Soul Calibur IV

7.0

Format Xbox 360

Developer Namco Bandai

Publisher Namco Bandai

Genre Beat 'em Up

6 Comments

Update: This review was originally uploaded with a score of 8/10. This was an error; the review awarded in the print magazine was 7/10. Apologies for the confusion! "SOOOUL CALIBUUUR... FOUR." Right from the start, the booming voice of Movie Announcer Guy confirms that this is the return rather than the reinvention of the Soul Calibur series.

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That voice reaffirms that you're about to get another slice of everything it does so well - weapons-based fighting, over-the-top character design, orchestral music with pompous names and a ridiculous story. It might be ten years since Soul Calibur first hit the arcades but the soul still burns as brightly as ever. At least it does until you try and find Quest mode.

We'll save you some time. It's not there. In its place is a Story mode, which can be beaten in under an hour. Easily. Maybe a little longer if you keep pausing to check the moves list or if you keep answering Xbox Live messages from your friends asking "wats yoda like?". Regardless, it'll take all but the most sausage-fingered games player the length of an Eastenders episode before they hit the end credits.

Story? What story?
What's worse is Story mode doesn't have that much story. After you pick a character, a chunk of scrolling text explains their background. Then you're thrown into a bunch of seemingly unrelated fights. Then a final cutscene kicks in once the end boss falls face first to the ground. With that, you get dragged out of Story mode and back to "SOOOUL CALIBUUUR... FOUR!" again.

The fact that the Quest mode sprawl found in both Soul Calibur II and III outperforms the story found here only adds to the disappointment. There isn't any real meat on the bones to get your teeth stuck into. Namco Bandai has spent plenty of time fleshing out the feisty vixens, not so much time fleshing out the single-player modes.

Arguably, there isn't as much emphasis on single player, as you can now stick a broadband cable up your 360's arse and play online while having French/German/American obscenities shouted at you (delete as appropriate). Even so, there's a feeling that Namco could and should have done more. It's not so much Story mode as it is Flick Book mode.

There's an effort to rectify this with Tower of Souls, an endless barrage of opponents lifted from the game's own customisation mode coupled with a boss - usually a character taken from the standard roster. Extra fight conditions are also added. To give an example, one floor of the Tower of Souls could see you fight a custom-made Voldo (who receives an attack boost when low on health), before you take on Cassandra to clear the floor. It's a slightly more interesting take on the token survival mode and it adds another gimmick to the mix - tag teams.

Tag Team
Similar to Dead or Alive 4's tag system, you can call upon a partner who warps in and replaces your current fighter, leaving the resting player to recuperate some lost energy. It adds a subtle nuance to the fighting, as the odds are often stacked against you, which means you're forced to turn to the tag system in order to survive. If you want to get really fancy, you can even create some funky tag combos...

The real saving grace for single player, though, comes from spending ages trying to unlock everything. Not only are there a huge amount of anime characters created for Soul Calibur IV, but you need to unlock all the extras to use them in the game's Creation mode, which enables you to build up your own fighter from scratch.

Wizard hats, prayer beads, gimp suits, kung-fu sandals, monocles, kabuki masks, samurai trousers, spiky spines, there are more items here than you'll know what to do with. Unlocking them all soon becomes the main thrust of the game for the lone warrior, along with levelling your character up through experience so you can unlock some of the more powerful abilities.

Soul Wars, it is...
If you don't want to create your own character, you could always play as Yoda. But we suggest you don't. Nor do we suggest fighting him, as you spend most of the match swearing while he watches you flail about wildly. Horizontal attacks miss him. Throws miss him. Almost everything misses him, before Yoda goes buck wild, spinning around with his lightsaber and cutting through you before have a chance to moan about how bloody annoying he is. You just can't hit him. And yes, it's a safe bet almost everyone online will use him.

What makes the single player's under-fed modes such a shame is the gameplay - it's as crisp and sharp as ever. Soul Calibur IV sparkles with the same visual pizzazz as its predecessors, with weapons clashing in a fizz of neon flourishes and bright colours. Parries have been made easier and the speed has been kicked up a notch, so Soul Calibur IV is a silky smooth fighter to play. It's more accessible than Virtua Fighter 5 and smarter than Dead Or Alive 4. It sits happily in that middle ground between depth and accessibility.

Let's get critical
The two trumpeted changes, Armour Breaks and Critical Finishes, don't make a huge difference to the actual brawling. Armour Breaks mean a fighter is left vulnerable in the area where armour broke and makes for a pleasing visual effect, but nothing more. The addition of Critical Finishes, meanwhile, caused Soul Calibur fans to slam their fists on keyboards in protest on internet forums.

The reality is Critical Finishes barely matter. They're only there to tempt ultra-defensive players out of their shells. This puts more emphasis on parrying too, which creates a more exciting, free-flowing game as a result. The threat of Critical Finishes ensures no-one spends too long on the back foot out of fear.

When it comes to the actual fighting, Soul Calibur IV shows off its pedigree, but when this is twinned by a single-player mode that feels as empty as this does, it would be wrong to praise this too much.

It's fortunate the series can now rest on the safety net of online play and character customization because, without it this would be a slender, anorexic package - a tad ironic, when you consider just how much attention Namco has lavished on its buxom babes...

Ryan King