Score
Gameplay:	9
Graphics:	9
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	10
PlasmaFactor:	10
Overall:	9.4

Soul Calibur IV Review
August 13, 2008 by Jereme Puik

Soul Caliber IV can be defined as a well respected fighting franchises. It can be placed in the same class as Tekken or even Mortal Kombat. Although it’s a weapon based fighter, it’s still a fighter none-the-less. We can’t forget that Soul Calibur also has a long history in this industry beginning with its birth on the Sega Dreamcast under the same name. The sequels it spawned further nullified that it’s here to stay as it evolved into what we see today. I certainly remember playing some incarnation of the series in the arcade that was oh so long ago. Soul Calibur IV brings a certain amount of depth that should keep you playing for a while.

What’s within your Soul?

If there’s one thing I hope gamers don’t expect out of the Soul Calibur series, it is friendly competition. There is no such concept to speak of here. The gameplay is so intense that you swear you’ll find yourself launching that controller into the TV as I have come close to doing several times. Novices to the series should easily be able to adjust to certain characters while others have their own individual uniqueness. Veterans will be right at home to delve into their old favorites or welcoming the new additions.

There are several nuances that make up the Soul Calibur formula from single player mode to multiplayer mode and the returning character creation from Soul Calibur III. Single player mode gives us depth in offering 3 modes in itself; Arcade, Story and Tower of the Souls. Arcade gives you the standard 8 stage battles that are won 2-out-of-3 style. The Arcade mode is also without special items and equipment. Story mode is where I expect a lot of people will be wondering why it falls short. Although it only contains 4-5 stages, you are pitted against several foes at a time and have to work your way one after another. The characters you fight here are mostly randomly generated ones from the engine itself. Unfortunately you can’t use completely custom characters, just modified ones you may have messed with from an original character.

Finally, we have the Tower of the Lost Souls. You are allowed to choose 2 characters and are given the choice to either ascend the tower or descend. This is the one mode where I know a lot of people might have difficulty especially if you’re a novice. I recommend lots of training for novices before entering Tower of the Lost Souls as it is one frustrating adventure. The game will tease you by making you think you’re doing well after the first couple of floors, but once you get towards the top floors, like 20 and above, you might find problems. This might be more of a relief for some where the map from SC III has been completely scrapped. There is a bit of an expanded roster of characters and even delves into a galaxy far far away.

If you didn’t get that reference, then I should slap you silly, that’s right folks, Soul Calibur IV for the first time features characters from the Star Wars universe. Yoda and The Secret Apprentice (from the upcoming Force Unleashed title from LucasArts) make their appearance for the Xbox 360 version and Darth Vader makes his appearance in the Playstation 3 version. I personally found this quite exciting as I myself am a Star Wars fan at heart, but was disappointed when I found out that Yoda and Darth Vader were both exclusive to their respective consoles.

Yoda for all intensive purposes is about as cheap of a character as you’re going to get. I know I’m being straight forward with that, but its true. He’s short, so he’ll be hard to hit if you’re used to high strikes. Low blows are the best way to go here. As for the Secret Apprentice, the guy is also combo heavy when you face him in Arcade, so make sure you watch your back. Now it’s not all about these characters, the expanded roster gives way for more options to players who want to try something different and hopefully will find success in doing so.

To top it off, the character creation that originally debuted in SC III makes a return and provides the extra spunk that fighting fans may need to spend some time on during the day. There have been some quite colorful creations if you just put up a search on Google for it. You can change the appearance of an already established character or build from the ground up and edit a basic model to your hearts desire. Many have put the detail and time into re-creating their favorite comic book superheroes and even US presidential candidates Barrack Obama and John McCain.

To the online crowd, Soul Calibur IV makes its debut into the online world. Among the standard multiplayer modes, like ranked and unranked matches, players can also become a spectator for each match they join. The only problem I found while searching for matches is that they all seemed to be full. Although after a couple of searches, it opened up and I easily found my way. I dedicated a couple of days to playing online matches and there was close to no lag. Even as a spectator there wasn’t much problem getting through each match waiting for your chance to play learning your opponent’s techniques. So don’t be afraid to jump in online, unless of course you will embarrass yourself because of how bad you are.

Graphics

Visually, the game is about as sharp as you can get. Characters jump out at the screen and are vibrantly detailed in every possible way. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems a bit iconic to be fighting the Secret Apprentice on the heels of a Star Destroyer with the Death Star in the background and Tie Fighters flying around. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that. Characters are extremely detailed along right down to the facial expressions and just about everything that’ll make you love your HD TV even more then you did yesterday. Environments give a bit of extra detail with destructible objects on certain parts of each arena, which makes the fight a bit more realistic.

Sound

The voice acting is a bit jarring for some characters and annoying at times. For instances, and I don’t mean to be sexist or anything here, the female voices just seem a bit over the top and loudly uncomfortable. Each character has their own catch phrase that you’ll catch throughout each match and even that becomes a bit of a nuisance after a while. The soundtrack is top notch and deserves as much credit as possible creating the atmosphere we’ve all come to be familiar with over the years. The new themes for each character flows well into each battle. Weapons among grunts are all detailed down to a science. It’s advertised as being digitally mastered in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. So get those speakers going, you’re not going want to miss at thing.

Plasma Factor

A big plus definitely has to go to the character creation. With its return it marks a whole new era for future fighters. Character creation offers you the most mobility and creativity and you can create anything and everything to your hearts desire. Have a favorite superhero? Well, you now have the tools to create him/her down to the very last detail you can find.

Because of its new addition, the online multiplayer deserves some credit, as well. The multiplayer mode is extremely well done and it makes online fighting just as much fun as if you’re battling your friends in the same room on the same console. There is always downloadable content available and this brings a lot more depth to the character creation, which is ultimately where everything comes together.

Conclusion

Soul Calibur IV prides itself in its extensive weapon system and character driven story. I have always had respect for this series as it has quickly grown to be one of the top fighting games in the industry. It hasn’t deterred much from its basic mold back in its Dreamcast days and still holds a very special place in the genre. If you’re into weapon based fighting, I highly suggest you check this out. It has the depth and openness that future fighting games should take notice from and hopefully inspire those games to be at the top of their craft. Soul Calibur IV deserves any praise it gets as it is one of the top fighting games of all time.