Soul Caliber IV Review

Authored by super special guest contributor and honorary MamaPop Bestard, Bad Horse

Holy Moses! The fourth installment of the Soul Caliber franchise doesn't hesitate to pull out all the stops; it's a berserk amalgamation of hyper rendered fighting of the first class. I'll admit, viewing screen shots and concept illustrations of the characters during the lead up of the release made me weary – does the world really need another spectacular thumb grinder whose side story focuses less on character development than boob lionization? Is the gaming community, both online and solo-rollin', clamoring for another insanely over-the-top fighter filled with scantily clad femme fatals and mutant muscle ninjas? Prolly not. Further inspection proved that Soul Caliber IV has little to do with necessity and everything to do with awesome.

Short loading times and introduction bypassing puts you straight into the head-to-head story-mode kill-a-thon. A cornucopia of characters so diverse and absurd they'd make Guillermo del Toro weak with envy can be unlocked vis-à-vis pushing through the single player mode. Two player, if you have a willing adversary, lets you acclimate before committing to the tournament and if you're not a seasoned fighter (gamer/fighter?) you might want to practice with a non-pro or neighbor. In an hour, my review partner and I man-handled our way to acquiring most of the locked characters and quickly realized, to our chagrin, that Darth Vader would be the hardest to earn. Yes, there are Star Wars characters thrown into the mix.

As with all fighting games, combinations of light and hard attacks coupled with timing and rhythm seemed to sustain an overall advantage when clobbering opponents. The occasional grab/throw/smash or roundhouse kick out the arena probably kept us more entertain than the developers intended. Turning the juice up, we tried the "hard mode" and realized how rusty our fighting skills really are – Nightmare's flaming blitzkrieg corn-holed us in seconds. That's what we get for dedicating hours to first person shooters and Katamari rolling!

Parents might be a little cautious about the highly rendered jiggling of certain you know whats, but in the grand scheme of gaming (with the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt), there's little to worry about. Japanese kids have grown up with oversexed cartoons and they seem to be developing fine. Right? Maybe. Ok.   

Don't expect a compelling story or crafty exposition explaining why Yoda (of Star Wars fame) was thrown in with the main lineup – that matters little when there's crazy bashing to get to. Long scrolling text explains Yoda's back-story, but only Lucas enthusiasts will take the time to read it. The average player has invested in the game for different reasons. The dazzling amount of variety like new characters and weaponry, along with character creation and online tournaments, will keep Soul Caliber spinning in whatever Box you're loyal to long into the Wii hours of the morning.
Oops. No Nintendo version yet.

Score?
B+
with some brownie points for hitting the nitrous after the finish line.
This game is nuts!

Comments

[KimPossible]

Gosh, I'm sad that there are currently no comments. I even asked my "gamer" husband to commentate, and nothin. So I'd like to say, Yoda looks fierce in this picture, and I can't believe I missed Soul Calibur I-III! I'm a total moron.

Nice blog btw - it kept me entertained even though I wasn't aware of the subject, and that's a great thing!

[Snarky Amber]

Plz to be telling me this isn't a 360 exclusive. Casa Snarky does not have an X-Box, but Mr. Snarky is a HUGE Soul Calibur fan. This looks indeed like loads of button-mashing fun - button-mashing is the only way I can play fighting games like this.