Soul Calibur IV (PS3)

Soul Calibur 4 is the most recent game in the soul series. Brought to us by fighting enthusiasts Namco, it is an extremely popular series, and I can see why. Back in 1996 (I think) Namco produced a game called Soul Blade, and I'm proud to say that it was the first play station game that I owned. Similarly to Soul Calibur, the story line features around a cursed sword called 'Soul Edge'. Yeah very cliché I know, but the series has overcome all the critics and is probably the best selling fighting series today, together along with Tekken. I'm going to be honest, I hate fighting games more than Elmer Fudd hates Bugs bunny, but in all honesty, I can't try to express how ...  Read the complete review

Soul Calibur 4 is the highly anticipated next generation iteration of Namco Bandais popular fighting series, can it live up to the very highest standards set by the previous games? (short answer: No) The big addition to this game is the Star Wars characters, in the Xbox 360 versions you can play Yoda and in the PlayStation 3 version of the game you can play as Darth Vader. You can also play as The Apprentice from the videogame The Force Unleashed. The main mode in this game is the story mode, each character is given their own unique story to play through, however the way this is done is very poor. The bulk of the story is given to you in the form ...  Read the complete review

This was a title that I could not quit make up my mind to buy or not so when a mate offered me his copy for a tenner I thought I'd give it a go. I have Soul Calibur on the Sega Dreamcast and I have to admit that I still play it to this day and reading the reviews when the PS3 version was released it sounded more or less the same, hence the initial reluctance to fork out 40 quid for something I already owned. First impressions were quite good, graphically it is superb and the PS3 shows some of its power, menus are easy to navigate and look good and the online capability is there if you wish to use it. Does it move the series on? Well to be ...  Read the complete review

After a reasonable amount of playing SC4, it's easy to conclude that while it looks and plays very similar to the classic Soul Calibur we all know and love, the game ultimately falls short of establishing itself as one of the premier fighters ever released it could have so easily been. From a PS3 perspective alone, the game's visuals and presentation are all very good. The navigation is cool and the variety of characters, extras, and customization are all well defined and enjoyable. (most notably, the entertaining tower and online capability) However, the game has a decent load of "flaws" that (as mentioned before) keep it from that ...  Read the complete review

Difficulty: Medium Learning Curve: Around 30 minutes With the massive hype Soul Calibur IV has received, being the first instalment of the Soul Calibur series to reach the new generation of systems, you'd hope that it would bring great things. While in reality, this game has just brought a half finished game that only excels in certain areas, while others were left out to die. I'll start from the top. The games graphics are exceptional, revolutionary even, and the new tweaks to the gameplay have really made this feel like a big improvement from all fighting games out there. But what really lets the game down, is the half-assed attempts at ...  Read the complete review