Soulcalibur IV

"The tale of two blades... goes Star Wars"

The souls and swords burn bright in Soul Calibur's fourth installment. Already looking to be hit with some great new features and improvements to the gameplay, this SC4 will appeal to the casual gamer and to the hardcore fighting genre fan.

The story continues on as both swords are strengthened and now in the hands of the Azure and White knights. In an amazing turn of events, Darth Vader and his Apprentice have invaded the land to take the swords in their quest to strengthen their hold over the galaxy. But don't fret if you feel that Namco have strayed too far from their origin. Most of the old characters are back, with some killer new moves and almost complete revamps. Yun-seung is still rash and hot-headed, Misturugi is still looking for a good fight, and Voldo is still his old creepy yoga-master self. Hilda is a new character that provides a unique aspect to the Soul Calibur series, in that she is mostly covered up in comparison to the other scantily clad women of the video game industry (Ivy, I'm looking at you).

Gameplay-wise, not much has changed between 3 and 4. Moves have changed priority and reaction, damage has been changed slightly, and nearly everyone has stances. Wall-fighting and juggles arent so prominent in this rendition, while a stun/wake-up game is absolutely deadly.

One thing that is new is the idea of team battles. During Story Mode or The Tower Of Souls, you may have more than 1 character under your control for a battle, and may face even more. Well, now you can switch between these characters actively, as can your opponent. Staying in the background allows your teammate/s to regain lost health, while you duke it out using someone else. If you are facing a team, downing an opponent will cause another to run in, which will keep happening until you conquer them all.

Another new feature is the armor break concept. If one area (high, mid or low) takes enough overall damage, a piece of armor is lost and there is more damage taken to that area. Also, the damaged armor carries on after battle, so spare your own armor, and target your opponent's.

The third and most exciting new feature is the addition of the Soul Gauge. This little globe on the top of your screen can determine the winner of many matches, and here's how it works. It will start off a neutral. As you block, it tints red. If you land hits, it goes blue. Once it goes all the way red, you may have your block broken and be temporarily stunned. During this state you are vulnerable to each character's 1-hit KO, called a critical finisher and initiated by pressing all the buttons at once. If your Soul Gauge turns blue, your health bar will flash white, allowing you to activate a special ability by taunting. This taunt can give you a speed boost, turn you invisible or give you enhanced strength for a limited amount of time. Quite nifty for certain situations huh?

There are 4 single player modes in Soul Calibur 4. Story mode will have you progress throughout each character's storyline, into their ending cut scene. The Tower of Souls mode which can have you descend in a survival-style set of scenarios, or have you ascend through a number of challenges over a number of floors, each with their own boss fight. Arcade, which will have you fight 6 random opponents, The Apprentice and the last boss in traditional fighting game style. Finally, Training mode is back, allowing a player to hone their skills in battle and learn a number of combos, and situations to use them in.

In multiplayer however, in a Soul Calibur first, you can now fight online. Sure, the lag is not a great thing to look forward to, but if you have a good internet connection, it can still be an enjoyable experience. You can even flaunt your created characters to your opponents.

Which brings me onto the next point. Create-a-Soul has been changed, and ultimately, for the better. You can now change your favorite character, to make him/her look however you desire. Also, you can recreate characters from TV shows, other games etc, simply because of the wide variety of costume customability available. Then, you can proceed to give them your favorite character's style, just to suit you. With 50 character slots, you have plenty of room to have multiple versions of each character.

The one gripe I have with Create-a-soul is the way they force you to micromanage your characters. Certain pieces give health, defense or attack bonuses, and a set that suits your style can end up looking just plain ugly. The game itself tries far too hard to be an RPG and fails miserably. Still, if you play standard matches predominantly, the stat changes and special abilities will not apply to you. If you do, you'll just have to deal with the ugly combinations, or you may get lucky.

Graphics-wise, this game is a masterpiece. Attention to detail is amazing, to the point where you can see the emotions on each character's face. Each cutscene, intro and ending is beautifully done, showing the great effort each of the developers went into to create the game. The soundtrack is as epic as it is amazing, and it flows very well to set atmosphere and mood. The storyline leaves alot to be desired, as it's very confusing as to how the last one was left off from. However, the gameplay is excellent as always. Overall, this game is a fantastic buy, and a must for any Soul Calibur or Fighting Game fan.

8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/08

Game Release: Soulcalibur IV (AU, 07/31/08)