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Same Soul Calibur, better graphics, smoother gameplay. What's not to like?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm well aware that hardcore Soul Calibur fans will read my title and say, "Huh? Nothing really compares to the original Soul Calibur!" But in all honesty, I feel the gameplay is smooth and balanced, easy for both advanced players and novices alike to enjoy.

What will hit your eyes first are the excellent graphics and breathtaking detail. Character models are upgraded to add more facial expressions, a very welcome addition, considering how Soul Calibur III had almost none. There is a much higher level of detail in the characters' outfits, which are all quite good. You can actually see scars on Mitsurugi's skin. Of course, depending on your preferences, you may or may not appreciate the general increase in bust size and scanty clothing amongst the female characters.

Each character has his/her own story, and you can play as them in the Story Mode, which starts off with a few paragraphs of that character's story before pitting you against five levels of fighting foes. There's a difficulty setting for this mode, so you can choose either "Normal" or "Hard." In both cases, each progressive level is increasingly hard, and at the end, there is a short ending scene. Here, the graphics are absolutely stunning. The only thing that could have been improved was the lip movement. It looks like the makers didn't feel like fitting the English words to the mouths, which were originally designed for Japanese words. The voice acting is so-so and can be switched to Japanese if you find English too painful to listen to. Yet compared to Soul Calibur III, the ending scenes have improved by far, although their is no "interaction" or opportunity for an alternate ending. However, the mode has become shorter since the last game, maybe a little too short.

The next single-player mode is Tower of Lost Souls. You "ascend" the tower, fighting batches of levels at a time. You'll fight any number of levels in a batch (it varies), and while you're in that same "batch," you have to make sure you don't lose too much health, since it won't be replenished between levels. You get to choose a team of characters to use (the number of characters varies), or just one character, depending on the level. As you ascend the tower, the levels will get harder. You will also have the opportunity to unlock items for the Character Creation Mode. Tower of Lost Souls feels like a substitute for the traditional Survival Mode, which is no longer in the game. For some, that can be a sad thing, but I personally don't feel like it's much of a loss. Your own preferences decide whether or not it's bad, so I'll let you decide if it's a plus or minus.

Now, one of the most interesting modes in the game is the Character Creation Mode. You can use the fighting style of any main Soul Calibur character, and once again, the level of detail is extremely impressive. You can change the character's physique (muscularity and size). You can't make any characters that are very fat. They're all pretty fit, no matter what size or muscularity level you choose. There are several voice options, and you can change the pitch to whichever way you see fit. The color options are very extensive as well (a full palette with nine degrees of brightness). With this mode, you can also create new outfits for the main characters (but that is all you can do.. no physique, skin, or eye color changes). There are fifty slots total for all creations, including those custom outfits for the main characters.

There are also several extra features that give more depth to the gameplay. Different pieces of clothing on a created character or edited main character will change "attack," "defense," or "health" stats of that character. Skills can be attached to different weapons, depending on the amount of skill points a character has received (and that is done by playing more with that character's style). The Soul Gauge is also new. If you block your opponent too much and attack too little, the gauge will decrease until your health bar flashes red, giving your opponent a chance to perform a Critical Finish, which is a special, fancy attack that instantly ends the match. It doesn't happen too frequently while playing against friends or in single-player modes (besides training), so luckily, no one can abuse it.

Another fun feature: your armor breaks! If you get hit enough (Hi, Mid, or Low), then pieces of your outfit will break off, making you more vulnerable to damage. It's fun to watch it happen. The only danger is that your created characters' pieces will be destroyed entirely. So, for example, if you have a character wearing pants, instead of simply ripping, the entire pair of pants will come off, leaving that character in just underwear (I guess that's not a danger for some).

If the game falls anywhere, it's online play. There's some lag, so quick moves like guard impacts are more of a liability than an asset. And the downloadable content is just a way to squeeze more money out of your pockets. Get it if you like, but Namco Bandai could have easily spared you the trouble by leaving it on the game disk for free.

Oh yeah.. and there are bonus characters. Darth Vader and the Apprentice are entertaining additions to the game. There's even a battle stage styled after Star Wars. I found the imbalance between the two characters shocking. The Apprentice is fast, has killer combos, and is quite.. cheap. Vader is slow, but powerful and more balanced. You can't give either of their weapons to created characters or change their outfits, so they remain as unique bonuses. The other bonus characters aren't worth mentioning. They're a useless addition.

And lastly, the music is amazing. It's dramatic, well-suited to each battle stage, and gets you in the mood to fight.

Just for the sake of it, here are my stats:
Appearance: 10/10
Sound: 8/10 (This includes voice acting)
Gameplay: 10/10 (Everybody's balanced)
Fun: 10/10 (Versus mode with friends and character creation are so good)
Replay Value: 9/10

If you're a hardcore Soul Calibur fan, you absolutely must buy this. If you skeptical about it because it may not satisfy you as much as the first Soul Calibur, rent it. Either way, this game deserves a look. I can't find many bad things to say about it. Any criticism is pretty small, and there are no ridiculously bad flaws.

I have to say, in my own personal opinion, that this is the best fighting game I have ever played.

Enigmatic...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Well here we are again, the forth edition to the amazing legacy of The Soul Calibur series. I have to admit, this is the reason I have a Playstation 3 lying at home on my computer table, having heard the makers, Namco, wanted to format it to the PS3, I knew it was a matter of time before I would need to purchase the console for the sole benefit of playing this game. Result? Sheer brilliance, excellent graphics, the gameplay still has the nostalgic feeling of the former 3 games and totally new fresh feel and look to it. The Characters are their usually amazing selves with some of the best moves put to game. We get an addition to all the returning characters, the choice of Darth Vader on PS3 or Yoda on X-Box, which as follows the PS2 and X-Box version of Soul Calibur 2; with selective characters designated to game format.

Verdict:

All in all, a great game. This is as close to perfect fantasy-fighting as we can get 10/10.

Indyman33/funkin_deadly88 - PS3 ID

Great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My husband loves this game. I think he spends more time making characters than playing the game. Some parts can be a little hard, but he just makes a stronger character.

It was worth the wait

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was really anticipating Soul Calibur 4 and expecting it to be better than 3,2, and 1 - and I was right!! Not only does this game have awesome graphics, but the gameplay in general is great! There are more characters, more action, and a really cool soul gauge display. The creator of SC 4 created a new technique for every character called the Critical Finish - in order to execute this move, the opponent's soul gauge has to be flashing red, and the green bars below have to be black (this means that you've already knocked the opponent's armor off); from there you hit all four analog buttons and you will see your character's Critical Finish. The one thing I don't like about this is that it's very time consuming and you will probably defeat your opponent before you're able to execute the Critical Finish; other than that, the game is great! There are different types of modes such as Story, Arcade, Towers of Lost Souls, and Versus play. In Character Creation mode, you are able to customize an existing character or a character that you can create. You are also able to buy locked characters such as Sophitia, Yun-Seoung, Talim, and the list goes on. In general, if you are a SC fan, you will be a fan of this game. As much as I like SC 4, it will of be no comparison when Tekken 6 comes out!

SC4, where's Tekken6

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: July 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Being an avid Tekken fan, other fighting games pale in comparison. I maybe wrong. SC4 is the best I have played in a long time. Me and the people I know have worn out joystick controllers playing Tekken but this is the best fighting game for the PS3(now). The graphics, gameplay, customizable options, even the load times are fast (if you loaded the game to your hard drive). Yeah, you got the female fighters with the big b00bz, but that does not take away from the game at all. You play the game to fight and win, you can win ugly or lose pretty, it your choice.
Vader and his apprentice were cool it reminded me of other Tekken characters crossing over to SB/SC. I like this game more than GTA4, MGS4 and NCAA 2009.

An awesome game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I must say that in all honesty that this game may be why I bought a PS3. I remember hearing about 6 months ago hearing about how the new soulcalibur would have Darth Vader(the ps3 version anyway) I was convinced I had to get a PS3 from that moment on. It was a difficult hunt since supplies were limited (not as limited as the Wii thankfully) but I got my hands on a PS3. Then I played the waiting game. I got several cool PS3 games but all the while I was waiting for the big day to come. Well, now it has arrived.

Getting to the actual game, I think it was quite worth the wait. The core gameplay really hasn't changed too much but I enjoy the tweaks like armor damage where you can shred your opponents gear until they are standing in nothing but their skivvies. A major new element is the inclusion of skills, abilities that make your character stronger. But the real heart of the game lies in the customization. Being able to tweak the abilities and appearance of the main characters is quite fun. You can develop different builds. For instance you can make a Power Mitsurugi or an Impact Mitsurugi etc. etc. Probably the only thing I didn't like was that there was no rpg type mode in this game like 3 had. That might have been my favorite part of that game.

All in all I think this is a great game and it kicks butt.

P.S. Darth Vader kicks butt, too.

Fun fast fighting action

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Great fighting game. Lots of characters that take a long time to master and yet are fun to use right away. The graphics are nice but kind of hard to notice considering how fast the fighting is.

IT'S GREAT GAME!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS GREAT AND EXCITING. THIS GAME FEATURES ARE EXCELLENT. ESPECIALLY NEW CHARACTER "DARTH VADER" IS LOOKING GREAT. ALSO THE COMPUTER EFFECT WAS NICE. I ENJOY THE GAME. THIS GAME WILL HIT. I RECOMMANDED IT.

Great Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Love this game! Been playing for the last few days and I'm loving it more and more. The fighting system is easy enough for anyone to play and deep enough for the hard core gamer. The graphics are simply beautiful! The characters flow seamlessly without a hint of stutter. The fighting styles are unique to each character and well balanced. The single player mode is deep enough to keep you entertained for sometime. I haven't played on-line yet, but expect it to increase the game's lasting appeal. Get this game if you at all like fighting games, you won't regret it!

In love with this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game has been so much fun and I just got it. I love the graphics and the movement. They did make the game more sexual like dead or alive but its still worth playing; especially online. There arent many new things from the old games but it doesnt matter. I guess they felt, why fix it if it isnt broken. People want more more more and that is their main complaint. I'm happy with what I have in this game and will be playing it for quite some time.

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