This is the first Soul Caliber game I've played, and so far I'm enjoying it. The story is a bit cracked out, the graphics are only average, but the game has an old-school charm with Wiimote controls that are pretty dang fun.

Personally, I've been getting more into the simple side of gaming as I add years to my age. Nostalgia plays a role, I'm sure, but the complexity of some games today just detracts from the fun factor. They're more like work than entertainment.

Soul Caliber hearkens back to the early to mid-90's when games like Gauntlet and Sonic reigned supreme. Run around, hack and slash your way through levels, break barrels, crates, pillars or whatever to find health and other powerups and fight an occasional boss battle. There's no real strategy, just pure reflex and remembering to use your super powered attacks when they're ready.

The old-school charm comes from more than the action game style of play; there's also the cheesy text dialog screens with still-frames of characters at the bottom of the screen emitting "..." as their most common input. Call me a dork, but that kind of stuff bring a smile to my face.

I was concerned that the controls would be difficult or buggy, but I've had no real issues with them. Swing the wiimote in whatever direction you want your character to swing his/her weapon, hit the trigger to jump, use the nunchuck joystick to move and swing the nunchuck side to side to sidestep. My only real complaint about the controls is a lack of camera controls, though the game does a pretty good job of keeping the camera pointed where you need it. Overall, swinging my wiimote around like a sword is by far the most attractive part of the game.