An in depth review of Soul Calibur IV

[Isaac Dodgson]

Some more notes about the TOS and some PE content...

Namco had the foresight, and kindness to not make it impossible to unlock all the parts in game by forcing you through the TOS doing rediculous things (Voluntarily ring out, block 10 times in a row, perform 5 just impacts, etc...), instead getting I think 30 Achievements should unlock nearly everything to buy, not entirely sure about the accessories for main characters, but this goes for costume parts. It's possible (though slightly time consuming) to get 30 with out even playing online which is nice if you shy away from that sort of thing.)

The Premium Edition DLC were nothing more than real life items for players like a Blazer, dress pants, shoes etc...I don't think they're unlockable for other people, but still pretty lame if you ask me. The DLC also unlocked everyone's top weapon, and gag weapon, which i guess gives you a head start on people.

Other DLC was just released recently for the game as well. For a scant 100 MSP you can grab an equipment set that includes character armors from previous games. Sophita's chest piece and helms from Astaroth, Yoshimitsu, Voldo, and Nightmare. The three from Nightmare are very nice, and includes his helm from SCII, which happens to be my favorite. You can also purchase the music from the original SC to play during the game, buying individual tracks at i believe 80 MSP or the entire set of seventeen or so for 1200... overall not terribly overpriced, and worth it if you're a fan, or just a customization addict such as myself.

 

[The Wooster]

Some more notes about the TOS and some PE content...

Namco had the foresight, and kindness to not make it impossible to unlock all the parts in game by forcing you through the TOS doing rediculous things (Voluntarily ring out, block 10 times in a row, perform 5 just impacts, etc...), instead getting I think 30 Achievements should unlock nearly everything to buy, not entirely sure about the accessories for main characters, but this goes for costume parts. It's possible (though slightly time consuming) to get 30 with out even playing online which is nice if you shy away from that sort of thing.)

The Premium Edition DLC were nothing more than real life items for players like a Blazer, dress pants, shoes etc...I don't think they're unlockable for other people, but still pretty lame if you ask me. The DLC also unlocked everyone's top weapon, and gag weapon, which i guess gives you a head start on people.

Other DLC was just released recently for the game as well. For a scant 100 MSP you can grab an equipment set that includes character armors from previous games. Sophita's chest piece and helms from Astaroth, Yoshimitsu, Voldo, and Nightmare. The three from Nightmare are very nice, and includes his helm from SCII, which happens to be my favorite. You can also purchase the music from the original SC to play during the game, buying individual tracks at i believe 80 MSP or the entire set of seventeen or so for 1200... overall not terribly overpriced, and worth it if you're a fan, or just a customization addict such as myself.

Oh fuck me. That's worth it for Cervante's original theme alone. That song is so fucking epic.

Brave folk song.

DUH DUHN DE DUHN DUHN!

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

good review, I'm still debating on wether or not I should get this though, as I've had bad experiences with fighting games (Damn you brawl!)

It's the polar opposite of Brawl.

That doesn't mean it won't wail on my ass just as much as brawl did. But it still seems interesting, and I'm willing to give it a shot.

Theres less random button mashing which is a very good selling point. I hope yahtzee reviews this next week..

 

[The Wooster]

Oh god. Oh god. I just looked at some of the search terms that brought people to this review on my blog.

Soul Calibur Ivy Sex
Ivy porn
Prepubescent girls (WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?)
Prepubescent girl (you know, just in case you just want one)
Japanese mass sex (I'm not sure if this refers to lots of people having sex, or people having sex during mass. I don't even want to guess what this guy wanted)

 

[Vortigar]

What? We tolerated Raphael? Sure Amy's a slice of clone-age, but Raph and Xiang play very differently. The latter being top tier in SC2 while the former was nearly bottom tier is surely proof of that. Raph has a relatively static game based around spacing and his massive reach, while Xiang's point is running rings around you at short range, chipping away your lifebar while you're trying to figure out what is going on. Now why didn't you make any remark on Asty and Rock in this regard? Okay, Poseidon Tide, never mind.

No remark on sidestepping being useful again after SC3 totally eliminated it? (SC2's stepping was more fluent though.)
No remark on the changes to GI and parry?

Doctorpus, Jumplion, Beulletinmybrain:
The polar opposite of Smash Bros is probably Virtua Fighter, SoulCalibur is too masher friendly to be called a polar opposite to Smash, the pair of them are the most party friendly fighters around. On second thought maybe MvC2 is Smash's polar opposite, no ring outs plus insanely long combo's instead of short combo's and ringout based game.

on the searchlist:
lmfao!

 

[GloatingSwine]

SC4 (and 3) reward button mashing less than the series prior entries. It still gets you somewhere, which means that new players can generally always get a character to do something, but it's far better to actually have a plan and know the moves.

 

[Radelaide]

Y button of DOOM

I'd never played a Soul Calibur game in my life and beat my experienced friend with Y button. His brother has just spent 3 days trying to get past some bad guy (Name starts with Z) with double health on floor 33, methinks.

It's a good game, though. But I wish the fighting was more complex instead of just another random button mashing game

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

OK Doctorpus, I just rented it and I see how in depth you can get with SC4, quite a lot of little things like skills and equipment and of course the critical finish - which seems a lot like the "smash ball" - if the fight goes on too long or someone is being too defensive, use your CRITICAL FINISH! Still the game is pretty good, now, take that with salt because first of all, I don't like fighting games that much, and second...

That doesn't mean it won't wail on my ass just as much as brawl did. But it still seems interesting, and I'm willing to give it a shot.

You can get through Story mode with everyone by tapping triangle and pressing in any direction, on either difficulty, seriously it's so easy I don't even know why they made characters unlockable. Actually I don't know why they EVER did that but anyway. Tower of Souls makes up for it, and the online is ok, depends on how "rank happy" you are and how many online friends you have, but the lobbies can get annoying. Still story is somewhat interesting if you looked at that "chain of souls" thing, you get all the little details so when you are playing as nightmare and the words "Devoured Tira's soul" and then you play as another character and see the cutscene where he does it, it's awesome.

btw is "The Apprentice" in the Xbox version? That bastard is the most unbalanced (playable) character I've ever seen in a fighting game (if you could play as Jinpachi in Tekken he still wins though), and his goofy ass stance causes a lot of graphical glitches so if you hit him it doesn't register sometimes, then he uses a lot of unblockable attacks by pressing "square" maybe once or twice - because his veins are just flooding with so much "force" that simply walking uses it, oh and the bastard can fly too.

Prepubescent girl (you know, just in case you just want one)

Talim is 15 (speaking of, she's my best character) and Hilde like, just turned 18. Tira and Xia-whatever sound pretty prepubescent also.

I'm surprised there isn't "transexual man-whores" in that tag either, I mean, look at Voldo and Ivy (ok at first glance it doesn't seem that way but when she starts talking you will know).

Oh yeah and I can't believe they didn't just make a separate star wars fighting game, Vader is so fucking awesome.