Soul Calibur IV

August 6,2008 - This year may turn out to be the year fighting games make a big resurgence into the spotlight. With titles like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, BlazBlue, Battle Fantasia and Street Fighter IV on the horizon, the evidence is pretty compelling. Soul Calibur IV is the first major fighting release of the year, and it just so happens to be a very solid one.

Namco released Soul Calibur III on the Playstation 2 a few years ago, and though the game was decent, it didn’t quite live up to the high standards of the series. Some of the design choices that were made, like skipping an initial Arcade version, proved to be a bad choice, since players found all sorts of balance issues in the home version. After several revisions of the PS2 version, they did eventually put out an Arcade version exclusive to Japan. For Soul Calibur IV, Namco has taken a look at what was wrong with the last game and have done a remarkable job of making sure they get it right this time around.

For those who are not familiar with the series, Soul Calibur is a 3D weapon-based fighting game. It features a variety of interesting medieval characters, all with their own look and fighting style. Of course, there are a few odd exceptions, which we’ll get to later.

The game’s fighting system has been tweaked since Soul Calibur III. The speed of the game has been slowed down slightly, which was another problem with the previous game; it just felt too fast. The Soul Charge mechanic has been dropped altogether in favor of a new Soul Crush mechanic. This is essentially a way of making sure that people don’t just sit there and block all day, because if they do, they will be prime targets for the new Critical Finish, which will let you defeat an opponent in one strike provided you’ve gotten them into the defenseless Soul Crush state.

Guard Impacts have been tweaked as well and if done well can put you into a very advantageous position. They’re also a bit easier to do this time around. The fighting system will feel familiar to those who have played the series since the beginning. Newcomers shouldn’t have too much trouble getting into the swing of things either. Soul Calibur IV is an easy game to get into, but there is a considerable amount of depth to it should you want to take the time to learn it.

It’s obvious that Soul Calibur IV was designed more around an Offline experience as opposed to an Online one. The game has several single player modes, including the obligatory Arcade and Training modes. There is also a Story mode where you take your character through a series of battles designed to try to tell that character’s story. It’s not the strongest of the Offline modes, but it’s sill worth playing since most of the character Unlocks happen through this mode. Another interesting little touch is that some characters have special scene specific quotes they’ll say before a fight. It certainly not a huge detail, but it’s a subtle thing that shows that at least some thought went into the mode.

There is a new mode called the Tower of Lost Souls. This is a lot like a scenario driven Survival mode. You’ll have to ascend (or descend) a tower and each floor is a different fight with different rules. Some fights will have you going one against four with your opponents being armed with life drain skills, while others are one on ones with very difficult opponents. The range of battles you’ll encounter is quite varied, so this mode rarely ever gets monotonous. To keep things interesting, the game also introduces sets forth a series of specific goals to meet. Doing so will award you with a Treasure Chest, inside which will be a special item you can then use in the Create a Character mode.

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