The Force is with Soul Calibur IV

The long awaited continuation of the Soul Calibur series finally arrives on next-gen consoles, and although it's definitely no classic, it improves on the core gameplay & adds a functional multiplayer mode.

In Soul Calibur IV you can play as 26 original characters, including the 2 new additions Hilde and Algol, an additional 5 new 'bonus' characters, which are designed by guest artists, and 2 Star Wars guest characters. All of the characters are quite different from one another, ranging from a dual claw wielding contortionist to a titanic axe wielding golem. The exceptions are the 5 bonus characters, all of whom are simply clones of other characters - which is quite disappointing.

For the most part, all of the characters feel rather balanced. No character has exactly a massive advantage over another, but a few characters are better at dealing with anyone, a few characters may have a SLIGHT struggle against certain opponents.

The exclusive Star Wars characters are extremely different from one another. The PS3 version gets to use Darth Vader while the XBOX 360 will be able to use Yoda. Out of the two characters, Vader definitely feels more in place. While Yoda has quite an original moveset, he is terribly unbalanced... Other characters can't hit Yoda with high attacks or throw him due to his small size, these attacks will simply pass over his head leaving you wide open to an attack. Both versions will have access to 'Starkiller', the secret apprentice from the upcoming game Star Wars : The Force Unleashed. Although he may feel slightly overpowered when you are fighting the AI playing as him, in the hands of another player this is no longer evident.

Apart from the Star Wars characters (which may be downloadable content in the near future for the opposite system), the console's versions don't really feel any different from one another. The visuals are are practically exactly the same. The only other difference is the optional install on the PS3 version, which may improve loading times somewhat, however, this feature will be available on the XBOX 360 version too, shortly.

The game looks amazing, in my opinion it is one of the best looking fighters ever. All the 13 stages look beautiful, the characters are impressively high detailed and the animation is smooth and fluid.

The actual gameplay feels rather unchanged compared to previous installments. The pace isn't as fast as Soul Calibur III, but isn't as slow as Soul Calibur II. It feels just about right in terms of speed. Compared to other fighters Soul Calibur is more of a 'pick up and play' type of game, you don't need to spend hours on end remembering long, 10 hit combos. Rather than spending time learning how to attack, you need to choose when to attack, making this a more skill-based fighter rather than memorizing combos.

Alot of the changes made to the gameplay are welcome additions, the critical finish system will now no longer reward players who block constantly ('turtling') which makes the game more offensive.

Unfortunately, the game hardly has any content with most unlockables just being bought by gold which requires 'farming'. Story mode is now only 5 stages long, although the stages including the AMB (Active Matching Battle) system, which basically lets you or the AI switch between characters during battle. The addition of this feature in single player makes you wonder why it wasn't included in VS modes or Multiplayer, the only option being a 1 vs 1 match.

The main mode, Tower Of Lost Souls, is honestly not very fun. You can choose to ascend the tower, where you will have to play through many stages where the opponents have different abilities, there are 60 floors in total and around the 40th floor thing start to get a little cheap. The AI will guard impact and counter you almost constantly, which sometimes mean you have to resort to cheap tactics to beat the AI. It makes the Tower Of Lost Souls just one extremely drawn out mode. The descend option is a little better, it's basically survival mode in which you have to slaughter foe after foe to see how far you can get down, when you die you will be taken all the way back to the top.

One of the best features of Soul Calibur IV is definitely the character creation. Create A Soul mode offers many options, unfortunately the created character movesets have all been removed and you are limited to choosing a moveset from the main cast. This is made up for by the large range of equipment, all offering different abilities for your character. You can then choose from a number of skills such as invisibility or auto grapple break, which are all surprisingly well implemented, and take your character online via the Special VS mode (where stats are in play). Or, if you don't care much for stats you can take them on Standard VS mode, where you wont have to worry about the disadvantages of your equipment, and can shape the appearance into anything you want. You can also fully edit the original cast, minus a few characters, so if you want to fully cloth Ivy, you can. Or you can make it so that she is wearing less clothes, which I thought was practically impossible.

Overall Soul Calibur IV is a fun, engaging experience and one of the most memorable fighters in recent years. Anyone can pick up and play this and have some great fun with it, but it's pretty stripped down in terms of ingame content and gamemodes, so if you don't have many friends who like playing fighters or don't want to head online, I wouldn't recommend this game for solely the single player content.