Had some fun this past weekend. A trip to the mall netted some nice goodies, including a couple of new cellular phones and re-upped service from Verizon, but more importantly for me, a couple of new games. Well, one new game, and a deposit slip guaranteeing me a copy of a second game when it comes out tomorrow.

The game I did buy was Chaser, a PC title developed by Cauldron & JoWood that uses the CloakNT engine. This relatively small outfit, with a pretty much unknown game engine, have managed to whip together a pretty solid title. I’ve seen a lot of humdrum reviews of Chaser, and the general opinion seems to be that it’s pretty drab and “middle-of-the-road” as far as PC shooters go. I’ll agree that it may not stand out it terms of plot or story, but graphically I think this is one of the nicest engines I’ve seen in a while. The chrome and environment mapping effects are intense, the water looks great, the weapons are extremely cool, and the character animation is very fluid and natural. Plus the blood that splatters behind your targets is probably among the most realistic I’ve ever seen. And the game runs incredibly smoothly, constantly.

As I recall, Chaser was originally developed by a Russian team, and then “ported” to English. As a result, the voice acting is not that great, and at time the lines being read make you say “Wha?” Overall, though, the cutscenes and story-evolving elements seem well done. There is one thing I was not too impressed with, however: The level design. It seems somewhat pedestrian and repetitive. Of course, I’m only two levels in, but I thought I’d offer that up so it doesn’t seem like I’m on the payroll at JoWood or anything.

To sum up: I’m enjoying Chaser quite a bit more than the average bear.

As for the game I pre-ordered, it looks to be much more interesting.

That game is Soul Calibur II. The Soul Calibur series is a collection of renowned console-based fighting games—renowned because they are some of the best fighters ever developed. The original debuted way back in ‘96 or ‘97 on the PSOne, under the name Soul Blade. Strangely, no one ever seems to talk about this version. Instead, they all discuss the sequel, Soul Calibur, which was released only on the Sega Dreamcast.

I never had a Dreamcast, so I’ve never played the second game in the series. But my memories of Soul Blade are among the fondest of any fighter I’ve experienced, right up there with the undefeatable Street Fighter II. I remember my friend Reaper happened to visit me one day and stayed over practically until 1 a.m. playing that game (and Bushido Blade, which I had happened to rent). Suffice it to say that for a modern-issue fighter, there is no better than those of the Soul Calibur series.

So I’m extraordinarily excited now that the second sequel in the series, aptly titled Soul Calibur II, is coming to Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube tomorrow morning. I’m also quite pleased to be an Xbox owner, given that the Xbox seems to be—once again—the console of choice for this new release. If only because it supports 720p, widescreen HDTV output and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Mmmmmm.

I’ve got marching orders to pick up my reserved copy anytime after 11 a.m. tomorrow, and you can believe that I’m going to take an early lunch and head down to the mall somewhere around…gee, probably 11 a.m. I think I also got my preorder in with enough time to spare to get one of the limited edition art books, but we’ll see—the bloke at Gamestop said I was within three books of not getting one. But since I figure I’ll beat all the kiddies down to the store (since most kiddies are in school at 11:30 a.m.), I should be okay, since as I understand it, the books are doled out to all preorder folks on a first-come, first-served basis.

As you might have guessed, I’m about to be in gaming heaven. Just in time for the Labor Day weekend.

BTW, on an off-topic note: I’ve got tons of stuff to post on this site, but I’m working feverishly on a side project for my friends and I. Let’s just say it involves a “Developer’s Area.” Details soon, for those privileged few.