Customer Reviews

Quite the letdown
Overall I’m quite disspointed with this game.

Let’s break it down though.

Graphics 5/5: As far my opinion goes, this is the most graphically superior fighting game there is at the moment, the scenes are beautifully rendered and the characters are rich in detail.

Controls 5/5: The controls never change and no exceptions here, the game is easy and can be jumped right into.

Character Creation 1/5: What a HUGE step back here…SC:III had so many innovative things here a “profession” made it feel unique and special. Now it’s just “What character do you want to rip off?!” Which is extremely lame and lazy in my opinion. The different combos of clothings/faces are alright not as extravagant was SC:III was.

New Features 2/5: The “Tower” is quite bland and more like just a scenario mode nothing overly special about it.
The online mode I will admit I haven’t tried yet but…I imagine it’s no different then having someone sitting aside of you playing. I most certainly miss the strategy mode as it gave a real personal feeling to the game.

Main Guts of the Game 2/5: Let me start by saying the Star Wars characters compared to the rest of the group…are ridiculously overpowered. In Arcade mode you go from classic SC scenese to a…space ship? To fight “The Apprentice?” What the @#$@? The Apprentice is ridiculously over powered and if you’re playing on medium expect hard diffuculty Hard expect Soul Edge…etc…The first time I went through I spent around 1 min. on each opponent and 9 min. on The Apprentice.

The story mode is VERY dissaspointing as it starts with about a 4-5 paragraph introduction then just like…arcade mode until the last fight. About a 1 minute clip a sentence or two pops up on the screen…that’s it. Not a whole lotta point to “Story Mode” if you don’t actually make the character have a FREAKIN’ STORY!

Overall: I wish I would have rented this game instead of paying salty for it…It’s just…not as good as any of it’s previous bretheren. I’d be even willing to say a step BACK.

Soul Calibur 2 with Better Graphics
This game offers better graphics and less of everything else. There are fewer modes, characters, and gameplay. The controls are sluggish when compared side by side with Soul Calibur 3 - probably a result of the improved graphics. There are also very few stages. Overall the replay value is at about 0. Even the multiplayer is botched, constantly connecting you to full servers (only one game mode for online, vs.) I LOVE the Soul Calibur franchise and this was a big dissapointment. After buying the game I traded it in and got Metal Gear Solid 4 - a way better game. Save yourself the money and go buy a copy of Soul Calibur 3 or if you want the better graphics, Virtua Fighter 5. This is NOT a good game.

Soul Calibur IV
I’ve played the first and second Soul Caliburs plus the horrid Legends for Wii. I missed out on the original Soul Edge and Soul Calibur III. So those are my qualifications for reviewing a Soul Calibur game. I may not know everything about the SC series, but neither am I a complete newbie.

BUTTON MASHING VS. FINESSE: With Soul Calibur II, I never felt any incentive to get better and learn more than my button mashing roots. While I’m sure fighting purists would think finesse fighting is its own reward, there’s little reason to bother when button mashing with Link got me past every character on every game mode of SCII. It’s a rare balance to find a game where button mashing can work long enough to get you into the game, but then just by virtue of having played, you start to get some finesse and find out just how deep the control system really is. This is what SC IV does. It still rewards button mashing to a degree. I was able to get through the Arcade and Story modes before learning much about the character I was controlling. But I did have a hard time of it. You’ll find that things get significantly easier for you if you learn just a little bit of finesse.

CHARACTER CREATION: You can altar any existing character to a degree. Mostly you can just upgrade their weapon, change out a single stat-altering quality and change some of their abilities. So no gold-plated Vader.

Having only used the Mortal Kombat Armageddon Kreate a Fighter tool before, I can only compare to that. It is nice to have fifty slots worth of character creation (including the altered main characters you’ve made) compared to MK’s two slots (one if you have the Wii). Original character creations aren’t quite as all encompassing as the MK fighter creation, however. Every one you make must be a human. No tails, horns, wings or faun legs. You also can’t do anyone who’s really fat or really skinny. Even the faces are chosen from several presets. You can’t thin out a nose here, widen the spacing between the eyes there. You have the presets and that’s it. Same goes for fighting styles. Where in MK you could have Scorpions spear mixed with Subzero’s freeze, Raydan’s teleport, Sony’a weapon, any mix of combo’s, here you have the style of one fighter and one fighter only. No mix and matching. So basically, you’re just making male/female clones of already existing characters. Most annoying of all is that your stats (attack, defense, guard) are dependant on what clothes and weapons you give your character. Thus you often have to choose between a great looking weak character or an odd looking uber character.

GAME MODES: Story Mode is great but short. This is how you would unlock character endings and some things to use in character creation. Tower of Lost Souls is the bulk of where you unlock content. But it’s also an exhausting gauntlet that can be frustrating endurance trial that feels like trying to open a big steel door by banging your head into it. This is definitely where that finesse that I was talking about comes in handy. Arcade Mode is just like you’d think. Square off against opponents until you get to the end. But there’s no ending as a reward. That comes from story mode. Also all the stats you worked so hard to boost in character creation don’t mean anything in Arcade mode, only Story and Tower modes. So you’re left to wonder why you would bother. Honestly, I’d stick with story mode.

ONLINE: Stay away from it at all costs. If you do a quick join, you’ll more than likely find that all sessions are full. You can create your own, but in the off chance that you do find someone, the combination of your lag time and they’re button-mashing spamming of moves can and will often end in your defeat before you can even make a move.

FINAL WORDS: This is a great game. While it may seem like I’m being highly critical of this game I wouldn’t be credible if I didn’t list a games short comings as well as it’s high points. It has its faults. But at the end of the day, the graphics are great. The control is some of the best, most highly responsive controls you could ask for. Button mashing versus finesse is balanced better than most fighting games I could name. If you want a high quality, fun fighting game, this is one of the better ones.

I likes.
Fighter graphics have improved, yet can’t say the same thing about stages and background. They look and feel dull.

Vader certainly makes his presence felt. Nice addition to the line up.

I don’t care for single player modes, I just use them to make gold to unlock stuff. Didn’t enjoy it in other games, not enjoying it here. If I wanted to watch CGI, I would have bought MGS4.

Multiplayer is another story. With these graphics and fighters the game has no equal. Especially if you master Vader. I usually play offline with my friends. They love it, I love it, end of story.

If you liked it before, you will like it again. You can always try it before you buy it. Recommended, highly.

In love with this game
This game has been so much fun and I just got it. I love the graphics and the movement. They did make the game more sexual like dead or alive but its still worth playing; especially online. There arent many new things from the old games but it doesnt matter. I guess they felt, why fix it if it isnt broken. People want more more more and that is their main complaint. I’m happy with what I have in this game and will be playing it for quite some time.