Soul Calibur series producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama is explaining the challenges facing his latest project - a tight development schedule necessitating a (single-) console focus and a race to keep its head above the next-gen hype swell - not by way of apology, but to impress on u🌸s his team's achievement.

The resulting game isn't a Soul Calibu🔜r II.V, no less lavish yet no more progressive, but a game with a nearly overwhelming generosity of play modes.

"I'm eager to find out how fans will react," Yotoriyama says. "For them to think about why we've made these modes. I think the⛦ series has the potential to expand into new areas of gaming."

Such future potential may be indicated in Chron๊icles of the Sword mode, a turn-based strategy wargame where unit conflicts are resolved with one-on-one duels, or in the Soul Arena, a series of quickfire, gimmick-driven versus matches to contrast the military precision of standard two-player.

Or perhaps it's in both modes, as SCIII's breadth is not without direction: there's a noticeable theme of 🍸handing the reins over to the player, even allowing you to direct your chosen Calibur hero's destiny in the Tales of Souls multiple-choice, multiple-ending story mode.

"At this point, the game experience shouldn't be 🅷linear. We should allow players to always be asking questions: maybe if I did this, how about if I do that?" says Yotoriyama.

Career players' terrifying 🦂brains can compute those possibilities in a simulated world tournament ladder against AI opponents, but beginners and veterans alike should find SCIII's character-creation mode attractive.

Sixteen separate, layerable♛ accessorꦚy locations go far beyond previous customisation efforts, although height and build are fixed to minimise game balance issues.

Mechanically, the system is equally impressive: custom fighters will not borrow existing ch♒aracters' moves, instead drawing on one of six professions (fixed at creation) and selectable weapon disciplines👍.

"The team in charge of character creation has become s𒁏o 🎉involved with it that they're worried it will have more impact than the existing characters," Yotoriyama reveals. "But I think both will live together."

Some of this codependence is forced, as many of the accessories, fighting disciplines and even basic professions must be unlocked over the course of play - creating that truly ideal character may🎶 take a little warm-up time.

Even so, it's possibly a watershed evolution for a high-profile, character-driꦬven eastern fighting game to encourage playe✨r individuality beyond costume selection.

We put to Yotoriyama that he might be starting his genre's next generation a li💧ttle early, and he grins.

"It's not really a question of hardware - what's more important than playing to hardware specifications is delivering the kind of experience your players want. That's what we've learned with SCIII, and I'm confident we've ach🍃ieved it."

Soul Calibur III will be released for PS2 Autumn 2005