Soulcalibur IV

"A pretty good fighter, but doesn't do anything very noteworthy."

Having only recently gotten interested in fighting games, I was clearly excited to see just what Soul Calibur IV was going to bring to the table. I first encountered this series on a Playstation 2 demo disc, which contained a short demo of Soul Calibur II. I was very impressed and ended up buying it, spending the next few months of my life completely hooked to the game.

Then Soul Calibur III came out, and while a decent fighter, proved to be much too hard for me to handle (due to the complete lack of a difficulty setting for every mode but one).

A long time passed and I started noticing Soul Calibur IV all around the media. I was unsure, I admit. The third game had been too much for me and I feared the trend would only continue. Once the game released, however, I put aside my fears and bought it.


Presentation - 6

The first thing I'll cover is the presentation of the game. The menus, while flashy, are a bit too clunky for my tastes. While this is a very minor complaint, it adds up over the course of sixty-five hours. I would often hit the wrong menu tab because everything is so washed out and orange.

Nitpicking aside, the reason why this category gets a six is because of how little presentation there even is. I see an opening movie (One of the laziest excuses for one that I have ever laid eyes upon. The CGI movies from past titles were far better than this), then I am at the main menu. I immediately head over to Training and notice that the incredibly in-depth and useful Training mode from Soul Calibur III was gone. Why? That was easily the best feature of that game. Why get rid of it? This is especially odd considering this is the first game in the series to have Multiplayer.

After messing around a bit, I went to the Story mode. I was quickly convinced that the developers must have been on a time constraint, because this was absolute bollocks. All I do for each and every character is read summary of their background, go through four preset stages, then fight the final boss.

That's it. Story mode has been castrated beyond comprehension. No more character-specific boss fights, no more interesting cutscenes, nothing. Bah.

As a side note, the difficulty problem from the previous game no longer exists. The only modes without the setting are Tower of Lost Souls and Arcade, but I generally agree that they do not need this setting.


Graphics - 10

This game is pretty. Very pretty. I'd even go as far as to say this is one of the best-looking console games to be released this generation. Very impressive by all accounts, especially the character models. There's enough detail in some of these characters to decorate a house. The physics of the clothes and hair is very fluid and nice to the eyes. granted, some of the stages are a bit lackluster, but these stages are actually ones from past Soul Calibur games, so they get props for that anyway.


Gameplay - 7

The gameplay, being the single most important factor in a fighting game (and damn every other game ever created, genre disregarded), is decent at best. It's really nothing special, considering that it's just a fighter. There are no advanced strategic elements at work here (despite what some people may say), mind games are usually ineffective (especially in Single Player), and it all basically comes down to a game of reflexes.

For the longest time, I've wondered why game developers find it so necessary to over-complicate everything. This game is a fantastic example of that. Each character has an arsenal of, oh, about one hundred or so moves, in addition to the obscene number of defensive maneuvers already present in the game's engine.

For instance, take grabbing. Instead of just applying a simple button press to break out of a grapple, we are forced to play a little half-second guessing game with either the X or Y buttons. X to block one type of throw and Y to block the other. Both throw types have the exact same starting animations. Basically, you have half of a second to 1) see the throw coming, 2) try and guess what type of throw it will be, and 3) quickly press the correct button to correspond with the grapple break of that throw.

Veterans, of course, will try and justify this system, usually sinking low enough to blame the person's skill level, but I stand my ground when I say that handling grapple breaking like this is equivalent to playing Russian Roulette with four bullets and having two other guys next to you hold their guns to your head, two bullets apiece. Such lovely odds.

My other complaint is how the developers implemented the analog stick into some of the moves with the characters. I have attempted many of them, some requiring incredible accuracy with the stick as the player pivots it around in ridiculous movements. Honestly, it would be easier to solve a Rubik's Cube with my ass cheeks than to perform some of those attacks. I got a fighting game to fight, not solve puzzles on my gamepad.

On the good side, the fighting is as smooth as silk and some of the moves are quite a sight to behold. This is probably the smoothest fighter I have ever played, though that isn't really saying much, considering I haven't really played that many. I have played a lot of jerky fighters in my day, however.


Sound - 7

The combat sounds are fantastic, as always. No qualms there. The reason this gets a seven is the lack of a decent soundtrack. What the hell happened here? Only one or two tracks stand out to me, while the others are mediocre at best. Both Soul Calibur II and III had amazing scores, good enough to make me actually want them. But this...meh.


Overall - 7

It's a good fighting game, but unfortunately, that's all it will ever be. It will come and go and will (likely quickly) be forgotten as larger and better fighters are released. If you're a hardcore fan of the genre or the Soul Calibur series, you should consider this. Also, as some may have noticed, I haven't reviewed the Multiplayer aspect. Well, that's because the quality of that mode is heavily dependent on player preference and connection speed, so getting into that would be a waste of my time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/08

Game Release: Soulcalibur IV (US, 07/29/08)