Soul Calibur IV - 10/10
It's been a painful long while since PS3 gamers had a decent beat em up experience, too long in fact. The addictiveness of the PSN's Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection cannot last forever and SEGA's launch title, Virtua Fighter 5 is looking and feeling very old these days. Sure, it was a fantastic brawler back at PS3 launch and still holds up quite well today, but after you have played Namco's beautiful weapon based classic Soul Calibur IV, there is simply no turning back. Long gone are the baby days of PS3's cycle when we were all pad bashing with excitement over VF5's realism, lifelike characters, and hardcore brawling gameplay. The serious fighter, the one all fisticuff fans have hungered for is now here and has bought along Darth Vader with it, that serious fighter being none other than Soul Calibur IV.
VF5 may have perfect controls and fighter balance down pat, but excluding those features, SCIV rips it apart. Namco's gorgeous, sexy fighter is a finely crafted blend of stunning glossy, glowing visuals, slick butter smooth flowing animations, huge mesmerising movelists and the most refined perfectly balanced fighting engine out to date. Many will argue that Namco Bandai have just used the same fighting mechanics and added a fresh lick of next gen paint to the visuals, however futher exploring the combatants command lists you will notice that most of the characters have been given massive alterations in their fighting styles, Ivy especially. The old saying "If it aint broke dont fix it" is best applied for SCIV, essentially its just good old Soul Calibur with a few tweaks here and there. And it maintains the same unrivalled mix of accessibility and face battering combat for hardcore, casual and newbie players alike. It's appeal is as easily involving as it ever was making it very simple and satisfying to pick up and play for any players.
Many gamers believe Namco Bandai has taken the Soul Calibur series on a different route, a route similar to Tecmo's bouncy beat em up, Dead or Alive 4. Initial hands on impressions and the odd news leaks here and there revealed alot of busty female fighters in obscenely kinky revealing outfits, Ivy's costume being the real eyeball popper. Make no mistake, alot of sex appeal has been added this time around, expect alot of skimpy costumes, bouncing breasts, jiggling bums and well endowed female fighters with well proportioned pixel made bodies crammed with tons of polygons for extra eye candy and sublime animation. The game doesnt quite cross the line of pixel porn like PS2's whorish slutty all girl wrestling game, Rumble Roses, but nevertheless SCIV is still packed full of saucy women, Japanese schoolgirl stereotypes, boobs, bums, high heels, bikini's, leather and fetish S&M style characters, minus the whipped cream, jelly, chocolate and mud wrestling. SCIV does a perfect job of pleasing the masses with busty babes and gorgeously rendered female characters, and it definitely doesnt disappoint in this regard and clearly warrants its new title as "The sexiest fighting game ever crafted". In a word, this game is beautiful.
Namco Bandai have included a tasty mix of fighters this time around, there is easily over 20 characters to choose from all with their own unique fighting styles. Old faves from Maxi, Kilik, Taki and Ivy return with a bunch of anime inspired female fighters which are pretty much just cheap copycats of others movelists, they're still excellent characters nonetheless though. The power hungry warriors vying for Soul Edge include the following:
Mitsurugi - The laid back, scruffy, battle scarred samurai, Mitsurugi wields a kitana and easily my fave fighter in the game.
Amy - Crimson hair, blood red eyes, big black boots and laced butterfly stockings, Amy is the cutesy innocent looking gothic girl of the game who wields the Rapier.
Astaroth - Big bad axe swinging monster Astaroth, he is huge and slow but has some very powerful moves at his disposal.
Cassandra - The greek cutesy sister of Sophitia, Cassandra uses a shield and sword as her weapons, switching between both between battle.
Cerventes - A demonic pirate and the father of Ivy.
Ivy - The silver headed, skimpy bondage clad, high heel stomping, whip wielding dominatrix. Ivy is the daughter of Cerventes and the proud dominant wielder of the snake sword. She is regarded as one of the sexiest characters in Soul Calibur, with her revealing kinky outfit, bare jiggling bum and ridiculously big bouncy breasts that almost fall out of her top. How she fights in a garb like that is beyond anyone.
Kilik - A fan fave, Kilik is the youthful aspiring golden boy of the series, he's rod of doom is a potent weapon.
Lizardman - Lizardman is indeed a lizard, the reptilian warrior falls into the comical category along with Namco's other crew from Tekken, Kuma and Roger Jr.
Maxi - The nunchuck cracking Elvis lookalike, Maxi returns as one of the easily accessible fighters.
Nightmare - The icon of the Calibur franchise, the evil Soul Edge bearer, Nightmare returns as the awesome evil demonic knight that he is.
Raphael - The swashbuckling French vampire swordsman, Raph is an excellent fighter with the stilleto blade.
Rock - Another big hulking brute, this rhino masked barbarian likes to smash faces in with his massive hammer. Definitely not a fave in my opinion.
Seong Mina - The cutesy fan fave, Seong Mina is perfect for the casual player and can pull off some sweet attacks with her blade edged stick.
Setsuka - Whether its the umbrella sword, big sandals, or silky kimono, Setsuka plays as the seductive Japanese villainess, a deadly geisha that masters the art of her brolly sword. She is easily one of my faves to use.
Seigfried - Blonde long flowing hair, shiny silver armor. Seigfried is a central stable character in the Soul series and acts as an alter ego to the evil knight, Nightmare.
Sophitia - The sister of Cassandra, with blonde hair, white greek dress and sandals, Sophitia fits the goddess role of SCIV perfectly and will crush anyone who gets in the way of her children and belief in the gods.
Taki - A long time fan fave for many SC fans, a sexy super fast female ninja donned in a tight red ninja catsuit. Taki is very deadly, has some vicious moves and can be very difficult to face against.
Talim - The beautiful young princess of the winds, Talim returns with her twin wrist blades, she remains a very quick and agile opponent.
Tira - An evil, vicious, bossy, female jester. Tira cuts up enemies with her ring blade, which i reckon is one of the best weapons in the game, period. Namco Bandai have nailed Tira as a brilliant character, a dark, hardcore, bitchy clown girl that can be irritating and very tough to master.
Voldo - The slithering, clawed, gimp-like circus freak Voldo returns, he is incredibly bizarre and moves like a snake, but any pro or button masher can pull off some spectacularly weird moves with him.
Xianghua - Another cutesy innocent female fighter that falls into the adorable anime girl category, Xianghua is like a chinese dancer, her moves being slick and graceful.
Yoshimitsu - Tekken fave, Yoshimitsu makes a Soul Calibur comeback in another strange alien/monster/samurai form. He possesses the same command list from the Tekken games and is clearly up there with the likes of Voldo and Tira in weirdness.
Yun Seung - The hot headed Korean youth, Yun Seung is a very easily accessible fighter just like Seong Mina and Maxi. Fast and very effective.
Zasalamel - With his dark skin, golden eye, cloaked hoods and giant scythe, Zasalamel is still the king of the desert. A very powerful warrior with some devastating attacks.
Algol - The new evil boss of Soul Calibur, Algol can levitate, blast fire balls and can use a very powerful mix of combos and weapon changes to defeat his opponents. He is perfect for a final boss.
Hilde - The new girl, a sexy bo-peep alike flame headed maiden covered from head to toe in shiny silver metallic armor. Hilde uses two weapons, a dagger and a long broadsword which makes her the perfect combatant for short and long range attacks.
Darth Vader - The man who needs no intro, Darth from the galaxy, from the epic Star Wars franchise makes his appearance. He's light sabre can be an awesome weapon but he can feel abit clunky to control, once you get the grips with him there is simply no looking back. The Xbox 360 version recieved the little green imp warrior, Yoda, but if you want to play as the ultra cool Darth Vader, than you will have to join the dark side.
The Apprentice - Another guest Star Wars character, the Apprentice is also very good with the light sabre, incredibly quick and painfully effective, one of the most difficult fighters in the game.
Angol Fear - A developer artist design, Angol fear is a Japanese anime inspired female fighter, her spiky breasts are a clear indication that she is fan made and her moon-on-a-stick weapon is a pain to use.
Ashlotte - A robotic, cog controlled lolita goth girl. Ashlotte uses Astaroths movelist.
Kamikirimusi - Blood red hair, flamed kimono, bandaged legs. Kamikirimusi fits the evil demonic japanese female role quite splendidly. She uses Nightmares movelist, which is fitting for her character.
Scheherazade - The swashbuckling female elf, Scheherazade is like a female version of Zelda's Link character. She is a pro with the Rapier sword.
Shura - Another scantily clad, bare bum bearing female samurai, Shura is like an evil Taki who uses Cerventes moveset. She is a top fighter with her twin kitanas.
There is no doubt that their is clearly a fighter for everyone in SCIV, with all of them possessing their own weapons and battling styles. My only complaint about the fighters would be the fan made artist characters *Shura, Ashlotte, Angol Fear etc* sadly these fighters dont possess there own moves, that is right, instead of Namco Bandai giving them each their own reportoire of moves, the lazy approach of mimicing others styles comes into play. Shura = Cerventes, Ashlotte = Astaroth, Kamikirimusi = Nightmare etc. These guest fighters are simply fancy new templates/skins with the same movelist as others. They look awesome, no doubt. But its just a shame this attractive crew couldnt have some of their own moves. On the plus side, The Apprentice, Darth Vader, Hilde and Algol are brilliant new characters and all have a massive array of incredible moves and throws to execute, which makes up for the lazy guest artist fighters.
Okay so as far as cast, Soul Calibur IV have it nailed. But now comes the most important factor for any fighting game, the modes. The results are a mixed bag, we have *Arcade mode*, which pits your chosen fighter against eight others, *Story mode* a small five battle event with an intro and character ending sequence at the end, *Tower of Lost Souls* which has you choosing one or two fighters to ascend a 50+ floor tower facing you with different battle tasks per fight, *Character Creation* a mode soley based on creating your own fighter, and finally we have the online mode, which allows you to fight against anyone from around the world in the comfort of your own home. Minus the brief Story mode and basic Arcade mode, there is plenty of fun to be had in SCIV. But i couldn't help but feel alot was missing, there is no Time Attack, there is no Survival mode, and what the hell happened to Team Battle mode? All three are oddly absent from SCIV. The only solution to this love/hate decision would be the inclusion of the online mode, but that just doesnt cut it. This will hardly hurt SCIV as a beat em up, but nonetheless it is very disappointing to see such fan fave game modes being discarded from a fighting game that really should have them included in the first place.
The biggest attraction to most players will most likely be the Character Creation, and rightly so, Namco Bandai have done a steller job with this feature. There is a massive amount of depth to be found in creating your own soul; skin textures, hairstyles, faces, clothing, body size, voice tone etc. You name it, SCIV has most likely got it. There is nothing more satisfying making your own warrior and playing dress ups. You can make your character anything, a ninja, samurai, gladiator, pirate, mage, barbarian, dancer, hell you can even design your own jester. But its the little comical add-ons that widen your smile. Monocles, afros, cornrows, funny hats etc are all in. Alot of the costume parts look simply gorgeous in design and when you see your created character brawling with the rest of the world, it is simply majestic. Whether its silky kimono's, Belle dresses, gowns, robes, gladiatrix brassiers, leather pants, goth skirts, bikini's, grieves, bracelets, neck chokers, straw sandals, tabi socks, leather boots, belts, glasses etc. You really could not ask for anymore. And better still, created characters look just as jaw droppingly stunning as the seminal SCIV characters. The generic look of created souls from Soul Calibur 3 is now gone, replaced by richly detailed and staggeringly beautiful looking character models. You can even create characters from other games, Solid Snake, Nina Williams and Devil May Cry's Dante can all be created, even if its just for funs sake. Overall, the character creation mode is fantastic, brimming with almost unlimited costume variety and items. You're also given the choice to customise standard fighters as well, want Maxi with an afro? No prob! Want Ivy with fishnets and a vale? Sure thing! Maybe you want to fight as Amy without her shoes, or make Tira less scary looking? Then you can do that as well. This whole aspect of SCIV alone provides hours of fun. Which is needed considering the loss of some much needed game modes.
Namco Bandai have also added some neat touches to the gameplay in SCIV. Which can make a big difference in how an outcome to a battle can pan out. First we have the new Soul gauge meter which will flash red if you or your opponent have been blocking too many attacks. Particles of your armor will begin to break off if you are taking too many heavy hits, this is a clever new feature as it encourages the player to avoid the defensive style and go into attack mode, making fights fast and fierce. There are three sets of armor in this concept, head armor, middle armor and leg armor, once all three parts have been smashed off, you or your opponent can pull of critical finishing moves. These moves are like Mortal Kombat fitalities without the blood and gore. And regardless of how much health you have, critial finishes will kill you in an instance. Some of these instant kills are great, *Raphael sucking the life out of someone vampire style, Tira's kiss of death* some more comical and erotic *Cassandra sitting on her opponents face* and some cruel and humiliating *Algol using his foe as a footrest and Setsuka's deadly samurai slashes* each one is very good in their own way. Test them out, you're in for some treat.
Big thumbs up also applies to the arenas you tread through. Every environment is immaculately detailed and over the top in dazzling colours and flashy effects. We have an underground ice cave full of frozen abandonded ship wrecks, colour mad blossom ponds populated by wandering birds and hippo's dipping themselves in the water, aboard a pirate ship amidst a tropical coral beached island, an underground dinosaurs lair, atop of a caged airborne platform in the middle of a circus fire show *you will even notice circus elephants and animal tricks in the distance*, mountain-side Chinese buddhist temples looking down at a distant battlefield, a caged arena in the centre of Egypt during nightfall, gothic castle cathedrals filled with sweeping lush carpets, marching knights and lightning/thunder crackling through the ordate windows, flowing fountain shrines, and lush greek gardens. One of my fave arenas being the merry-go-round style platform populated by cog worked wooden toys and garden gnomes. And of course, it wouldnt be complete without your usual hell influenced firey inferno arenas which act as boss battle stages.
Visually, SCIV is a sparkling opal of a game, the moment you switch the game on your eyeballs will burst into a puddle of tears, thanks to the massive amount of in your face colours, dazzling lighting, snazzy flashy weapon effects, glowing arenas, breathtakingly detailed characters and beautifully designed environments. It is like a fireworks display, and the astounding amount of pixel prettyness, sublime animation and stunningly sexy female babes with breasts that jiggle and bounce like plastic bags full of peaches and bums that ripple like melted honey. No one can argue the display of orgasmic awe SCIV pumps out of the PS3's hardware. SCIV's visual splendour leaves most games weak at the knees from a graphics front. You will be wowed, awe struck, excited, speechless and amazed. It's one hell of a delicious looking cake and gawking at the slick looking fighters that have been jam crammed with zillions of polygons is just the icing. Absolutely sumptious.
Overall, SCIV delivers whats expected from fans of the legendary fighting series. Its a lovely looking game, packed with loads of highly detailed characters, massive movelists, pretty arena's, and a plethora of game modes and content that will keep any gamer constantly entertained. The game isnt without its flaws, the lack of some modes does hurt, and the voice acting is downright cringe worthy, but minus these few slip ups, SCIV is the perfect fighting game at this current time. Virtua Fighter 5 and DOA4 will be collecting dust for some time now that SCIV is here, and rightly so, because Namco Bandai's epic sword/sandal based bash em up surpasses every fighting game currently out. With Street Fighter IV and the PS3 flagship fighter Tekken 6 still a while away, its the only fighting game worth brawling in. SCIV is a force, its the perfect gift for fighting fans the globe over. Make no mistake, SCIV is the best one on one fighting game this generation. Ready your swords and create your character, beat em ups dont get any better.
Submitted by callan5
05/08/2008
1053
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