Soulcalibur 4 (Multi Format)

Fighting games or the often more referred to Beat - em - up, sit precariously on a knife edge within the modern era or 'Next gen' gaming; you see there's something overly familiar with the genre. Far removed from the gimmickry of waving a Wii remote or the stupidity of six - axis controls - the fighter sits you down with a game pad and asks you to slavishly devote yourself to button combinations.

This premise has remained largely unchanged since the glory days of Street fighter, but what has this got to do with Soulcalibur you may say... well its the fact that Soulcalibur takes this and sugar coats the pill to such a degree that the game is like drinking Honey from the moment the immortal words "The legend continues" can be heard on screen.

What instantly grabs you is the visual style of the game, its as if the head of Namco ordered colour to be cranked all the way up to 10, as the graphics from the environments to the in game characters and menu screens are beautifully rendered.

The characters, or perhaps the range of choice within the character select screen, is what is most impressive, sporting 34 characters from old favourites such Siegfried and Nightmare to newcomers to the series such as Algol and Shura, there should be no reason to feel there isn't a character to suit your personal taste, with each game character offering a unique fighting style; ultimately shaped by the weapon they use whether it be broadsword or foil.


For this iteration of the game Namco has sought the galaxy far far away and recruited 3 star wars characters Darth Vader (Playstation 3 exclusive) Yoda (Xbox 360 exclusive) and the Apprentice (no not Alan sugar!).

Namco certainly has a tradition for incorporating other franchises into Soulcalibur such as link or spawn within Soulcalibur 3, but its a strange, albeit welcome decision to include the Star Wars characters.

Its hard to believe the designers of Soulcalibur understood the concept of a Lightsabre, a blade that is so strong it cuts through any object. We didn't see Obi wan in starwars take 90 seconds and someone uttering "fight!" to chop the arm of the space pirate did we? no it was one quick strike before the Cantina band got back to playing and Luke decided to catch a lift on the Millenium Falcon! so why are the sabres nothing more than glowsticks?

The lightsabres do in fact look pretty, but there is no visual impact of using a Lightsabre on the opponent armour, any more than if it were a club.

This trend is continued with the ability to use the force, with each of the Jedi respectively having a 'Force Meter' to use. Obviously for the balance of the game a meter needed to be used otherwise one force choke and the opponent would be dead, but the limiting of their powers kills thier 'super hero' like quality, and further reinforces that the decision to include them was a choice made more with selling games in mind than their suitability.

This is only a minor gripe and if the Starwars characters do only one good thing it is to erase the horrid memories of playing Starwars: Masters of Teras Kasi!

It is in the Beauty of the game mechanics that the game truly shines through allowing both the newcomer and the honed veteran a game to explore.

There are several game modes available such as Story mode, arcade, and Tower of souls mode which sees you ascend and descend a torturous tower where in order to progress you must fight waves of opponents. Story mode and arcade are relatively easy and had this been all that was included it would be reasonable to feel shortchanged, but Soulcalibur 4 has gone further adding online options, with ranked matches and leaderboards allowing you to measure your skill and progress.

The only slight criticism of the gameplay is that you can progress relatively far into the game if you button bash. This obviously allows new gamers a chance to progress, but dilutes the skill needed to 'beat' the game and in some ways the sense of achievement that the gamer would get from honing their fighting abilities, in the way that say a Virtua Fighter or Street fighter would offer.

Soulcalibur 4 is certainly a return to form, and easily matches the gameplay offered in the Dreamcast original, it moves the genre on a step offering a wealth of depth from online options through to character creation, while at the same time offering traditional fighting that all hardened Beat - em - up fans will be happy with. Soulcalibur 4 performs an amazing balancing act of old and new, refashioning it for the 'Next gen' crowd and is essential for fight fans!

-Guesty81