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Namco,
the gods of arcade to Playstation translations try yet again to
provide us lucky Playstation owners with a "better than
arcade" translation of their weapons based fighter Soulblade.
In this fighter with have a group of renegades, psycho's, goddess'
and general nutballs all competing for the coveted prize of a
sword called "Soulblade". It seems that many have come
before this group in an attempt to capture this prize but only
one, the pirate "Cervantes de Leon", is said to have
actually obtained it.
Do you think you are up to the challenge? Can you pick a mighty "hero"
and bring them to this seemingly unattainable goal? Soulblade is
waiting for you, if you really think you've got what it takes!
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Soulblade
is a weapons based quasi 3D fighter of the extreme kind. Few if
any games before have come this close to simulating a head to head
sword fighting competition to the death. Only the strong, the
cunning or the foolish need apply....
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Hold
onto your gamepad...this game actually has better graphics than
Tekken 2. Yes, believe it or not, Soulblade has managed to up the
ante in the graphics department and raise the bar yet another
notch. Everything in this game is gourad shaded and texture mapped
to perfection. The multiple colors of each fighter are the most
detailed and vivid that I have ever seen in a game of this type.
All of the backgrounds are equally well done and are presented in
real time polygons, not the 2D rendered backdrops of Tekken 2.
There is also a LOT of animation happening in the background
scenes. Birds flying around, buildings exploding and crumbling to
the ground, flags waving, pieces of ceiling falling all around you
are just a few of the animations that are waiting to great you on
each and every screen.
Back to the characters; they are incredibly well animated and
fluid in their movements, the only drawback is that everything is
being done at around 30fps. I personally did not notice that big
of a drawback in speed when compared to the 60fps movement of
Tekken 2, but the movements are a bit slower. I feel with all of
the detail being displayed, the benefits of these beautiful
graphics outweigh the loss in speed. Each character has five
costume changes, some of which were designed by game players like
yourselves! They are beautifully colored and animated. Skirts move
up and down, body armor ripples, belts, loose articles of clothing
and hair flow...even Taki's breasts bounce up and down!
The use of light sourcing is also incredible. Every single screen
uses this option to wonderful effect. Just wait until you see the
light trails your weapons make or the glow your character exhibits
right before a special move is executed...simple breathtaking! I
am really surprised that the Playstation is capable of performing
all of these features simultaneously and still retain a relatively
high frame rate. Looks like the PSX just keeps on delivering more
surprises in terms of it's raw graphical prowess.
As I mentioned earlier, the animations are top notch and really
set each screen in motion. There is one scene where you are
fighting on a raft that is flowing effortlessly down a river. The
water is raging all around you, and the background is moving along
nicely. As the fighters move around on the raft, it dips and sinks
in the water under the fighters weight. The backgrounds and
animations are so good, I found myself admiring them during a
fight, only to realize that I was getting the crap pounded out of
me while I was being distracted!
Oh, I should also mention the opening CG video...it's awesome,
surpassing even Tekken 2's intro. You are greeted by an armada of
ancient war ships zipping across the water...the scene fades and
cuts to each character, ala Tekken 2. The locales used and the
soaring, panning camera views are an adrenaline rush. It really
sets the stage for the actual game...
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Explosive,
crisp, engrossing and encompassing...these are just a few words
that come to mind when I listen to the sound effects and musical
score in Soulblade.
The background music is fantastic. It has that old world,
historical feel to it that matches perfectly with the game. The
orchestration is right on the money. The music ebbs and rises to
thunderous climaxes and then settles again during matches and
throughout the quest mode. I hate to keep comparing this game to
Tekken 2, but since both are fighting games and both are Namco
products, I would say that the music in Soulblade is a notch
better.
The sound effects are right on the money too. The clang of metal
hitting metal as your weapons clash with your opponents is
awesome. You can almost feel the metal shards as they splinter
from the weapons! The footsteps of your warrior also make
different sounds depending on the surface they are playing on. In
the raft scene for example, you characters make a hollow "thud"
on the wood as they land or topple to the ground. Sweet! You also
have the option of changing the mix from the arcade version or the
original score.
There is also an announcer that introduces the fight and comments
at the end of a battle. It's a nice touch, but gets rather
redundant after a few hours. All in all though, a very good sound
experience!
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This
is the meat and potatoes of any fighting game...I don't care how
good a fighter looks, if it's not responsive and doesn't have the
moves, it's dead in the water. Well, I am glad to say that
Soulblade plays like a dream. Initial moves are easy enough to
learn for newbies and the move strings and strategy elements are
certainly there for the more experienced fighters. Moves are
broken down quite simply...One button for a horizontal slash, one
button for a vertical slash, one button to kick and one button to
block. Use of the directional pad while executing any of these
moves will alter the trajectory of your kick, weapon or block. For
example, pushing up on the directional pad while pressing the
vertical slash button and get a wicked upper cut...the beauty of
this system comes into play when used in combination or strings.
It's not uncommon to execute a slash, kick that will send your
opponent into the air and then continue to whack away (called "juggling")
scoring big time damage! There are also special moves that can be
performed with the proper button pushing sequence. Some of these
combo's can even be configured into the shoulder buttons of your
control pad in the controller menu screen to make life easier.
Your character can also run or stutter step with proper button
moves. Blocking is also a nice manouvre...you can effectively
block an opponents weapon and counter with a move of your own. The
bad part is, if you block to often, your weapon shatters, leaving
you to fight the rest of the match weapon-less! The only drawback
in the fighting that I have noticed is a slight response time
problem from the time you hit the button to the time your
character executes the move. While this may only be in
milli-seconds, it is still not dead on. The good news is that the
more you play, you begin to automatically compensate for this
minor flaw and it becomes a non-issue.
You also have a nice variety of game modes to participate in. The
arcade mode is your pretty standard one player vs. the computer
ordeal or you against a friend (loads of fun!). You have the vs.
Battle mode where you can handicap your player; the team battle
mode where you can battle from one to five characters against the
computer of a friend (excellent!); survival mode where you see how
many opponents you can defeat befroe your health runs out; time
attack mode where you compete against the clock until you beat all
of the stages and beat the game; the practice mode, and the
awesome Edge-Master mode. This is like a mini-adventure mode. In
it, you are given a complete background history of each character
that you play. The object is to travel throughout the world,
conquer the many different challenges that await you and collect
weapons as your reward for victory over your slain opponents. The
ultimate goal is to obtain the Soulblade itself...This is a
wonderful addition to an already action packed game. Each
character can obtain a total of 8 weapons, usually one for each
fight or challenge. These weapons can then be saved and used in
the other modes! Talk about a great idea!! This mode is also great
for honing your fighters skills, as some of the challenges force
you to perform them in order to be victorious. Oh, while I am
talking about saves...make sure you set the game to autosave
before you start to play...the game saves all of the stats after
each and every fight and logs the total time that you have spent
playing the game. After 20 hours you get a special little treat!
Options can be customized at the beginning of each game to suit
your particular taste. Ring size can be adjusted, as can the
difficulty level, number of rounds, life bar, battle time,
controller buttons and CPU weapon select (special or normal).
So, that about wraps things up...all in all this game is golden.
Thank goodness Playstation has Namco developing for them or we
would have never had the chance to see this better-than-arcade
translation become a reality
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Soulblade
is easily the best weapons based fighter on the market right now
and in my opinion, the second best fighter overall for your
Playstation (Tekken 2 being #1). You start the game with 10
characters to choose from and I have identified at least 4 secret
characters that you can obtain. Each character is interesting and
original (especially Voldo, good grief!) and possesses an
abundance of moves. While this is a far cry from Tekken 2's
twenty-four characters, it's still not too bad. Each character has
there own signature moves to learn and the addition of the
Edge-Master mode really adds some life to this title. If you like
fighters, I highly recommend this one, if you don't you may still
want to check it out, it's really that good!
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TOM |
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GRAPHICS: |
18/20 |
An
awesome weapons based fighter. The character animations and
light-sourced graphics really add intensity to this game. The
backgrounds are fully 3D, animated and varied. The game is a blast
playing against a friend and the CPU can be adjusted to give you a
pretty damn good fight too! The Edge-Master mode is a wonderful
idea and really helps to bring each character into focus. This is
easily the best looking fighter on the market today, I just wish
it had more characters to choose from. All in all, another solid,
well above average offering from Namco. |
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SOUND: |
9/10 |
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PLAYABILITY: |
48/50 |
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VALUE: |
19/20 |
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OVERALL
94% |
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MARTIN |
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GRAPHICS: |
Excellent |
I
am tempted to say that Soul Blade is better than Tekken 2 but it
would be incorrect to compare these two games as they play
entirely different. Just lay into an opponent until your weapon is
lost and you will see what I mean. Armed with a trusty blade your
character is a mean fighting machine while without it your fighter
is useless - a lost soul. Now there's an interesting idea for a
game Namco - Tekken vs Soul Edge, speed of hand against the thrust
of steel. A first class product from Namco that slips into the
'must buy' category. |
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SOUND: |
Brilliant |
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PLAYABILITY: |
Good |
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VALUE: |
Good |
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OVERALL
9/10 |
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ADAM |
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GRAPHICS: |
Brilliant |
A
great looking game that is spoilt by the very difficult Edge
Master Mode. Because of the sheer number of moves virtually every
combination of buttons provides a stunning action from your
fighter but is still not enough to allow me to complete the game
in this extremely hard mode. |
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SOUND: |
Average |
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PLAYABILITY: |
Good |
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VALUE: |
Good |
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OVERALL
8/10 |
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