Review: Soul Calibur IV

There are two games in history that really got me into the 3D fighting genre, the first is Tekken 2 on the Playstation and the other is Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, and I am not alone, for many fight fans the DC version of the game was the pinnacle of the series, so much so that when the publishers decided to bring a version of the original to Xbox Live Arcade, they decided to omit the arcade version and port over the DC one!.

Now Namco Bandai has brought us Soul Calibur IV for the first time on the recent batch of consoles, and with it they have introduced a whole hog of new features such as online play (for the first time in the series), new characters which include Darth Vader for the PS3 and Yoda for the Xbox 360, new modes, and a character creator allowing you to top up the fighting roster with your own creations!.

The standard gameplay is still there, with a couple of new bits to make it all that more fun such as the new Critical Finisher moves, although it will take you a while to actually pull one off as the opportunities don’t arise all that often. The new character customisation feature allows you to add new characters at will, although they are all subtle copies of original characters it is kind of fun to go online with your own fighter in your personalised colour scheme.

The skill system in the game has also seen a few tweaks allowing you power up your favourite character, without affecting gameplay which really rewards you for persevering with that one fighter, that said with the addition of Yoda, a character who is immune from many of the games most powerful attacks it wasn’t the best decision from the development team.

Overall if you are looking for a new game, you won’t find it here, but if you are looking for an evolution of one of the finest fighting games ever made, you need to head down the game shop now, everything Namco Bandai has added – the little tweaks, the new characters they have all come together to make this addition to the series worth every penny of its RRP.

Characters:
1. Amy
2. Astaroth
3. Cassandra Alexandra
4. Cervantes de Leon
5. Ivy (Isabella Valentine)
6. Kilik
7. Lizardman (Aeon Calcos)
8. Maxi
9. Mitsurugi (Heishiro)
10. Nightmare
11. Raphael Sorel
12. Rock (Nathaniel Adams)
13. Seong Mi-na
14. Setsuka
15. Siegfried Schtauffen
16. Sophitia Alexandra
17. Taki
18. Talim
19. Tira
20. Voldo
21. Xianghua Chai
22. Yoshimitsu
23. Yun-seong
24. Zasalamel
25. Algol
26. Angol Fear
27. Ashlotte
28. Darth Vader (Star Wars guest character on the PlayStation 3 version)
29. Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice (from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)
30. Hilde(gard) von Krone
31. Kamikirimusi
32. Scheherazade
33. Shura
34. Yoda (Star Wars guest character on the Xbox 360 version)