Soul Calibur III attacks retail

When Namco's Soul Calibur II came out on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, all the talk was about the system-exclusive guest stars. The GameCube version had The Legend of Zelda's Link! The Xbox edition had Spawn! The PS2 port had...Heihachi.

PlayStation 2 owners may have felt slighted at getting Tekken transplant Heihachi as their system-exclusive guest star, but the latest laugh belongs to them, as the PS2-exclusive Soul Calibur III is now shipping to retailers across the country.

Soul Calibur III adds a trio of new fighters to the series' roster (pushing the grand total of fighters to more than 28) and also includes a create-a-fighter mode that lets gamers build their own brawlers, from the clothes they wear, to the weapons they wield. These created characters can then be used in the new chronicles of the sword mode, which builds a real-time strategy framework around the core one-on-one combat gameplay. There's also a new soul arena mode with a variety of new objectives for players to accomplish, from collecting items scattered around a level in the heat of battle, to taking down entirely new adversaries.

Soul Calibur III is rated T for Teen and retails for $49.99. Check back soon for GameSpot's complete review.