From what I've seen of the game through gameplay videos and screenshots it is way beyond Soul Calibur 2 on a technical standpoint and an artistic standpoint. There are parts in SC2 where distant backgrounds were flat and 2D, and the effects being used in SC3 are so far beyond anything SC2 was doing there is no way to even compare the two games.
How anyone can think there is little difference between SC2 and SC3 is beyond me. Maybe it's because the characters themselves haven't changed much, I don't know, but one can easily see the environments are 3x what SC2 was and probably 1.5x above Tekken 5. The sheer 3D draw distance being produced is staggering for a PS2 game. Then we can see some very high calibur, pun intended, special effects like complex fur shading, which SC2's engine couldn't dream of doing. I'm seeing fantastic image quality, beautiful texture work, really sweet looking lighting and particle effects, and very high polygon counts.
In many areas, technically, this game is looking above DOAU. There are simply too many effects I never saw in DOAU not to dismiss this. Namco has done an incredible job with this game engine and with the PS2. This is a definate "pre-order and camp outside the store at day of release" must buy. And a great way to send this generation off with a bang.
