Soul Calibur IV Review

BY Rabie Hassoun | POSTED: 23 July 2008

Welcome to the stage of destiny...again.



What do the Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto and SoulCalibur franchises have in common? All four brought to us some remarkable games that are both innovative and trend setters in the genre. To the delight of gamers worldwide, all four had new releases come out this year too. DMC4, MGS4 and GTA IV received some rave and excellent reviews from every corner in the gaming world. SoulCalibur IV, to the relief of the series’ fans, is following those footsteps as well. Some eye popping graphics bundled with a deep variety of gameplay styles and an extremely appealing modification mode make SoulCalibur IV one of, if not the, best game in the glamorous series so far.

Those who purchased the first game in the SoulCalibur series on the Dreamcast know that what they played on Sega’s console is the best fighting game every created. The game looked unbelievably good back then. The fighting styles and characters’ personal stories were just a few things that kept gamers up for days, battling each other nonstop. The series has been on a decline recently however. It is not like parts II and III were bad or anything, it is just that the first game was so good (Let us call it perfect from now on) that it was nearly impossible to follow it up with anything better. SoulCalibur IV manages to mix some of the best aspects about the original with some innovative and new ideas creating what just might be the perfect fighting experience.

SoulCalibur IV starts off just like all the games in the series with a straight forward menu, a beautiful interactive background and a kick ass intro video introducing you to the SoulCalibur world. For the old time fans, you will have the option to fight it out against a friend, play the arcade/story mode or try out the appealing new mode called the tower of lost souls. New comers might want to try out the training mode first to work on mastering the moves of each character. To improve and win in a game like SoulCalibur you need to pick a character that matches your style of gaming and work on learning that characters’ specific set of moves. Mashing buttons to win might work every now and then, but if you plan on advancing and finishing the game you really need to understand that every button you press matters.

The fighting is split up to many styles and weapons. So your fighting style will change depending on the character you have picked. We do recommend that you try out all styles and characters however. Playing as a huge character with a humongous weapon or a smaller fighter is two completely different styles of gameplay, so different that they could have made two or three games out of SoulCalibur IV alone. There are three areas you can aim for during a fight and those are high, medium and low level targets. Hitting the same target over and over again will result in you breaking the piece of equipment on that specific area (Don’t worry, no nude scenes to look forward to, well unless of course you’re a fan of the SoulCalibur female cast’s unique anatomy in which case you'll be disappointed). You will be causing more damage to your opponent if you hit the equipment-less area. This addition to the gameplay brings up more tactics to the series. Staying put and guarding for the whole match while praying for a ring out is not an option anymore.

SoulCalibur is a fully 3D fighter as you might have figured out. So the movement of the characters and how they look and react is very important to the gameplay. The characters movement is very smooth and the game leaves very little for fighting fans to desire. The number of moves each character poses is huge and the time it will take for you to master them is very long, giving the game a big plus in the value department.

The set of characters is extremely diverse. Take Maxi for example, the fast and active fighter (personal favorite)who will knock you out before you even think twice about your next move. Larger characters such as Nightmare and Rock are also at your disposal. Playing and finishing the arcade mode with each character will reveal some info regarding that specific character. You also have a whole museum filled with unlockables that reveal more and more about the game and series overall. For every fight you play and finish (win or lose) you will rewarded with golden points which in turn can be used to purchase museum’s items, new characters and items to be used in the character creation/modification mode.

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