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Holy Forcegasm!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is my favorite SoulCalibur to date, not least of the reasons being the ability to play not one but TWO characters from the Star Wars universe! The great thing about the 360 edition is that you get both a Jedi and a Sith, while the PS3 gets two Sith. And come on, you get Yoda! YODA!! Plus, I feel that putting Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice into SC4 was perhaps the greatest marketing move of all time, because thanks to his stellar performance, I have now preordered Force Unleashed! Another notable newcomer is the extra character Shura, who is incredibly lethal with her twin katanas.

Other than that, SC4 seems to be a bit confused on whether it wants to be a fighting game or a role playing game. Both the preset and the custom characters gain LEVELS, and custom ABILITIES, based on their STATISTICS. SC3 featured weapon effects, but SC4 takes that system to a whole new level of dizzying complexity. Your armor now has stats, forcing you into the old MMO dilemma of looking good vs fighting good. There is a precarious balance to be had between making a character look the way you want, and them being able to do the things you want. Sometimes this comes down to sacrificing important stats, like you HP. Yes, I've made characters with default 50% hp whose Attack rating was so low they may as well have been using a plastic sword, but damn they were hot! Oh well, just means you have to learn to fight better... or unlock better armor. Truly the sky's the limit as far as customizing characters goes. I've made Drizzt and Entreri (Forgotten Realms), and my Griffith and Guts (Berserk) tag team is cleaning house in the Tower of Souls!

So, to summarize:

PROS
- Jedi and Sith Star Wars characters with Force powers!
- Same fluid fighting system that you know and love plus extra strategic features like (non-permanent) equipment destruction and critical finish.
- Beautiful graphics.
- Gigantic roster of characters.
- Unprecedented customizability.
- RPG elements like levels, statistics, and abilities.

CONS
- RPG elements like levels, statistics, and abilities.
- Can't give custom characters the extra characters' fighting styles (ex: lightsaber, dual katanas, ball-on-a-stick err thing).
- Less interesting backgrounds than SC3.
- Only one anime-pretty male face option.
- Can't adjust height.
- Can't sit back and watch your characters duel each other in Versus mode like in SC3.
- Other petty things.

The Pros far outweigh the Cons, though. If you don't like the abilities/effects, you can turn them off in Versus mode. I, for one, am completely in love with this game and would reccommend it to anyone who enjoys fighting games.

Their souls will cut the threads of history

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Tidbits about the Premium Edition goodies:

Disappointed with the artbook. Amazon still hasn't updated the product description, but it's a mini DC comic book/art book. Half of it is the comic book and the other half is the art book. The game already has a story line, so I don't need it in comic book form. I was hoping to get a whole book of just the beautiful concept art and stuff. Instead, the art book section is very rushed and lacks a lot of art. Some characters got a whole page of sketches, while some got it bad. Taki, for example, got one page but it was just the same promotional image of her I've seen everywhere. Poor Rock got half a page! (not that I really care too much about Rock, but come on).

Now, I guess I'm one of the few out there that wasn't too happy with the Star Wars marketing in this game. The t-shirt that came along bundled has Yoda on it. I mean, come on. It would have been great if it had Hilde or any of the female characters on it, but no. I get a tiny green monster and Siegfried to flaunt around. The Apprentice is cheap, in both AI and player controlled. It hurts me to see the Soul veterans get beat by this newcomer, whose sole purpose is to advertise for another game. Star Wars has a huge fan base, I don't think Lucas needed to market their game by interfering with the Soul universe.

The tin case is great. The bonus costumes code is great. These are the only good things about the Premium Edition. People are jealous when they see my characters wear school girl outfits. I know they'll release them later on Live but for now, I can be the coolest kid on the block.

Tidbits about the game:

Biggest disappointment would probably be the Character Creation. Although it is still the best thing in the game, there are some things that just makes me sad. Now, maybe it's because I haven't earned everything, but I don't know yet. There aren't that many faces and hairstyles to choose from and the main characters' Player 1 features can't be used. So when I tried to make Hilde without her helmet, I found out the horror. I mean, she has a nice hairstyle. It's a shame we're not allowed to use it on other creations. One more disappointment is the bonus characters. You can only edit their colors! I was hoping to mess with Angol Fear's outfit (those pointy things aren't cutting it for me) but I was not allowed to.

To sum up:
I know most of this review is negative, but I assume many already know what to expect in a Soul Calibur game. It's still fun and the character creation is great for showing off your characters to friends on Live matches and such. As for the Premium Edition, $20 more for very little pleasing content.

Very fun game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is very polished and balanced, and I think fans of fighting games as well as casual gamers can enjoy it. Novice and expert fighters seem to have close battles more often, unlike Dead or Alive where experts always clobber novices, or the opposite end in Smash Bros. where the battles can be very random. Also you can make your own character and the online mode is pretty good, but not amazing. There's no online tag team and it's one-on-one fights only, but at least you can spectate when it's not your turn and there's not a lot of lag. Unlocking things like new weapons, characters, stages, and clothes is very rewarding.

The graphics deserve special mention. They're probably the best I've seen in a video game ever, with emotive and nuanced facial animation, antialiasing, blur, heat effects, and 1080p running at 60 fps. If you have an HDTV, this game will surely impress. The sound isn't nearly as amazing but there are some catchy songs in the soundtrack and the voice overs and weapon effects are decent. Yoda and the Apprentice are cheap, but beatable and it didn't seem as important as many other reviewers said it was.

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