Soulcalibur

In 1999, Namco’s weaponsbased brawler had Dreamcasts flying off shelves and gamers falling victim to fits of fanboy enthusiasm. Critics, too, couldn’t resist piling on the praise; even notoriously harsh Japanese mag Famitsu granted it a perfect score. And unlike many hypehogging titles, Soulcalibur’s goodwill with gamers has held up — it still charts on many best-of-all-time lists. So, with recent ultra-strategic offerings such as Virtua Fighter 5 ruling the ring, how does this Live Arcade reissue fare in the fight?

Sporting superior visuals to its arcade counterpart — a rare feat back then — Soulcalibur was recognized as much for its pupil-popping presentation as its superb booty-kicking action. While advancing technology ensures older games age as gracefully as Keith Richards, Soulcalibur still paints a pretty picture. Granted, touches that seemed so cool back then no longer pack the wow factor — rats scurrying across arenas now look like wind-up toys, and battling atop the raft through Yoshimitsu’s once-creepy water labyrinth feels more like you’re floating through a Disney theme-park attraction. Still, backgrounds host a fair amount of detail and even complicated effects like water and fire don’t look nearly as dated as they should. Additionally, characters support fluid animations and look damn good — jet engine–blown hair effect withstanding. HD support doesn’t up the visual ante much, but it modestly coats the classic with a fresh crispness.

But forget about graphics; if the fighting’s tight, we’ll pick up our broadswords no matter how ugly the baddies look behind the blades. Thankfully, Soulcalibur still controls like a dream, allowing button-mashers to unleash a flurry of unintentional moves, and even better, rewarding seasoned strategists with a sophisticated set of beat-downs. It doesn’t offer the combo-cramped depth of today’s titles, but its easy-to-learn, hard-to-master accessibility feels just as right now as it did back in the day.

Soulcalibur’s nostalgic buzz burns off a bit when you realize that, as with the original, there’s no online support. Despite awesome potential for versus battles via Live, it offers only leaderboards. This glaring omission shouldn’t keep faithful fans away, but the rest of the pummeling populace may want to save their fight (and Microsoft Points) for the online-enabled Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.