Soul Calibur is, in its most simple definition, the sequel to Soul Blade and the prequel to Soul Calibur 2. However, it is much much more than that. It was one of the Dreamcast's first titles which, graphically, is amazing.
The story takes place five years after the original Soul Blade. There is a reason for this. Soul Blade was released five years prior to Soul Calibur. Cool, eh? The evil blade Soul Edge has fallen into the hands of Siegfried, creating the evil warrior (and fan favorite) Nightmare. Nightmare's reign of evil has to be stopped, and that is where the game kicks in. You have a choice of 20 characters, double the number of that from Soul Blade, but a few less than Soul Calibur 2. The characters that are included are as follows:
Killik, a well-rounded character armed with a bo staff Xianguah, a Chinese sword wielder and possessor of the Soul Calibur Maxi, a Nunchacau wielder who replaces LiLong from Soul Edge Ivy, a scantily clad (although not as scanity clad as she is in SCII) British fighter with an Extendo-Sword, which provides for some interesting fighting Astroroth, a slow, big, strong, and EXTREMELY unfriendly golem with an axe Taki, a female ninja with two short swords (although she only uses one most of the time) Mitsurugi, a samurai warrior Voldo, an older fighter armed with two katar (a katar is a set of small blades attached to a piece of metal worn above the hand) Sophitia, a Greek warrior with a short sword and shield Hwang, a Korean soldier who fights like Xianguah Rock, a European who traveled to the new world (the only American in this game) who fights with a big axe and is a carbon copy of Astoroth's fighting style Siegfried, who is Nightmare without the Soul Edge Cervantes, an evil Spanish pirate who is armed with two swords, he possessed the Soul Edge in the first game Seung Mina (also spelled Seung Mi Na), a young Korean fighter with a halberd (a halberd is a long stick with a sharp blade attached) Lizardman, the lone case in this game where the name says it all, fights like Sophitia Yoshimitsu, the Tekken favorite is now in this game too, similar to Mitsurugi, but with some of his own flair Edge Master, an older man who randomly switches weapons, very cool if you are the indecisive type Inferno, the big nasty boss character, who is just a cool looking version of Edge Master
The characters are well balanced and there are really no cheap characters. The only complaint I have with this is that most of the unlockable characters are essentially your starting characters with different skins. An example of this is Rock and Astroroth. The aesthetics of this game are great. The arenas are well detailed and the music is well composed.
The gameplay modes are what you would expect from this type of game. There's arcade mode, where you unlock most of the characters, time attack, team battle, survival, and versus modes which are all sort of self-explanatory. Then there is quest mode, which is where most of the game's length comes from. Quest mode puts you on a map and presents various destinations to you. As you go to these destinations, you earn points that can be spent on art cards. Some of these art cards are really cool, and some are lame, as with any unlockable. However, unlocking art cards also unlocks various different things in the game, such as new stages and costumes, and the last hidden fighter, Inferno.
The gameplay is great. Aside from the well balanced characters, the fighting engine is brilliant. When your up against low level AI or less experienced player, simple button-mashing can win the day. But with a more experienced foe, the gameplay can be a ballet of moves and countermoves, and not unlike a chess match, there won't be a win until somebody makes a mistake.
In conclusion, this game is a must for any Dreamcast owner.