching cutscenes, when in reality it is all done utilizing the in game engine. The beauty of Soul Calibur's graphics cannot be underrated.
The combat system in Soul Calibur is excellent. Its fast, easy to get into, and yet the deepest a fighting game has ever been to date. The 8-way run system is ingenious, in that it allows your character to side step or roll out of the way of attacks with ease. It really adds to the fluidness of the combat. The ability to block and parry are essential to being a good player, and take quite some time to master. The large character selection, coupled with fighters that utilize completely different styles and weapons, greatly adds to the diversity of combat. The characters too, are perfectly balanced, making combat that much more fun. Each character has a huge selection of moves to utilize, and it really adds to the longevity of the game. The levels are designed so that the players will use strategy while playing, making positioning your character on a stage an essential part of ringouts. The combat system in Soul Calibur is perfect, and its easily the best system that I've seen in a fighting game to date.
As a single player game, Soul Calibur shines. It is the best time you can have with a fighting game playing solo. The mission mode is an absolutely ingenious mode, in which your character travels across the world fighting at various events. These events often times have special features about them, such as regeneration or rats that bite at your feet. The thing is, these missions are not only diverse and fun, they also train you to be a better fighter. To top it off, the mission mode allows you to unlock multiple modes of play, galleries, and more. The normal arcade mode even has unlockable characters, meaning that you'll definitely be spending a lot of time in both of these modes. As a solo experience, Soul Calibur just plain old excels.
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