Soulcalibur Producer: 'We Haven't Found A Way' To Make True 3D Fighters Yet

In a feature interview on Gamasutra today, Soulcalibur producer Hisaharu Tago explained the big changes he has in store with the franchise's next installment, Soulcalibur V. Discussing the game's 3D environments, which players can navigate by moving into the background and attacking from different planes, Tago noted 'true' 3D fights are "more demanding" than 2D games. "With 2D fighters, as long as you have a grasp of the ranges required to land attacks, that's pretty much all you need," he explained. "From there, you can figure out which combos work the best under these rules -- it's a very one-sided approach to strategy." He continued, "With 3D fighters, your opponent can approach you from all sorts of angles while doing all sorts of things. There are many more possibilities, so it's impossible to come up with one all-effective answer to every situation you're presented with." "In this way I think 3D fighters are more demanding of players than 2D games, because while 2D games always give you the same front-on perspective, you might be viewing the action from all kinds of angles in a 3D title." This, he says, encourages players to try a more freestyle approach, and creates added excitement as a result. Asked why he thinks we haven't seen many true 3D fighters yet, he replied, "Because we haven't found a way to make it intuitive for players yet." "Giving players full 3D freedom in a game like this sounds like a great idea, but for example, if you want to go behind a character, you'd have to give another input in order to reposition your direction and face your opponent again afterward, and that's something a lot of players would find annoying." "So freedom is something people want, but not too much of it. Soulcalibur makes some compromises along those lines -- it offers some freedom, but under certain conditions," he concluded. The full interview, which covers new features and added elements of the upcoming game, is now live on Gamasutra.