Is there room in this world of RPG and FPS for an old school fighting game? Well, when this game allows you to kick some virtual butt with weapons of cold steel the answer is most definitly YES!.
Soul Calibur IV is the newest arrival in the SC series ( the last was 2006 ps2 SC3) and this title brings all of the good stuff from its legacy and some new twists. All of your favorite SC characters make a show and handle much as they ever did. Some new flourishes but for the most part loyal to their signiture moves and handling.
The Game experience
SC 4 gives you what you want from a fighting game. Fast, breath stoping moves against progessively more agile and smart A.I. characters. Yes, you will cruise through the single player campaigns will all the charaters in a few hours. Each character has his or her own story path told in text ( shame ) and then a series of fights against single or 'queued' opponents to reach the next stage. After 5 stages you will reach the 'big boss' and if you defeat him you'll be treated to a nice but sometimes short movie. If this is all you want to do though thats a shame as SC4 has a lot more to offer.
Attacking a blocked opponent increases the chance of destroying their clothing and weapon untill eventually it will break and fall off, this also decreases their Soul Gauge and when it glows red it allows you to do a devastating final attack, a slow motion move thats beautiful to watch. Blocking is an important part of SC and this Soul Gauge attack will only come into play if you are blocking ALOT. Keep your attack and defence in check and you shouldn't have to worry.
Game Types
We have Single player modes.
Story mode
Tower of Lost souls
Arcade
Training
Story mode sees you take your character through 5 levels to reach the soul swords.
Tower of lost souls is a nice addition, there is no 'survival' mode but this makes up for it. You can choose to 'accend' or 'decend' the tower. Accending you'll fight with a tag team of 2-3 characters against ever harder A.I. Trying to clear floors, there are objectives you can try to achieve to unlock extra items for the custom area. Decending you'll pick 2 characters for your team and in this mode your 'second' character will regain health while resting.Again, level after level of harder A.I. In the decending modes you'll unlock items for reaching levels ie 5, 10, 15 etc. This mode adds ALOT of re-playabilty as some characters are so hard to beat.
Arcade mode is what you'd expect. Play against A.I. and practise.
Training. The place to try and learn the new moves you'll need to win.
We also have Verses modes.
Standard mode
Special Mode
Both modes run the same. Its a two player game on one console. Standard is one where both players start with their chosen character at its default settings. The health and soul bar are changable allowing you to create a handycap. Special means that any custom items or weapons that you have equipped charaters add powers and skills. Each item you unlock and equip has unique qualities for its wearer.
Xbox Live
Over xbox live you can AT LAST compete with others. You can play standard or special games, both ranked or unranked. Your character will gain EXP as you use him, this EXP continues growing both on and off line. You unique player EXP will grow with wins too, theres an achievement for reaching level 20 online.
Character Creation
This area of the game is very nicely done. Playing through Single player Story or Tower modes unlocks items and weapons. These can be equipped here and each has unique powers. A sword might increase your hit power or a hat might increase your special power. Using and equipping these items is something its worth taking some time over as some contridict each other and some compliment. You can choose to either edit and existing character or totally create from scratch a character to play with. Gender, colour size, outfit.. all are changable. Only the fighting styles are set. You can take this character into ANY game type, online or off and its tied to its 'style' for EXP.. so if you create and character that uses ROCK's fighting style is will gain EXP points as ROCK does and visa versa.
Final Thoughts..
SC4 is every thing i want from a fighter. It brings me back to trips to the arcades or the 20p i'd spend on the machine in the chip shop when i was younger. This titles flair and easy to pick up attitude delivers such a polished gaming experience its easy to love it and although you wouldn't want to play 24-7 its a game i'd keep for some buttkicking on the fly. The custom element is well thought out and the addition of the starwars universe (although miss managed as far as story goes) is a fun and welcome edition. Fans of the SC series will love it, as will fan of fighting games in general. All in all a much needed additon to the current games line up and break from all the FPS.
Conclusion
Platform
Xbox360
Graphics
The graphics in Soul Cal IV are what we would expect from a title with such a rich history, from its original conception on the DreamCast in 1999 Soul Blade/Soul Calibur has delivered a smooth and stylish visual experience. This new outing is no different. Sharp images and bright colourful characters run fluidly and the back drops although a little generic in the single player campaign are well rendered and interactive in a small degree.
Sound
Its the soundtrack that's worth mention here. The actual sound effects are what you would expect from a fighting genre title, steel clashing and thumps, grunts and wails. But the music, like a Lucas Arts score is heart beat raising and pulse quickening. This classical collection of new and old Soul Calibur tunes fits perfectly with this type of gameplay. More tracks are availible via DLC.
Controls
Here is the crunch. The controls are uber easy to pick up and play. Face buttons controlling most of the action as you would expect. This makes it a very approachable title for new comers to fighting games. The trigger and shoulder buttons also play apart but its an easy system to pick up and seems more complicated when you review the manual than in actual gameplay. The issue with the control are that button mashing works, some characters like Maxi and Amy are so fluid and move so fast its possible ( even online ) to beat players and characters just by thumping face buttons. This is a small issue though and i feel the over all functionality of the button layout works extremely well. Fans of the series will be glad to know old school characters like Voldo, Cervantez and Kilik run just the same as they always have.
Verdict
My impression of Soul Caliber 4 is one of relief. As a long tern fan of the series its easy to be full of praise for what Namco has delivered here. However i was concerned it might not be every thing a SC title should be. I was wrong to worry. SC gives you a smooth, enjoyable fighting experience both online and off, with great game modes and lots of things to unlock. Re-playable for hours and getting the 1000 gamer points will take dedication and practice. After ruinning through all the character single story journeys, online play and the other game types my soul still burns.
i got mine for 40 euros!
Linear Mode
