Soul Calibur 4
Review of Soul Calibur 4
As first impressions go it doesn’t get much better than Soul Calibur IV. On booting up the game players will be greeted with the usual Soul Calibur intro-loveliness. Exhilarating and outstandingly beautiful, Namco’s one-on-one fighter definitely looks like it’s out to impress! The wide array of playable characters and the presence of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur (the swords to which every characters story is based around) do their job in getting you pumped up and ready to battle in the game.
The first thing many of us will get stuck into, and the suggested starting point for newcomers to the series, is the expansive, yet repetitive, story mode. The game's story mode is the tool which Namco uses to tell the whole tale of the Soul Calibur world. There are well over a dozen characters playable in story mode, including mind-boggling special appearances from Darth Vader and his mysterious Secret Apprentice on the PS3 system. Each character has their own unique background told in a Star Wars style credit sequence on selection of the character, and their own 5-stage story told with Soul Calibur IV. Every character's story is linked with either one of, or both of the swords Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. Many character stories are entwined with one another’s as well which makes for an interesting Story mode in some respects to get your teeth into.
Though it can be interesting in brief play-throughs, the story mode, I’m afraid, can get extremely dull. Every character's ‘Soul Calibur IV’ story is similar to the majority of the other characters available. With only around 3 variations on the story for the opening 4 stages for each character means each story becomes very tedious. You’ll find yourself skipping every cut-scene up to the ending of each character’s story after a couple of play-throughs, never to mention the end credits as well. As mentioned, the only new part to a characters story is the ending cut-scene when you’ve won the 5th stage, this is unique to each individual character yet still set in either one of two locations and with one of three ‘boss’ characters.
Story mode in Soul Calibur IV felt to me like a neglected necessity, not a beloved main feature. Yet Namco still had to provide us a reason for slowly trudging through the majority of the characters stories. Playing through story mode unlocks more exciting characters for play in other modes, unlocks valuable new weaponry and armor, earns you much-needed cash and aids you in leveling up each characters ‘style level’. All of which is important in regards to the rest of the game.
Luckily, the other modes featured in Soul Calibur IV are a little more exciting and a lot less tedious. Soul Calibur IV veterans will be pleased to know that Namco have succeeded in their usual form of turning the basic arcade fighter mode into a number of fresh extra initiatives. One of these is the Tower of Lost Souls which requires you to ascend and also descend a mighty tower by taking on increasingly tough opponents on each floor. You’re required to decrypt mysterious hints and adjust the way you fight in order to gain new accessories and items. The tower is the survival mode of the game.
There’s also the classic arcade mode thrown into the mix too. Battle your way through 8 stages of increasingly difficult enemies to win cash and experience. Both this and the Tower of Lost Souls mode are a welcome change to the exploits of the story campaign and really show off the potential that Soul Calibur IV possesses.
Maybe one of the best aspects of the game, and the realization that this is a next-gen Soul Calibur title, is the character customization mode. This mode gives you 50 ‘data slots’ to either tweak and change aspects of an existing character by adding different weaponry/ armor or changing the characters skill set, or even create an entirely new unique character. When creating a new character the only pre-determined aspect you’ll encounter is the characters range of fighting moves. This is determined on which fighting style you select and can be changed at any time. Everything else in character customization is entirely in your hands; this includes some of the most deep and satisfying customization tools seen in a game to date. The scale of what you can create in terms of looks is huge, and the amount of custom accessories, weapons and armor at your disposal is very exciting. There is no better place to witness this than when you venture online and encounter other people’s unique created characters.
The online mode itself is a great addition to the game. You get the choice of playing in either a ranked or player match and can use any of the number of characters you’ve previously unlocked, including your custom-designed characters. That factor allows for a pretty hardcore play experience if you want it to be, as there is also an online leveling system included with the online. The online mode, on the technical side, works well. I never encountered a ‘game-destroying’ amount of lag and the menus are all very fluid and simple. The only bad factor of the online experience I can think of, except from getting humiliatingly crushed every time I fought, is the lack of a rematch option at the end of a fight. You’ll be kicked back into the lobby after a battle which means you have to search for a game all over again, which can be soul-destroying when the servers are playing up.
Enough about the game modes however, what about the actual fighting in the game? This, it’s safe to say, has hardly changed. The usual arcade beat-em-up is on offer...yet Soulcalibur style. The characters of the Soul Calibur universe, with their huge swords and sharp katanas, make Soul Calibur a step above every other fighting game on the market in design alone. The way the characters fight and the way you can fight with them has always been a highlight of the series as well, which is a huge achievement. This can also be said for Soul Calibur IV, when you know how to fight with a character it is truly a thing of beauty.
For each character there’s a reasonably large set of moves that they can perform. Ranging from throws, to kicks, to stabs, to awesome special moves, memorizing your favorite characters set of abilities is very rewarding. Try not to just button-bash but take the time looking over each move list and trying out some of their bigger moves to get much more out of the game, especially considering the more complex moves are not hugely difficult to pull off.
The main selling point of this title is that it is, by far, the best fighter on the market. The relative ease of getting into the game and the fighting style for newcomers, and then the allowing for hardcore fans to memorize the move list for their favorite and also customized and unique character and kick some behind online makes for an excellent game.
The game graphically is more than worth a mention too. It is one of the most beautiful games out there for the PS3, and that is saying something. I was truly surprised when the opening cut-scene churned out in all its HD goodness; I did not expect the game to look that good.
I’m pleased to say that this graphical brilliance continues on to actually playing the game. The colorful locations, smooth textures and stunningly beautiful characters are very impressive. Every fighting motion and move flows fantastically and looks brilliant. There is never a drop in frame-rate and character animations are excellent. I would have liked to see more interaction with the environment in some of the game’s locations, with the power of the consoles nowadays this is more than possible, but overall a very polished performance.
The game’s soundtrack is not spectacular. It does its job reasonably in getting you pumped up but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The sound effects are very arcade-ish and do suit the game wonderfully. Voice-overs are well-done and the cut-scenes, for the first time at least, will impress you sound-wise.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Soul Calibur 4' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Rob C STAFF © Absolute PlayStation
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