Soul Calibur IV seems to want to impress everyone. With Star Wars cameos, online play, create a fighter and much more, it looks to be the best of the series.
Story: 2/5
The story, for canonists like me, is, well, meh.. The story of this game has jumped ship with most titles that just have a story to string along the game. It doesnt explain how the 2 swords came back to being, what the purpose of living for Zasalalmel is anymore, or how the Star Wars people got here.
Gameplay: 5/5
The game follows the same pitch perfect gameplay of the other games, with the simple to learn, hard to master mantra. The story mode is a whopping 5 battles long!! *GASP*, and is the same every time, no branching paths like in SC3. Tower of Lost Souls is like a challenge mode, you ascend or descend the floors while following certain rules about party size, (tag-team!!) the characters dont regenerate health after every match, and you can unlock more customization parts by following special rules. Arcade is, well, arcade. 8 matches in a row, get some gold. Simple.
Character customization is great. You can not only make your own fighter, but you can also change what original character models (excluding the Star Wars characters) look like. You can make some pretty outrageous and/or resembling things (i made Inyuyasha (from the anime of the same name), Renji (from Bleach), and Darth Maul). Armor now has an effect on stats.
Versus modes are self-explanitory, VS Special adds weapon and armor effects.
Museum lets you look at illustrations, high-res graphics, your Battle Records, (to view your honors/achievements) and the Chain of Souls which explains relationships between each character.
Graphics: 5/5
Very good shaders, lighting effects make Siegfried's armor look stunning and lots of other nice touches.
Sound: 5/5
Spot-on soundtrack (it even has the Imperial March!), includes English and Japanese voices, and sound effects are great too.
Value: 5/5
Well worth $60. This one's a keeper.
Online Multiplayer:
I played on PS3, (dont believe what people are saying, there is voice chat support for PS3) almost no lag, I did get A LOT of cheap players as to be expected.
Final Score: 4.5/5
Get it. Now.