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THE STORY: This is a tale of swords and souls, transcending the world and all its history, told for all eternity... A story in the 16th century, in which fighters of various clans traveled around the world in quest of the legendary sword "Soul Edge". Some believed that it was the sword of salvation, and some said it was evil. Only the survivor will find the truth. And only when the sword and soul become one, will you uncover the Soul Edge. GRAPHICS: A+ (10) Fighting game-wise, this is as good as it is likely to get on the PlayStation. Upon initially booting-up, the best CG intro I've seen yet on the PSX begins. It is indescribably good. This happens to be one of NAMCO's key strengths, animating life-like models of people on computers with realistic strand-like hair and superbly motion captured movements. The central beauty of this game lies in its backgrounds. The backgrounds are fully 3D sceneries complete with setting/rising suns, collapsing structures, etc. Attention to detail is at major play throughout the game. On certain levels you'll see such things as catapults throwing flaming rocks incinerating a castle, grassy fields with tall grass moving with the wind, fighting on a moving and swaying raft, and all sorts of other things like that, with absolutely no slowdown. The animation for all characters is precise and smooth, and pulling off moves isn't jerky. Since the battles are faught using swords, a motion blur was utilized which makes the fight look realistic and pretty. One disturbing minor detail I found is that there's absolutely no blood to be found in the game. It detracts form realism, but at the same time allows anyone to play. There aren't any really ugly or stupid looking characters in Soul Blade, as there are in practically every other fighting game you play, which you must already know. It's hard to believe such a game could be made on the PlayStation, and until the release of Tekken 3 on the PlayStation, there haven't been any other fighting games that got close to Soul Blade for the PlayStation, and not even it can beat it.
SOUND/MUSIC: A (9.75) I can't think of a fighting game where I heard better background music than this game has to offer. It has three different soundtracks to choose from, for every taste. There's the original Arcade music, a remixed soundtrack, and an additional more technoish soundtrack, the Khan Super Session. The original and remixed music are exceptional compared to any other fighting game. It has an untypical classical taste, complete with choir in some tracks, and it will blow your mind. Unfortunately, a lot of the Khan Super Session music is a little bland and uninspired, but there are some exceptions. Sometimes, the combination of such good music, plus as an example, the motion of the moving raft, plus the intense action, can be mindnumbing and make you say nonesense, as I am typing right now... Watch out. The reason it did not receive a perfect score in sound is because some of the speech is below my standards, but nothing serious. GAMEPLAY: A (9.75) The action in this game is best described as furious. The battles, being completely 3D (with sidesteps included), are fast-paced and beautiful looking. Every character has a completely different fighting style and weapon, which makes the game very balanced. Though the game is more of a button masher weapon fighter, such as Last Bronx on the Saturn, there are many special and secret moves that set it apart from other weapon fighters (such as Battle Arena Toshinden, in which you can beat the game in minutes by simply tapping the same button over and over, or worse, simply jumping straight up and letting the opponent fall off the ring as he/she dashes towards you). Soul Blade keeps everything that made the Tekken series so popular (speed, hundreds of moves, great storyline, etc.), and adds weapons to make one of the best fighters on Sony's machine. There are three attack buttons and a block button, setting it apart from the Tekken games, in which you blocked by pressing back. Thankfully, you can sidestep in this game by pressing Down, Down, and Up, Down, which you can also configure to be done by pressing the two Left Shift buttons. This intuitive button layout is what makes the games so much easier to get into than its Tekken and Virtua Fighter counterparts. An interesting feature you'll encounter is that repeated blocking will cause you character's/opponent's weapons to break off, leaving him/her to defend themselves with their bare hands (something perhaps Bushido Blade could've used). Soul Blade is a thoroughly entertaining experience, and there are an average of three endings per character for you to uncover.
FUN AND REPLAY VALUE: A+ (10) Anybody who's even remotely interested in fighting games should stop reading and purchase this game NOW. Each character has multiple endings (2 to 4 endings each), so in order to see everything this game has to offer, you need to really take some time. While this is a pretty easy game to get into and beat (even though Cervantes is nearly impossible), it will take you a long time to master its many moves and techniques. I really doubt you'll get bored of this if you liked any of the Tekken games or just about any other big fighting game franchise. WORTH BUYING: YES Through the wonder of the Greatest Hits collection, I was able to get a copy of Soul Blade really cheap, so if you got the money, this is perhaps one of the best fighting games you can get on the system. You might even consider it over Tekken 3 (definitely over Mortal Kombat 4). If you're looking for more strategy in your sword-fighter, check out Bushido Blade instead, because Soul Blade is more of your standard button masher. OVERALL: A (9.75) If you're a fighting game fan, it's this or Tekken 3. The graphics are the best I've seen in a fighting game on a US console (Virtua Fighter 3 has only come out in Japan so far, so that doesn't count), and it has no annoying characters, unlike the Tekken series. The well-fitting orchestrated soundtrack doesn't hurt neither, and the fast-paced gameplay give Soul Blade an "edge". Definitely a worthy contender. To order Soul Blade, click on
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