BIGGER, BETTER AND MORE ASS
Swift and smooth weapons-based combat? Check. Ridiculously endowed men and women? Check. Third-party characters that don’t really belong? Double check. This could only be Soulcalibur IV. The institute of Soulcalibur is so revered and long-running that it could be called venerable, and yet even the most venerable of gaming series can come under fire unexpectedly. Luckily Soulcalibur IV ensured murmuring and stirring before its arrival thanks to its own press releases. Specifically I’m referring to the inclusion of certain characters from a galaxy far, far away and the screenshots and videos displaying the ever-increasing emphasis on TNA. No, Total Nonstop Action wrestling is, possibly sadly, not the direction Soulcalibur IV s taking. I’m talking about the boobies and the butts. However, I’ll get on to those tricky subjects in time. First let’s proceed with the formality of talking about the actual game.
So usually with a Soulcalibur review one of the first phrases you’ll encounter is something along the lines of ‘you’ll immediately notice the jaw-dropping graphics’, but with Soulcalibur IV your jaw will remain firmly fixed in place. They are very impressive, no doubt – character models are beautifully rendered and the level of detail on their texturing is some of the best you’ll see. Yet for once it doesn’t stand out as the peak of visual power for its current generation, something that its predecessors did, in particular Soulcalibur II. The issue of underwhelming backgrounds returns from Soulcalibur III, principally the indoor environments, and stylistically a lot of the stages feel ‘been there, done that’ (something that’s not helped by the return of ‘been there, heard that’ music). An effective comparison is Gran Turismo 5: Prologue; both are without doubt gorgeous games but they just don’t rise above the rest like past incarnations did. Rivals like Virtua Fighter 5 have certainly closed the gap.
JUST THE USUAL, NAMCO, AND SOME NUTS WHILE YOU’RE AT IT
If the visuals haven’t advanced as much as expected from Soulcalibur III, the combat has remained expectedly similar. Soulcalibur remains unique in its genre by being weapons-based, but ultimately its fourth incarnation’s combat does not feel unique. Most characters have highly comparable movesets, with a few exceptions such as the scarily-endowed Ivy (yes - more on her later), and the flurry of combos, grabs and blocks all feels very comparable to previous incarnations. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; after all if it works don’t break it. It still feels as challenging and enjoyable as ever.
Still, you can’t just release the same game, so Namco Bandai did introduce a few new characters and make a couple of major changes. Well, major in theory but in practice the one that was feared to be a game-breaker turns out to be of almost no consequence. In case you haven’t followed this game’s build-up, I’m referring to the controversy surrounding the addition of a one-button-kill... or, as Soulcalibur IV calls it, the Critical Finish. Now both fighters have a Soul Gauge; a spherical gem next to the health meter that starts off blue. As someone block attacks their gauge slowly changes colour – first to green, then red, then flashing red indicating a nearly depleted gauge. During this state the gauge can break and this gives the opportunity (about a second’s worth before the gauge resets) for the opponent to use a Critical Finish by pressing one button (L1 on the PS3). The Critical Finish is a nifty-looking animation that effectively is a one-button kill since it ends the fight. Sounds like a game-breaker, right?
Wrong. Understandably there was a lot of apprehension about the Soul Gauge, with fans fearing that it would be too powerful and make fights unenjoyably easy to win. The reality is that during very many hours of gameplay, with both other players and the AI, the chance to perform a critical finish has only occurred twice and I’ve only managed to pull it off once. We’re talking about something that’s appeared only twice in hundreds of fights. For it to appear someone has to be doing nothing but blocking for quite some length of time, and it’s more likely that the timer will run out before you’ll get the chance or that you’ll end up depleting their health anyway. Its non-significance is arguably better than what the fans feared, but it does beg the question of its inclusion which seems designed only to stop the very worst of the block-lovers from their craft. Where I say ‘very worst’, mathematicians would say ‘statistically insignificant’. No offence, blockies.
A much more appreciable addition is that second ‘major one’; destructible armour, even if it only adds to the large amounts of flesh on show. Certain attacks will cause an opponent to shed either their head armour, torso armour or lower armour, and being armourless makes you take damage from blocks and more damage than normal from attacks. It comes up frequently during battles and forces players into being more strategical with their attack and indeed their defence. It’s also pretty amusing when a fighter’s reduced from full-body armour to the shame of only their underwear, especially if they manage to win and strike a somewhat unconvincing victory pose. It is a subtle change-up that does add something to the combat, very much unlike the Critical Finish.
SOPHITIA, I AM YOUR FATHER
A new fighting game wouldn’t be a new fighting game if it didn’t have a roster update, and Soulcalibur IV brings two new characters to the existing line-up. One is Algol, one of the final bosses you may face in the Story Mode and Arcade Mode. He’s a grim-looking dude with some awesome silver hair and armour with bird-like designs. He also gets to wield the coveted weapons of Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. He’s got some awesome-looking and utterly bizarre moves, but ultimately my feeling is that players will prefer him as a boss opponent than as a character to use. His moves and combos can feel repetitive, and the novelty of his teleportation and projectile moves (yes, he has both of them) may wear off once you realise most players will be able to deal with them.
Arguably a more assured addition to the roster is that of Hilde, the central European knight in shining armour (unless it’s been destroyed) decked with glossy red hair and Angelina Jolie’s lips. Her design stands out from the rest of the female characters because the development team wanted to introduce her as an alluring feminine character who was still ‘fully-clothed’ and exuded strength. She certainly does that – her look is one of the best I’ve seen for a Soulcalibur character since its inception. It’s almost a bonus but in fact it’s very significant that she also presents a rather unique moveset with her two weapons, which are a short sword and a spear with a banner attached. This choice of arsenal allows her to have a good array of both short-range and long-range attacks and gives the player using her arguably more of a choice in strategy than some of the other characters. For example Kilik is restricted to long-range moves, Cassandra to short-range, and Hilde feels like the mid-point between these two long-term members of the Soulcalibur cast.
As great as Hilde’s aesthetic is, the fact that she stands out from Soulcalibur IV’s other female characters is not a good thing. The series has always rivalled the Dead or Alive games for, and this is a scientific term, its ‘TnA’ factor but this time around it definitely feels like it’s finally reached the point of ridicule. Not only is Ivy wearing frankly fetishistic clothing but she seems to have gotten another boob job since Soulcalibur III, and she’s definitely not the only one. Taki’s breasts have not only increased in size but they’ve also undergone a quantum upgrade too. Is it really that important that the girls have grossly exaggerated jiggles? Is it just that I’m not fifteen years old? In any case I’m sure that Chun-Li, the original goddess of the fighting genre, will be looking upon these shameful ladies and wondering where it all went wrong. Maybe it’s time for games like Soulcalibur and DoA to maybe present their females in a more respectful light rather than a more revealing one – kudos to you, Street Fighter IV.
What was also worried about as being potentially embarrassing during this game’s build-up was the small matter of the Star Wars characters. You know, the ones that appear in the freaking box art. Shameful publicity-enhancing schemes aside, I actually find it hard to have a problem with their inclusion. After all, third-party characters aren’t a new thing for the series and it’s not like anyone can take this game too seriously the way it presents itself. So how do they fare?
I’m reviewing the PS3 version so if you’re looking for a critique on Yoda, look elsewhere you must. As for Vader – he’s decent enough. He moves and fights closely to his style in the movies, and he is in essence a fairly typical balanced vertical and horizontal (light) sword character with a few cool Force moves thrown in to the mix. The Apprentice, on the other hand, is an absolute horror to come up against. His Force moves are very strong and feel true to his game, The Force Unleashed. When he uses them it does cause him to have a temporary freeze moment where he vulnerable to an attack, but he still feels a little unbalanced. Some players may think he has too much of an advantage but nonetheless he presents a reasonable guest character to include in this game. Just this game, though.
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Soulcalibur IV 
