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Soul Calibur IV Review August 26, 2008 Brett Todd |
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Summary: Are the additions of Darth Vader and Yoda enough to carry the Soul Calibur series? Yes and no. Brett finds the fighting enjoyable, but Namco Bandai's isn't perfect. Read the pros and cons in today's review!
 SoulCalibur IV Review | Page:: ( 1 / 4 ) |
You Got Star Wars in My Asian Fighting Game!
This new SoulCalibur, however, is too straight for my liking. While dropping the “Me So Solly!” pronunciation is (probably) a good thing, the attitude of the game is now less about fantastic battles and more about never-smile mortal combat. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with that, of course, but aside from the gimmick provided by the inclusion of two Star Wars icons, this next-gen SoulCalibur seems a whole lot like the last-last-gen classic SoulCalibur that came out for the Sega DreamCast back in 1999. So if you got bored with clichéd beat-em-ups nearly a decade ago, like I did, there won’t be much here to hold your interest for long.
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Unless you’re really into solid executions of a familiar formula, that is. SoulCalibur IV is a damn good fighting game when it comes to covering the basics. There are dozens of characters to send into the ring, including lots of old foes from the series’ past and a few new battlers with new moves. Scraps in the game still blend weapons like swords with martial arts, and gameplay isn’t as rigorously focused on pulling off thumb-destroying combos as many other beat-em-ups. As in previous releases in the franchise, timing is king here. It’s more crucial to properly time attacks and blocks than it is to mash buttons in the correct sequence to pull off a ball-cracking flying kick or some other form of assault that would get you three-to-five in the real world. A new game mechanic in the Soul Gauge meter makes you watch the amount of time that you spend blocking, as when it fills up due to too much don’t-hit-me wimpiness you open yourself up to an insta-kill finishing move. But otherwise, this is the same old “beat the other guy till his health bar vanishes” fighting game. Battles flow beautifully, at least, not too fast and not too slow, and you always feel as if you have total control of your character.
It’s just that the modes of play sort of, well, suck. Story mode is ridiculously short. Let’s face it, most players are going to go straight into the Story missions with Yoda on the 360 and Darth Vader on the PS3 (both characters can be selected from the beginning of play). And are then going to be suffer through a crushing letdown when they wrap up the tale in under 30 minutes. I’m not exactly the king of fighting games, largely because I have the arthritic thumbs of Grandpa Simpson due to over three decades of non-stop gaming, yet even I was able to reach the final boss battle in less time than it takes me to grill a streak (and I like it rare). Considering all the rigmarole that undoubtedly went into licensing Yoda and Vader from the George Lucas empire, it’s mind-boggling that the main solo game would be this brief.
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| Page 2 | Page:: ( 2 / 4 ) |
Meet Darth Tank
This story isn’t the least bit interesting, either. Here’s the PS3 saga: Darth Vader feels a disturbance in the Force and finds a portal to another world where Asian stereotypes and hot babes are fighting over a pair of mystical swords. Cue lightsaber thrumming. NamcoBandai, you spent all that money and came up with this crap? I was hoping for at least some self-referential funnies over the whole genre-mashing stupidity of the game’s premise, but instead I got overwrought fighter dialogue that made no sense, goofy fighter intros that were too lame to laugh at, and faux-epic classical tunes that sounded like a Japanese take on Richard Wagner. Games where Darth Vader battles Victorian chicks with parasols just shouldn’t be this serious.
Tower of Lost Souls and Arcade modes are much more intriguing for single players, although they don’t offer anything new, either. In Tower, you battle your way up and down a, um, tower, taking on increasingly difficult foes on the way up and gangs of goons on the way down. It’s very challenging, with a wide range of enemies with special abilities and equipment, and often requires a trip back to the character customization screen to trick out your fighter with some special gear. At least you have a great selection of goodies here, including all manner of weapons and armor that buff skills and the core attack, defense, and health stat categories. Arcade is a straightforward series of eight battles going two out of three falls, with each getting progressively harder. No surprises there, although the great variety of battle arenas keep it feeling fresh. One moment you’re in a lush Asian garden, then you’re on a raft floating down a medieval canal, then you’re on the deck of what seems to be a Star Destroyer while the Death Star and entire Imperial fleet bombard a planet below. Nifty.
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Difficulty flies all over the place, though. The game instantly soars from pitting you against nothing opponents you can smack down without breaking a sweat to impossible warriors you can barely lay a hand on. The Apprentice, for instance, kicked the holy crap out of me over and over again in Arcade on the PS3. He’s the only other Star Wars-related character in the game, apparently some kind of Sith apprentice based on the red lightsaber he whips around, and is both murderously fast and furious with the good old Force lightning. I couldn’t get Vader past him in a half-dozen hours of trying so, well, this guy isn’t very apprenticey. It’s kind of nifty how the two main Star Wars characters vary in style, with Yoda being all fast and bouncy and Vader being more of a tank, but this can be a real detriment with the Lord of the Sith when he has to take on a quick and nimble enemy such as the Apprentice. This style of fighting just doesn’t quite fit a game like this. Either that, or the devs went too far slowing Vader down. Other beefy battlers in the game aren’t as limited in the speed department as the former Anakin Skywalker, anyhow.
So multiplayer is probably the best way to experience SoulCalibur IV. Arcade and Special modes of play are available online, and you can also take part in one-off ranked battles and join up to three players in an online lobby for a mini-tournament of sorts. Online battles seem to be just about lag-free on both the PS3 and 360, resulting in really smooth, exciting scraps. But there isn’t anything new or particularly innovative here. All of these modes of play have been seen before, and the game has even stripped out 2v2 and other sorts of team battles present in previous games in the series.
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| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 3 / 4 ) |
Pros
First-Rate Formula:
You want SoulCalibur? You got SoulCalibur.
Star Wars Gimmicks:
Sure it’s cheap, but adding Yoda and Darth Vader to the roster of fighters is a pretty cool, supremely geeky touch that everyone should love.
Multiplayer Madness:
Solid multiplayer modes of play with just about zero lag.
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Cons
Too Formulaic:
No surprises make for some uneventful brawls.
Terrible Story:
Story mode is absurdly short and seriously lacking in the plot department.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 4 / 4 ) |