Review: Soulcalibur IV

The soul still burns in Soulcalibur IV, though perhaps not as brightly as it once did.

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Fair enough judgment, though demanding that sense of wonder all over again seems a bit much. In my own estimation the series never really attempted to take itself seriously, stooping to self-parody the day Link was announced for the GameCube version of SCII. The custom characters are also all great, and as a decidedly casual player of fighting games (I picked up Arcana Heart just because I liked supporting ATLUS) the goofy custom options add a lot of variety to any match, online or off.

I acually like the game very much. Its nice to see how far the characters and grafics have come. NOt to mention how very extencive the character maker is. Plus, kicking Nightmare's ass with Yoda is just too much fun to pass up.

Very solid review, only topic I would disagree with you on would have to be the style as I love seeing other peoples CaS character for the sole joy of seeing some of the interesting looks the looks you can achieve. Granted I haven't even taken this game seriously at all and have just been messing around with friends up until now.

Drmortuss:
Very solid review, only topic I would disagree with you on would have to be the style as I love seeing other peoples CaS character for the sole joy of seeing some of the interesting looks the looks you can achieve. Granted I haven't even taken this game seriously at all and have just been messing around with friends up until now.

Yes, yes. I mean, SCIII was quite tongue-in-cheek itself. The secret armor could make a nearly exact replica of KOS-MOS from Xenosaga, another Namco-published game.

I'm very much enjoying the game, as far as fighting games go it's another solid successor, imo. Once a fighting game gets a solid base you pretty much only need to up the graphics and toss in a few new guys, new options every new installment.

I find the Character Creator to be very cool and nicely done. Making my 'own' character gives me an opportunity to make one to fit my style. There is also a lot to tweak (clothing, weapons, colours) so no one character looks the same.

I don't expect much from fighting game series' new installments and SC4 is giving me quite a bit of fun, so it's a solid game, worth the money.

I think your responses are all pretty valid: the style and character creation judgments are the most subjective for a person, I think. I really would have liked being able to have different lightsabers for the Star Wars characters: different colors, as well as the dual/staff options would've been cool.

I remember SC2 being one of my favorite fighting games ever. I didn't like the single player modes this time around. The story mode was too short (Only 5 stages?) with re-used cutscenes for each story. The ending cutscenes were different, but it still felt severely lacking. I miss all of the single player modes from SC2, especially Weapons Master Mode. Online play is too laggy to be much fun for me. Character Customization is the main highlight.

Completely agree, the single player modes seemed very unfullfilling, though I never really thought it was taking itself seriously I thought that was why they always included characters from elsewhere and gave girls boobs which seem to have a life of their own.It still has to be the best game on the playstation to muck about on with friends though.

You can't use Yoda AND Darth Vader???!!!WTF IS THAT???!!! One at a time is gay.
Worst idea ever, but ill still rent it cause im a huge fan of the series. SC2 ftw.

About single player: Tower of Souls, while lacking in story, is a great mode.

Qoute: "Aaron Stack once fought off an invading army of mutant koala bears by singing a drunken rendition of "MacArthur Park." No one is sure if the bears or the song were more terrifying."
I hope the author has read or will read Warren Eliis' Nextwave (Marvel comic series collected in two paperbacks) in which Aaron 'Machine Man' Stack indeed goes up against man eating Koala bears and has modified his robot brain for him to be able to be drunk, among other things, there's no singing though.

Good review. It states al you need to know really. SC4 is SC as always but without SC3's massive amount of bugs. It doesn't really set the world on fire with anything drastically new, nor does it fall flat by being totaly void of interesting stuff to do.

Im probably some of the few people that enjoyed the story mode, and that was completely watered down. While ill admit the game looks BEAUTIFUL, its just lacking overall. SC2 is still the best Soul Calibur to date. And in case you didnt know, both Star Wars characters will be available for download eventually, so stop crying(it was leaked).

Vortigar:
Qoute: "Aaron Stack once fought off an invading army of mutant koala bears by singing a drunken rendition of "MacArthur Park." No one is sure if the bears or the song were more terrifying."
I hope the author has read or will read Warren Eliis' Nextwave (Marvel comic series collected in two paperbacks) in which Aaron 'Machine Man' Stack indeed goes up against man eating Koala bears and has modified his robot brain for him to be able to be drunk, among other things, there's no singing though.

My robot brain needs beer.

If the people at SoulCalibur don't stop taking characters from other games and putting in theirs I may just give up on it. But I guess that's all they can do now since it's been the same game over and over. Although the story mode was better I guess, still a little to short.

I'm not quite sure why people take the characters in the game so seriously. Either A. you like them which is good or B. you hate them and instead beat the crap out of them since its a fighting game which is also good. Using a giant hammer to kill the stupid elf thing with the squeeky voice brings me oh so much joy.

Well written, and I can see what you mean about the art style sometimes feeling awkward in parts like in the CoS section...but at the same time it fits in it's own way in my opinion