Soul Calibur IV

Having been a fan of this series since Soul Blade, this game nearly left me in tears.
The story mode, one of the series finest points has been reduced to almost nothing. The background of the characters, the war between the 2 swords, the tales of vengeance, of good and evil, are all but gone. One of the series major pulls was the detailed story behind each and every character, yet in this we get almost nothing.
It seems the developers were so hyped up about the fact that it's now online, they forgot to put any work into the single player.
So after this critism, why not just one star then? Because the graphics are absolutely sublime, character movement is smooth and the combat is as delicious as ever, and no matter how empty the story mode (that I so love) and the overall single player is, the multiplayer and graphics cannot be faulted.
"An utter disappointment" may be a little harsh, but I really did feel so disappointed playing this game, that I couldn't keep it, and returned it within the week. I couldn't handle paying for something that left me feeling so empty.
I tried to like this game, I really wanted it to be something monumental like it's predecessors, sadly, this was not the case.

Once upon a time, I stumbled upon SCIII, and was immediately enthralled, so much in fact, that I sold my old Tekken 5, recognicing it as vastly inferior to SCIII. Now SC4 has emerged, and on paper, It is an improvement of one of the best fightling games. The graphics and animations are superior, the rooster is more varied and full of the best the SC-series has to offer, the star wars characters are a nifty bonus (if nothing more), the tower of souls offer challenging singleplayer... and yet, I cannot find the spark that made me stay up in the wee hours with SCIII. It seems that the singleplayer has somehow been downgraded, the title made less appealing to alle but hardcore gamers who want nothing more than the hard relentless work of mastery of each charecter. The story mode for each charecter offers a mere 5 battles, and though the TOLS offers challenge, it´s really a one ride only. While certainly the best on offer right now in terms of fighting games, it just seem to have left it´s soul behind, replaced by slick multiplayer features and catering to the devoted, but small hardcore crowd. It´s a great shame, but this great game has shifted from enthralling immersion to technologial wizardry, and in my oppinion, is worse off for it. It´s still great, but in a competent way, not a facinating one.

First of all, I have to say this game is definately one of my favorites, and people complaining that it wears you out playing are obviously playing it wrong.

Before you even start, go to practice mode and have a play around with the characters, learn some moves and get to learn some combos, otherwise you will have no chance against some of the harder levels of the game.

If you want a good fighting game to play with your mates on the weekend, buy tekken, its easily playable by anyone and if you want you can button bash and usually string together a lot of good moves.

Also, i definately wouldn't spend £40 on a game just to play as darth vader, go and buy battlefront 2 to get a lot more for your money star wars wise.

The character creator (or create-a-soul) is a very welcome addition, with thousands of combinations to make an existing fighter or a totally new one exactly how you want them, as all the different items of clothing/ armour have different qualities, and encourages you to experiment with either a high attack or defence, or just outlast the opposition with superior hp. Its also rather fun to make characters from other games or programmes, they usually come out quite good (The Hulk is a good one to start with)

As mentioned in the title, the online in Soul Calibur really is poor, i have not yet gone into a game where theres been less than half a second of lag, which doesn't sound very much, but makes a significant difference when fighting the host who will be lag free which is why i have given only 4 stars.

Overall definately a game i would recommend, but if you are wanting something to just pick up and play with no learning curve, buy pretty much any of the tekken series which are also great games, but spend a little time and effort on this and you will definately be rewarded.

After reading quite a few disappointing reviews about the game I still went out and made a purchase. I had never played a soul calibur game prior to this and so went in as a neutral party. I must say I really am not impressed. The game is split to arcade mode and story mode which actually serves no purpose or reason! Paying online is tedious and unenjoyable (mind you I think that may be because I suck!) The unique selling point of this game is the star wars incoportation, if that is a big reason for your purchase (as it was for me) you will be sorely disappointed. Please take my advice and don't make the mistake I did, have a top notch Friday night instead and even treat yourself to a kebab even though you will regret it the next morning you won't regret it as much as making this purchase!

Am i glad i talked myself into buying this game.have been a fan of this genre and title for many years but felt that the ps2 version was lacking somewhat and maybe it had reached its peak on the dreamcast and could never be bettered but this version is an absolute belter!!! Superb graphics married with super smooth and slick gameplay...games don't come any better than this.don't think..just go and buy!!!!!