Whether you’re playing offline or on, SoulCalibur IV is always watching. The more you play, the higher
your fighter’s level progresses, thus unlocking customizable upgrades like
weapons and armor. This adds a hell of a lot of replay value to the game, but considering
how absolutely phenomenal this 3D fighter is it’s unlikely you’ll be playing it
for the extras.
Once you step in to the Arcade or Story Mode it’ll take a
lot of convincing to go to the Create-a-Character’s color schemes and menu
screens. SoulCalibur IV is not merely
an accessible fighter, but a much more technical beast to tame than its
predecessors as well. With refined combat for each fighter, pulling off
eye-candy combos is a readily available feat for anyone who’s just getting
their fighting-series feet wet, or veterans who succumb to the encouragement of
linking combos and special attacks in favor of button mashing. Playing smart
often prevails over frenetic, disjointed attacks, but don’t be shocked when
your non-gamer sister pummels you the first time you duke it out.
Each swing of your
weapon is so tight and precise, you’ll never find yourself calling BS on an
opponent’s evasion, or wondering why that last hit landed. The stunningly
gorgeous graphics and consistently fluid animation and incremental decrease in
movement speed of each brawler’s swings, dashes and attacks aid the
believability. It gives the game a new sense of realism without losing its
fast, fun feel.
Because of these precision adjustments, this is the smoothest
fighter I’ve ever played; it feels amazing in every regard and is endlessly
enjoyable. And despite the lack of new additions, very few things spring to
mind when I wonder “How could this be better?”
The addition of Star
Wars characters only fuels my lust for a properly done fighter from that
franchise, specifically because all three of the characters (Darth Vader, The
Apprentice and Yoda) are so much fun to play, but conversely galling to fight.
The Xbox 360-exclusive Yoda is hard to hit and impossible to grab due to his
miniature stature, whereas his PS3 counterpart, Vader, has two doctorates in
“Kicking Your Ass.” The worst of the three, however, is The Apprentice; his
block-heavy style and quick attack speed make you feel like he’s using The Force
to premeditate your moves. Perhaps the game’s biggest flaw is that it
apparently forgot to include these characters’ fighting styles to apply to
created characters, a huge bummer for anyone who planned on creating a
lightsaber wielding pirate.
You’ll eventually be tricked in to creating things once you
start the Tower, no matter how uninterested you are. Both Ascent and Descent
hold hordes of treasures, which range from bigger blades to stat-boosting
garbs. By meeting unspecified requirements like “Win by Ring Out” or “Earn a Perfect”
you won’t be able to resist SoulCalibur
IV’s constant unlockable goodies. Where the third iteration faltered,
its sequel pays off in spades with the ability to alter the already impressive
roster of franchise favorites with loads of clothing, accessories, armor and
weapons, or to spawn entirely new and creative characters, giving way to create
a thematically appropriate axe-wielding Victorian-era warrior, or a pants-less
Viking samurai maid. The sky’s the limit, and the addictive designing will
surely gobble up a hefty chunk of time between bouts.
SoulCalibur IV has
been enhanced so much that it is, without a doubt, the best edition in the
series. From its technological improvements (animation, speed, and response) to
its graphical leap (reflective armor, beautifully textured clothing,
jaw-dropping environmental detail) it sets a new standard the fighting genre
without being completely revolutionary. It’s fine-tuned to the point of
perfection in most every aspect, save for the totally lame, hard to pull off,
and rarely used one-hit-KO “Finisher” attacks, occasionally-laggy online play, and
ludicrously annoying defensive opponents on the Hard difficulty.
There isn’t a single 3D fighting game on the planet that
could possibly be construed as “better than SoulCalibur
IV”, and it makes me wonder where the
series will go from here. The proven formula has been improved upon so well
that it’s easily my favorite one-on-one fighting game, even if the inclusion of
“new” stuff is thin.
So step on to The Stage of History and never look back.
Well, at least until the fifth SC. Until
then, SoulCalibur IV will be
watching.
