Soul Calibur IV

A tale of souls and swords eternally retold. That has been the story of the Soul Blade series since the start. But after a the single console Playstation 2 flop that was Soul Calibur III, Soul Calibur IV had to be the best in the series to bring the fans back to the golden days of Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur. Have I said Soul Calibur and numbers enough to confuse you yet. I hope so.

Soul Calibur has been a long running series since the Playstation days…yes there was a time before the PS2 for all of you young’uns out there, and the newest title brought a needed step back to its roots. Soul Calibur IV controls a lot like SCII and that is the best thing about it. Soul Calibur II, in my opinion, is the best 3D fighting game that has been released. Everything flows nicely and the hit detection is very good. They also have added a finisher move for every character. They stole the one great thing left about Mortal Kombat.

The story revolves around the would be final battle between the wielders of the Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, Nightmare and Sigfried respectively. The normal cast of characters intertwines into the story posing numerous different story threads and outcomes. The story mode itself probably could stand to be a little bit longer though. Each character plays through five stages where they fight multiple enemies and at the end, a CG cut scene wraps up the potential ending. I am kind of torn. Though for the general story, it could be longer, but as a gamer with not as much time on his hands as he once had, its kind of nice. I can play through a story in about twenty minutes and satisfy the twitch I get when I’ve neglected my 360 for a few days.

This edition also sees the inclusion of new characters and a bigger selection for the create a character. The inclusion of Hilde is a good choice. Its kind of nice not to see a woman who could actually submerge herself in water. Sigh…

For all of you Star Wars kids out there, I’m gonna need you guys to make sure that your retainers are in tight and close the bag of Doritos so they don’t spill everywhere…

I don’t think that the inclusion of Yoda, Darth Vader, and Starkiller was needed or can be justified by anyone story wise or game play wise. This was just a pathetic attempt to gain a fan base that was most likely already buying the product. Also the two character that I have been able to play, Yoda and Starkiller, are broken. Starkiller had to many unblockable moves and Yoda is about 2 feet tall thus making him impossible to hit or grab.

The online play is a much needed addition to the series. You can take either your created character or one of the many story characters. You can also start a room where the winner stays fighting until he is knocked off of his throne.

If you a big fighting game buff and you haven’t gotten this yet, for shame. For the rest of you, the game is a solid fighter that would drive the competition between any group of friends to the brink of actual fighting.

This game is rated T for Teen and is available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.