The one that started all. A Great game that had trascended.
This game really rocked in its time, and keeps rocking.
After Samurai Shodown, Soul is the best weapon based fighting game series out to date. In 3D, no game plays as fluid and intuitive as these.
The Story of the most Powerful, but evil weapon, maybe is not as cool as others, but it suits perfectly for soul Blade and Namco really put its heart on it, for this one is one of the most interesting, immersing and best made stories of all time.
The Gameplay is very intuitive and fluid, as i first said. Two weapon attacks (vert & horiz) a fast kick and a guard button makes it simpler than it looks. You walk back and forward, crouch and jump, and make different kinds of attacks by just pressing one direction and attack button. You can get out of your enemy's way by tapping down and avoid attacks and effectively counterattack him. Also, every character has it's own fighting style and discipline, fact that will be more polished in future versions of Soul.
The Graphics really look awesome. One of the best looking games for the Playstation. Very high poly count, plus great textures, plus amazing backgrounds. The frame rate is fairly good, it runs smoothly at almost 30 fps and NEVER slows down, This game looks even better than arcade in many ways.
The sound, is a great part of this game. The music is the same as the arcade, but it also gets a much better arranged version and the fabulous "Khan Super Session", so you get three different ways to listen to the game. The voices are good, and you can note that characters like Taki and Mitsurugi speaks japanese instead of english, as the rest. The sound effects like the clash of the swords are very well done.
The Edge Master mode is a very interesting story mode, cuz' it tells the story of the characters and his reasons for his pursue of Soul Edge. You can collect weapons as you progress and use them. This gives the game more replay value, so you can collect all the blades and know all the stories for all the characters. Every stage has particular rules. You cannot win only by attacking an enemy, but by strategy, so you have to beat an enemy in short time, knock him off the ring, beat him with a super move or just survive. Difficulty is hard, even in normal. So you'll take some time to master the hardest modes of the game.
I can say, i played this game after Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2, but it really impressed me. Soul series really had a good beginning, a great and glorious one. I valor the old games as i am in its days of glory.