Everything SC2 was, but wasn't what I expected it to be.
Graphics:
No complains around the graphics department. This game just looks great! Namco did an awesome job on making Soul Calibur 3 looked as good as it can be. Although Tekken 5 is a little bit better looking, but hey... Soul Calibur 3 graphics are nice enough. Character models and background designs are all top notch stuff. They move smoothly with no slowdowns what so ever too. Thumbs up to Namco!
Sound:
Here is where the game lacks a little if compared to SC2. The music are a little bland at times as it doesn't pump you up when you are in a fight. After a while, you won't even notice the music when fighting. The sword clanks, the special effects aren't really as good as it could have been. If anything, its just the same or even worst than than SC2. Good thing is, there are 2 languages in the game. Japanese and English! The Japanese voice overs are all the same from SC2 as well as the English, with of course added lines.
Gameplay:
Mind you, SC3 is alot harder than SC2. The AI is ramped up and the computer knows how to spam the cheapest move of the character it is using. This could be very frustrating if you are new to the Soul Calibur series, or infact new to fighting games. There are more than 2 dozen of characters in this game which is a good thing. Some newer characters are Zsalamel, Tira and Setsuka. While these 3 new characters are interesting, they can make the game very imbalance because of Zsalamel cheap attacks in the hands of a good player.
There are alot of new modes in the game. Create a Soul, Chrononicles of the Sword and Tales of Sword modes are the new modes to the series. First of all, Create a Soul allows you to create your own fighter. While the creating a soul process isn't as deep as say Smackdown vs Raw 2006, it does however provide you with enough options to make a pretty sophisicated fighter. Next is Chrononicles of the Sword which you take on the role of your created fighter and fight your way into a pretty interesting story in CotS.
Tales of Sword is basically the main story arc of the game. Choose a character and follow on to the very boring style of box messages which tells the story of the character you chosen. Its so damn boring that you will just want to skip everything and head into a fight straight away. The story mode is presented very poorly because if Namco could have made the story into cutscene style, it would have been great.
BuY It oR reNT it?
This is hard to say, if you are a fighting gamer... get this game no doubt. You are gonna have alot of fun with your friends because of the create a sould mode. If not, get this game too because its well worth it for its humangous amount of unlockables. However if you are not a fighting gamer and just a casual one, I'd say wait a while for the price to come down.