SoulCalibur Legends

"Take a good title and dump on it and you get this game"

I am so disappointed in this game I didn't even want to write about but after thinking about it, I think it at least it gets a review from me. Loving the Soul edge/ SoulCalibur series, I am deeply offended and literally upset that this game even needed to exist. To make it worse, it is on the Wii and for what? Ah yes, because it utilizes the Wii mote to its fully potential, only problem is, they did a bloody bad job out of it.

Game is so bad I don't really even know where to begin; maybe we start with the storyline. The story follows Siegfried, one of my most hated characters in the Soul Calibur series by the way but that isn't why I gave this game such a low score. He is on a quest to retrieve pieces to revive Soul Edge to defeat the evil the very sword unleashed. Yes, it's ok; you can read that sentence again. That is like me unleashing a horde of minions with a spell book and then after the pages is missing, I need to find the pages, put the book back together to undo what I did. Couldn't they find a better storyline? I would have loved to follow Taki's storyline instead; she has a more exciting journey from the endings from the other games.

On your exciting journey (sarcasm) you meet new original characters for the game and some familiar ones. I really only got the game because I saw you can use Ivy but her introduction and connection to the story is done poorly. I never imagined Ivy as a talkative cooperative girl; I always pictured her getting what she wants and dancing on your corpse for fun. However in this game, she helps Siegfried to find the pieces and take out the evil which I think they should have used Cassandra instead.

Fighting enemies that look like Final Fantasy creatures, you also fight SoulCalibur characters. Because this games main feature is using the Wii mote to attack, you just basically swing the Wii mote like you are a in a porn movie and hope for the best. I tried to use strategy and found myself having more trouble compared to just going crazy. You would think the game would be easy but it's not. Especially the bosses, when you fight them, you need to time your dodges and jumps and make sure you don't get hit. Cause if you die, you will start all over from the start of the stage.

One good thing is that you can switch between characters during stages and there are items to recover your life but only for the character you are active in. It is good to balance out the two characters you are using since they are suppose to be different but I found myself using the same strategy for both. The game reminds me of Dynasty Warriors a little where you hack and slash and break barrels to reveal items. Only thing is, Koei did a damn good job on their games while this game is a “wtf” in the making.

Completing stages gets you rank and experience points to make your weapon stronger. You are even able to choose different weapons as you unlock them but whom really cares. Each character only gets like four choices. Compared to the original games, that isn't much at all. The rankings are only there to get the characters fourth weapons otherwise it is just there to be there. The only unlock able for this game are extra costumes. Isn't that so worth it?

The graphics for this game is very simple, there are no CG scenes, we are treated to still pictures and they move a little, they couldn't even add some good cut scenes. What a waste. Although the only thing I like about this game, yes there is something I like, is the art. At least they kept the artist who drew the characters the same. Besides that, there is nothing special about the graphics for this game unlike the other SoulCalibur games.

The music, forget about it, if they had a soundtrack I wouldn't buy it, I wouldn't even download it for free. Although most of the time I don't really notice the music because I am swinging the Wii mote like I will get a happy ending so I am too distracted to listen. There really isn't anymore to say about the music, I just wish there were more memorable tunes.

The camera angles are atrocious, especially if you have a friend to play with. The camera moves around like mad and only way to see what you are hitting is again swing that Wii mote like crazy! Although you can control the camera, it isn't very user friendly at all. What a more frustrating thing than to play a game with a bad camera control and to top it off, to play with a friend with bad camera controls.

In closing, avoid this game. I am a hardcore SoulCalibur player and I hate this game. It isn't even worth the price I got it for. I got it for $18 and I feel bad for getting it. I also feel dirty after playing the game cause my wrists hurt and people don't get it when you say “my wrists are sore from playing with my Wii” it just doesn't sound too right.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/08

Game Release: SoulCalibur Legends (US, 11/20/07)