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Soul Calibur IV

Soul Calibur IV

Sword meats spear, shield and even a lightsabre on the stage of history. Thomas Tanggaard reviews Soul Calibur IV...

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If developers should make games for their own enjoyment or for their fans is a question I will leave unanswered, but when the news about the Star Wars characters in Soul Calibut IV made their way out of the Namco Bandai offices the complaints from the fans were loud and violent (well, I'm sure one or two things were thrown out of windows). When asked about this, Katsutoshi Sasaki, one of the developers in charge of the game design, said the developers were hardly sitting up in their Ivory Tower, but down on the floor with the players and that George Lucas' famous characters were simple fan service.

I have know idea where Sasaki and his colleagues are sitting on the floor with any Soul Calibur players I know. Fans who take the story and setting of the games seriously and who have a hard time swallowing Darth Vader, Yoda and perhaps even more the secret apprentice from The Force Unleashed in the fantasy setting of Namco Bandai's fighting saga. The miniscule Yoda who reaches the other fighters to the knees, Darth Vader goes at it with his severe asthma and the secret apprentice is just a blank canvas. Naturally the have been beautifully reproduced by the team at Namco Bandai and the animation is the best any Star Wars character have ever enjoyed in a video game, but it just feels wrong. Thankfully the rest of the cast saves the day.

The introsequence, that for once doesn't show off the whole character gallery, is so polished that I fear Namco Bandai can never improve on it. Soul Calibur is starting to resemble French haute couture, with peacock feathers, tight uniforms and lace, I fully expect Jean Paul Gaultier to dance on to the stage at any second. That didn't happen.

Soul Calibur IV has a lot in common with its predecessors, but it is in sheer quantity it excels. Everything is in excess, from about 35 different playable characters, as well as your homemade characters, and more game modes than I can count. The character creation is nothing new, we saw it in Soul Calibur III, but it has been expanded a lot since then. It is only natural that you can take your own creation online, and show it off while you stomp your opponent into the arena floor.

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You can customise your creation, depending on fighting style and your taste, and you will unlock more weapons, costumes, hats and accessories as you play through the story mode. You will also unlock additional fighters, Yoda is there to start with in the Xbox 360 edition, while Darth Vader is in the PS3 version, the secret apprentice, Cervantes, Lizardman and a few others have to be bought with the coins you receive after winning a fight or by accomplishing a certain task.

There are a few smaller changes in the arena as well. Repeated blocks of combinations will leave your character in a weakened state and the opponent can finish you off with a Soul Crush move. This puts an end to the defensive players who creep up in a corner and defend themselves while waiting for an opening, and it also makes sidestepping an even more essential part of your game plan. The armor that you wear is more than just for looks this time around, if for instance your breast plate is shattered you will be more vulnerable to attacks in this area.

Out of the new characters I am most fond of a couple of the ladies. Hildegard von Krone, a proud female knight who has a long reach with her spear, a shiny armor and is well balanced. I was also impressed by the Persian queen Scheherazade, eventhough I think she resembles an Elven girl more than anything else.

If my review of Soul Calibur IV doesn't sound like a song of praise of the series or the genre so far, it has to do with the fact that there isn't much progress between installments. Namco Bandai have worked hard on sharpening every little detail, and filled the game with more content than I have ever seen before. Content that will have me playing Soul Calibur IV for months. I have no doubt that anyone who buys this game, whether it is on Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 will be pleased with it. It is extremely solid and fun to play. However, it is not the next great leap in the genre that I have been longing for.

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Soul Calibur IVSoul Calibur IVSoul Calibur IVSoul Calibur IV
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
Graceful graphics, plenty of fighters, great pace.
-
Poor voice acting, embarrasing one liners.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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Soul Calibur IV

REVIEW. Written by Thomas Tanggaard

Namco Bandai's weapons based fighter is back for another historical tournament.



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