Publisher:
Namco Bandai
Developer:
Project Soul
Release date:
Jul 28 2008
Reviewed on:
PS3

With a booming voice and crashing soundtrack, Soul Calibur 4 openly greets you into its world. The over-the-top style that permeates this game can be easily overlooked by the hardened gamer or tug at a casual player urging them to explore ever deeper. While this epic attitude is sometimes laughable, it manages to make even the most ludicrous characters seems plausible. Yes, even the addition of Stars Wars characters (Darth Vader and The Apprentice) in the Playstation 3 version.

Namco Bandai’s first Soul Calibur of the current generation was worth waiting for and is doing a lot to cement itself as one of the greatest fighting games this generation will remember. Only appropriate with the grandeur of the game, the characters are large and intimidating. Surprisingly large on screen, actually, and it is a feat of design that allows them to feel this way without crowding the screen. If only the stages could have followed the characters as the backdrops are mostly forgettable, leaving their epic work to the heavy orchestrated soundtrack. The atmosphere created through all of this is one of fun to watch combat and does not require the intimate knowledge it can take to enjoy watching a Street Fighter match.
Another feat that has wowed me, with extensive play time with Soul Calibur 4, is the games ability to draw in the most novice of player and give them a great experience. The controls and learning of moves in many fighting games can be great to those that take the time to master the craft, but leave those wanting a bit of fun left in the dust. Soul Calibur 4 manages to put the controls into a players hands that can have even a first timer easily stumble into a graceful combination of hits. This is the magic at work. As a player witnesses these beautiful movements and the simple thrill of looking cool, they are drawn to further experimentation. Whenever you decide to stop this exploration you are still at a point where enjoyment can be had.

The Soul Calibur series has always been insecure about its features, seemingly doubtful about how to utilize this well built fighting system. Soul Calibur 4 continues this tradition offering an ultimately unsatisfying choice in game modes. Story mode consists of a copy of paragraphs and some seemingly random fights topped with a boss and bit of an ending. The new Tower of Lost Souls is collection of small challenges combined with cryptic methods of unlocking equipment that prove unnecessarily difficult and quickly become dull. Character creation is one of the more fun bits that allows you to pair a fighting style of one of the known characters with the most bizarre freak you can concoct.

The lack luster modes are only so much a downer as versus play is the bread and butter of any good fighting game. Here Namco Bandai have what is probably the best online fighting to date. While some more structure could benefit the lobby, the matches are spot on with minimal lag. The lag that does occur is smartly handled by the complete pausing of the game until things have caught up instead of costing you that precious frame of animation you need for massive damage. Be warned of the special matches however, as those players that have been crafting characters and unlocking key gear can have you entering a very unbalanced playing field; something that the game already suffers from is only made more pronounced.

In a time before time, a critic determined to review Soul Calibur 4 pressed pen to paper like a sword through the endless curtains of evil. Much like the wacky epic attitude of Soul Calibur 4, that line gets across very little in the most grandiose of ways. This is a silly and satisfying game that manages to please both the casual button masher and the most obsessive core gamer.

Grade: B