Thank God for Namco, that s all I can say. Given the recent fighting game glut, what with everyone waiting for news (any news) on Tekken 3 and the rumored hardware upgrade, it s nice to finally have Soul Blade to tide us over. If you haven t already gone out and made Soul Blade part of your collection, it s time you did. But if you still need some more convincing, well that s what we re here for.

Much like Tekken, Namco s other big PSX fighter, Soul Edge was built on the System 11 board, so the port is practically guaranteed to be arcade perfect. Soul Blade, as it has been renamed for the home, is a conversion of the arcade Version 2. The only thing changed is the name.

The game features 10 characters from the arcade, each with their own special moves and combos. The Soul Blade combo system is fairly easy to master, and consists primarily of chains of punches and kicks. Each character also has a Defense Bar that degrades as you get hit. Once the bar has reached its nadir, you lose your weapon.

The graphics are top notch, as one would expect from a Namco fighting game. All the finishing touches have been taken care of, including shadows and moving backgrounds. The level where you re on a raft, floating down a swiftly moving river, has to be seen to be believed.

An interesting addition to the game is the Edge Master mode, where your character moves through a story-like adventure, fighting the other characters and obtaining new weapons. There s also the now-ubiquitous Training mode, as well as a Team Battle Mode and Time Attack Mode.

Soul Blade s only drawback is that it may be too easy. The combos are fairly simplistic, and button mashing seems to have as much impact as memorizing chains. This is a small quibble, however. Soul Blade is extremely fun, and has just enough new elements to make it worth playing multiple times.