Soulcalibur IV

"Strong Fighting Game, And Some Quality Modes"

SoulCalibur IV is an arcade style fighting game with a plentiful amount of characters and includes in depth modes and sophisticated character customisation. Furthering the excellence of the previous titles in the series it is a landmark game for this generation for how a fighting game should be done.

One of the main selling points for this game was the inclusion of the Star Wars characters Darth Vader and Yoda, depending on the respective system you purchased the game for. And recently the character not on your system was released for download via DLC.

Now on to the main points for review:

Story: 5

This part was a blemish on the game and a major concern that puts me off a great deal when playing through the story modes, the written story is not bad in itself bad is poor in the way it is delivered. Upon choosing your character to play through their story mode with you are subjected to a 2 minute exposition of that characters background via painfully slow moving scrolling dialogue. Luckily this segment is skippable but I often find myself wondering why am I skipping something that should be a major part of the game to add depth to the characters. The answer is simply that this section is boring, dull and obsolete. When you compare this to games like Tekken 5 which had a similar way of executing expositional dialogue it is far superior because it includes both images in the background and a narrator. While it doesn't sound like much this very much changes how you receive the story of each character and makes it much more enjoyable to watch. Fortunately, there is a saving grace for SoulCalibur's story and that is withing it's ending. you are delivered beautifully rendered cut scenes with voice acting (Mediocre as it is at least it makes a change from screens of dull text) which give the player a sense of accomplishment upon completing the story.

Graphics: 9

This game is very pretty. It is extremely aesthetically pleasing and shows true dedication by the developers to make the backgrounds look more mature and realistic and they pull it off very well. This section loses a mark for the poor lip syncing, which slightly ruin the fantastic scenes.

Gameplay: 10

This is where the game really shines and proves itself as a real and sophisticated game. Whereas in the older SoulCalibur games although there was a solid fighting mechanic the experience was slightly pulled down by the feel of comic style manic battles with SCIV this had been improved upon massively. The fighting mechanic is as solid as ever and the comic book style moves have been slightly toned down to reveal a mature fighting experience with some remarkable realism. Comparing this to it's main rival Tekken which is an extremely mature series it is refreshing to see a game like SCIV where the maturity of Tekken is there but the lighter feel makes it more inviting to gamers and it feels like a strong game worthy of playing.

The variety of game modes is as impressive as the fighting itself, with perhaps the most enjoyable being the tower of souls mode. In this you can choose either to descend or to ascend the tower and you receive more experience and better items - along with harder fights - the further up or down you go.

The character customisation though is where you'll be spending most of your time, millions of combinations available with so many different items that you can recreate anybody you can think of aswell as inventing your own unique fighter. Once you have made a person you can even play them through story mode with their own generated background and goals, adding a personal touch to an already impressive game.

Audio: 7

Nothing truly memorable but nothing awful either, the music sets the scene relatively well and adds emotion to your battles. The voice acting is average which is disappointing as the characters really needed more defined personalities, although nothing special at least it gets the job done and earns this section a solid 7.

Online: 8

If I had wrote this a month ago it would have been nearer a 3, but since some in-game updates have been released the online mode has been improved drastically. Where it used to lag apallingly it is now virtually lag free with a few rare exceptions. The online mode is fun but as with every game it's just another way to tell you that you will never be as good as other people.

Replayability: 10

With character customisation, online and the tower of souls plus unlockable art packs there is plenty to do with this game to keep you playing for a while to come. it also doubles as a good multiplayer game and is a must have when friends come over to see who can beat who in special duel settings. As well as having the option to have Computer vs. Computer fights to see which characters comes out on top between the stock characters and the ones that you yourself have created.

Overall: 9 (Not an average)

A strong fighting game with plenty to keep you coming back, if the story had been implemented better instead of seemingly being jammed in the game would have been a certain ten. Go and pick it up today and enjoy a worthwhile purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/08

Game Release: Soulcalibur IV (EU, 08/01/08)