I think not, this is one of those golden games in my humble opinion and if you'll give just a few minuets I will explain why!

This was originally released along side the Dreamcast as one of its maiden games. But to be honest this game is better on the PS1. Just something about the game play and the fact the machine doesn't sound like it going to take off every time it loads. Oh, and it doesn't so flipping long to reload on the PS1. (And the Dreamcast is a bit pants, anyway)

So why is Soulblade different to the others? Well, one main reason: You get to fight with weapons. (Ah joy) As in, there are no punches to be thrown in this game, maybe the odd kick and leg sweep, but instead most of the time you'll be slashing away with a hammer, sword, spiky thing, double sword etc etc... (There are loads of weapons, 70 in fact)

You may be reluctant of buying old PS1 games if you own a PS2, but really it's your choice; you can either own the latest game and pay £30-£40 for it, or pick up something fun for a £10! (I know which I'll go for)

The plot: (Yeah, like anyone really cares, it's all kill, kill with you lot!)
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The tale of the legendary weapon "Soulblade".

(From the booklet) Know this; those whispered tales of a sword that can cut the very heavens asunder are true! This Soul Edge exists! Many have.. Mmna yay yah ya ha ya ya! Zzz

Very dull, and I wont bore you any longer with it! Basically the plot is that there are 10 characters all looking for this famous sword, for all reasons under the sun, and your quest is to help them find it. (Big surprise!)


The 10 Characters:
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Heishiro Mitsurugi - Bloke character with big arse sword. Dull.

Li Long - Male character that has various forms of metal knum-chucks on his person to slay you with (Fun).

Seung Mi Na - Female character with a big staff pole with a Turkish sword
taped on the end (Don't know the real name). But rest assured with this weapon you are going to have some real whopping fun!

Hwang Sung Kyung - Yeah, he's got a sword, but he's a bit gay to play with so try to avoid him whenever possible.

Taki-The Demon Hunter - Weirdo female assassin with very evil and quick finishing moves (Which you can do at any point).

Voldo - The real weirdo of the bunch, his plot is that he's been living in a tomb for the last 700 years. And now he's blind and mad, but fortunately whilst he was down there he kept up his weapons training!

Sophitia Alexandra - The babe of the game, not sure why she does it for me??? Oh and she fights well and...

Siegfried Schtauffen - Nutter boy of the game and easily winner of best and hardest weapon. Basically Siegfried accidentally killed his own father which sent him nuts and now he is seeking the killer?!? Play with this man first as his sword is huge and is so much fun to use!

Rock - Sorry, nought to do with WWF or those crap American wrestlers (He he!). This is a bloke from the woods with some huge hammers and sticks to hit people with, slow but always fun.

Cervantes De Leon - Semi boss man. He's a dead pirate that has two swords (cheater) and some magic powers.

So that's the starting characters you get. There are a few to unlock, but basically that's it, 10 players to choose from. They are a nice assortment and you will find it hard to get bored of playing with all of them. As they have such different qualities and weapons. (7 different ones each!)

Game modes:
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There are quite a few of these:

Arcade mode - One player fighting against the computer. Win all 11 fights and beat the arcade mode for that character.

Vs. Battle Mode - The mode made for drunken nights! (Ah memories) Here you can pick your character and weapon and smash the hell out of one of yo
ur mates, until they realise how you are doing it and then start to beat your brains out (In the game)! Great fun and the computer keeps score and stats on all your fights and saves them. So there can be no arguments over who's been playing most with one character and you can have an overall "Best Soulblade" player.

Team Battle Mode - This is for when there are loads of you. Pick up to 5 characters and then take on the opposition's team in a straight tag match. Great fun!

Survival mode - Okay so this isn't the best of the lot, you get to fight the computer until you lose once. (ya!)

Time Attack Mode - The mode you only ever play once. Try to beat all the computer characters as quickly as possible. Takes a good 10mins to do!

Practice Mode - you get to practice against a dumb opponent that can be told to do anything you like. As you practice the buttons you press are shown along the bottom of the screen so you can be sure you are pressing the right buttons.

Edge-Master Mode - The golden boy! This is what pushes this game up into the golden ranks and this is where each characters plot comes into effect. Depending on your character you go off around the world fighting people and collecting weapons from various countries. Only the fights aren't always the same, some times you will have to defeat someone only by throwing them or by hitting them in the air (Right pain) or you only get 10secs to beat them or you have to survive 30secs or? And there's more.

This is without doubt the best part of the game as it makes you really learn your characters; you can't be a one-move-Joely (My elder bro) on this section otherwise the computer will kick you arse!
You have to be good, quick and thinking as you play and that really is what makes this a good game.

Options:
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Here you can loads all the data you want, from weapons to stats and arcades modes finished. You ca
n reset the screen to the center and arse about with the music if you want. I wouldn't bother as its all pants and your best off turning it off and playing CD with only the SFX playing!

You can also views hundreds of stats on the characters on how they have been fought with and how many times they have won and with which weapon and in which place and... arist on... and on ... and on

Overall game play:
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Good.


(He, he! If I left it like that I'd get a few complaints I fancy!)

Controlling the characters back and forth and up and down is easy as they are nicely responsive, unless of course you are being hit.
The buttons aren't the best, but then again they aren't the worst. Two buttons for a weapon hit, one for kicking and X to block. Easy really.

And there's a nice getting-up and hitting-them-when-they're-down bit to this game. If you knock someone down you get a nanosecond to attack and do a jump-stamp-in-the-face or something similar. If you don't do it quick enough or you jump too high they get up and wallop you! (Nice twist)

The moves:
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Now this is a very personal thing isn't it? I am one of those people that never learns the special moves and never flukes them in game play but I still manage to win! So the special moves aren't the crux of this game. It's a more a mixture of blocking and knowing when and how to attack.

A list of the moves can be found when playing just by pressing start and also there is some more in the instruction manual. Each character has a few cool throws and a standard one; also every character has a critical edge (More on that later) move and an unblockable-well-hard move.

The unblockable moves are great and generally easy to pull off but you will need at least two seconds for the windup. So not very helpful mid-fighting. Great for when fighting people who say, "Hang on, ju
st give me a few secs," (Heh, Heh. Let's see you get up after that, :)

Critical Edge Move:
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Another great idea and twist to this game. Because basically you are fighting with weapons and they can fall out of your hands, even if you are really hard. And so the clever people that made this game have included this feature in the game play. No matter which mode you are fighting there will be another bar of weapon power beneath you r life power. Every time you block an attack with your weapon (As opposed to your face!) that bar goes down a little. How much it goes down depends on which weapon you are holding. For example if you have a tiny sword and Seigfreid attacks you with his enormous sword the weapon bar will go down quite a bit. The bar will not recover over time and once it's finally down to the bottom you lose your weapon and have to fight bare handed, which ain't half hard, mum!

The other half to the critical edge move is that if you pull off a "Critical Edge" move during a fight you will hurt your opponent loads at the cost of reducing YOUR weapon bar. So these moves are limited unless you?re an idiot!

Saving:
~~~~~

This again is really good, as the game will save your progress for each character on Edge-Master mode for you. So that you can use the new weapons you find in the other modes! It will also keep detailed stats on how many times you fight with each character and how.

Summery:
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I own Tekken and loved playing it. But now it sits in my game draw is always passed over for Soulblade as there so much more to do on Soulblade as opposed to Tekken 1, 2 and 3. If I've got a mate around they will quickly pick it up and you can battle away or if you are alone you can try finishing all the Edge-Master bits (Which are hard by the way) and then go try out the new weapons on some other mode.

Overall this is a fun game that beginners and
the like will enjoy. It also caters for the better players out there, who like a bit of challenge.

There are loads of hooks in this game. Loads. A real delight to play!
And it only costs £10. Buy it.

(Final tip: When you are doing the Edge-Master mode and you've finished and had the end sequence and then you realise that you still haven't got the Soul Edge. Carry on fighting around the place; the sword will not be in the Spanish port ever. But it will be in one the two last places you fought at. If you win and maybe win the other you get the sword. If you lose on the place where the sword was then it will move. So basically win all your fights after finishing it. If not your are going to have to play a chasing-logical deduction game to find the sword. Remember if you don't get all the weapons (7) for each character then you don't get the extra characters.)


p.s.
I'm adding this game to my little series of "Very cheap PS1 games that are still fun to play," that I have written opinions on. All the games have gone platinum and are being sold for £10 brand new. The series is going all right, but I've got to work on the title of it a bit :)

The list so far:

1. Tenchu - Stealth Assisain
2. Tomb Raider 1
3. Die Hard Trilogy (With light-gun (YA!)
4. Soulblade