PALGN writes: "When SoulCalibur debuted on the Dreamcast it quickly went on to become one of the primary reasons to own a Dreamcast and one of the best fighting games ever made. Since then the series has seen two sequels and although neither of them lived up to the brilliance of the first title, they were still both memorable fighting games. Here we are with the new generation of consoles and SoulCalibur IV has made the leap to high definition, well we've had a chance to go hands on with a near finished version of the game, so how is it shaping up?
One of the first things we noticed about the game is that the gameplay has been changed a little as well and, in our opinion it's for the better. The game adds in a new critical attack option. The critical attack option can be used to break through the guard of a defensive player. If you do manage to land attacks on players while they're blocking, their defence will weaken, leaving them more vulnerable to your attacks. If you do happen to weaken their defence significantly their health bar will flash red and landing an attack after this happens will make your opponent fall backwards, during this time you can perform a critical hit."
Assassin's Creed's Ezio and The Witcher's Geralt have been excellent guest characters in the Soul Calibur series.
Soul Calibur IV launched worldwide 15 years ago, bringing with it the best performance of the series to date.
Hell no. It was the start of the downfall (SCV) of the series. Huge downstep from the giant SCIII
Used to love this series, probably my favorite 3D fighter, perhaps together with the now also dead Dead or Alive (2-3-4), but as with so many games in the fighting genre, their short-term greed (season passes) has made me lose all interest, sadly …
Loved Number 2 and 3( loved all the solo modes like chronicle of the sword ) so was super hyped when 4 came out but the lack of single player content was disappointing. Still love soul calibur to this day though
2 was definitely the golden era of Soul Calibur for me. I was a bit conflicted about it at times because there were 3 different versions (I liked the PS2 version for controls, I liked playing as Spawn the most, and I thought the addition of Link was really awesome). Even so, the single player content was outstanding. Easily the most fun I've had with a fighting game, followed closely by Tekken 5's single player modes
From VG247: "Link suits the world of Soul Calibur. The elf-like little twink fit into the roster as well as any sword-wielding fantasy hero could – facing off against the likes of the machiavellian Frenchman Raphael, the inhuman hellspawn Astaroth, or the horny gimp Voldo, the Legend of Zelda guest character fits right in. Weaponry, aesthetic, move set… all of it gels with Soul Calibur’s camp high fantasy world – even when you’re pulling massive bombs out of God-knows-where and hurling them across the stage. It just fits.
You know what doesn’t fit, though? Lightsabers. No amount of sci-fi reasoning, magic, or blaming it on wizards can make Yoda, Darth Vader, and (eurgh) Starkiller fit in the war-torn European and Silk Road settings of Soul Calibur. It just doesn’t track. Why Bandai Namco decided to shoehorn the trio of characters into the fourth Soul Calibur game, then, remains a mystery; it’s damaging to both brands, it makes no sense canonically, and – more than anything else – it’s just all a bit tacky (or should that be Taki?)"
Can't wait to start playing it!