reviews

My first experience with Soul Caliber 4 was at the Demo station at the local Game Crazy just the other day, with the Apprentice punching Tallim in the nose with the butt of his lightsaber, fighting much akin to the Jedi Sniper enemies from the Episode 3 video game. I button mashed my way to victory through two more stages before I realized I was hooked. I had to have this game.

But it wasn't JUST Yoda and the Apprentice that sold me. Ever have a game click with you in just the right way? It was a feeling that me and Soul Caliber were going to be getting along just fine. A feeling that leads to it being half past midnight, and you go "Eh, one more round in Story Mode".

But enough praise, let's get down to reviewin'!

Controls: I have always associated the Soul Caliber series with fluid fighting controls, and SC4 is no different, if not with a bit more polish. Some gamers are content to learn the moves list, whereas I like to accrue combat mastery by trial and error, which the game seems to encourage. The left trigger activates a sort of grapple move, which changes under certain conditions. The Right Trigger activates certain special moves, when available, or activates a taunt. Of course, god is certainly with you if you can pull off a taunt before eating a blade. And, as it states in the manual and in most magazines that have covered it, there are finishing moves, however I have yet to get into the situation where I could unleash one, so I cannot honestly tell you that the finishers will rock your face off.

Graphics: No doubt about it, the graphics are sweet. Character models are exquisitely detailed. Especially the woman characters. If you've read my past Perverted Gamer segments, you know what I'm referring to. I guess Sophitia decided to ditch a bra altogether in this installment. And Ivy's classic outfit has been altered to a size 4 when the poor girl is obviously a size 7. Besides the obvious hormonal appeal, the graphics are breath taking, but unfortunately, you may be too engrossed in keeping your ass alive in the ring to take notice.

Character Creation: A huge step forward from the rather...lackluster addition to Soul Caliber 3, you have a huge assortment of pieces to stitch together your very own Soul Caliber badasses, or give your favorite characters a makeover of your own. Woefully, you can't do jack to Yoda besides alter his color. Lame.

Stay tuned for an episode of Beyond the Content where I cover my own concept for a story revolving around the process.

Gameplay: The Story Mode operates off a sort of buddy system. You yourself have ONE round, and each stage has you pitted against a max of 4 characters, some cannon, some randomly generated from the character creator. Sometimes, you get a buddy associated with your story, I assume, and they'll step in if either you die or you bring them in yourself. Sadly, you'll always face the final battle yourself. Tower of Souls is a sort of "How High, or How Low can you go?" sort of deal, which unlocks goodies, like new weapons and Character Creation pieces, but is essentially a standard Challenge deal.

Story: I'll be honest...Soul Caliber 1 is the only one where I followed the story, and I never got into the preceding installments. I know Infernus summoned Soul Edge in his ending in the first game, and that Nightmare and Sigfried are technically the same person...but there are things left unexplained in story mode with it's total of two event scenes, and in the games intro. Who is Algo? Why did Soul Edge turn into a crystal blade instead of it's classy Rapier style? Why is Taki so hard up on stopping Sigfried? WHY IS SOPHITIA NOT WEARING A BRA?? (I really don't mind, but I still think it's funny) Hopefully, the Museum section and it's Character Relations doo-hickey will offer some insight and I can piece the puzzle of Soul Calibers story together.

Online: Sadly, the host always drops the connection before we begin. Maybe they're scared of my pwnage? :]

=Final Judgement=

Soul Caliber 4 is definately worth your time and money. There's enough variety here to keep you coming. However, the story mode leaves a lot to the players interpretation. The One Round before you fail deal can be a bother, especially if you're used to the two round situation.

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