I was first introduced to Soul Calibur while having a slice and drinking some soda. The greasy hands certainly didn’t help and I got worked something fierce. After a couple of napkins and a run for some more quarters it was on like Donkey Kong. I was instantly hooked and became a Soul Calibur fan. With Siegfried as my character of choice, I became a force to be reckoned with.
Now there have been plenty of additions of the game, most recently with the Star Wars variety in Soul Calibur IV. I was pretty impressed with that title, as the Character Creation not only added a wealth of unlockable content, but plenty of replay value.
With the 5th edition of this genre into it’s own, we see a bit of a rebirth of the franchise and a departure from some of SC’s much-beloved staples. So how does this version compare? Are the changes for the better?
Gameplay
If you haven’t played a Soul Calibur title yet, I guess you don’t play too many fighting games. Soul Calibur V at its core is a 3D fighter, but what’s really neat is its user-friendliness – just about anyone can pick it up and start playing. There are many levels to this title, and button mashing generally can get you by… until you play against a super experienced player and you learn just how deep the rabbit hole goes. With so much depth and strategy to this title, there’s plenty to do.
Now the game is broken up into different sections. There’s the standard Arcade, Training, and Versus modes, and SCV introduces a more flushed our Story Mode. While I was happy to see an actual story for the title, I wasn’t too impressed with how it’s told. At the beginning and certain parts of the story there are some great animated portions, but the rest are Manga stills with voiceover audio. The artwork was nice, but no substitute for the animation.
Also, there’s no polite way to say it: the primary protagonist of Story Mode is pretty much an ass. I really didn’t want to learn about him, or see him, after a couple of chapters. That was the same feeling I had with most of the Characters, while some of the newer characters are kids or apprentices of older characters I didn’t really want to get to know them.
The online portion of SCV seems a little robust this time, with an actual Room Creation option so you can host your own matches against tons of opponents. There are various styles, from Ranking to just plain Versus. My favorite addition was Quick Battle, where you take on the CPU to earn titles on your User ID Card that essentially displays all your fight data. (Though instead of being tucked away, it’s always featured at the front screen.) Each match you play, regardless of what section you are in, earns you XP that will eventually raise your level.
One of the reoccurring staples since Soul Calibur III is the Character Creation Mode. It’s simple to just jump right in, though there are a lot more options. I was really impressed with the ability to actually make fat or scrawny characters, and felt it really helped make characters diverse and original. You still unlock costume pieces by playing the game – I wish they went with a store where you could spend points, but instead it’s an automatic type of thing usually tied to you level or completing story chapters.
The biggest issue with the Gameplay was the lack of characters. Talim for instance is one of many beloved characters left out of this edition. While it’s rumored that they’ll be DLC, I think they should’ve have been included. While I understand that this is a bit of a rebirth, you should really ease people into the new series. There was also a huge loss in options, especially in the amount of round in Arcade mode. I was always a fan of limiting them to two rounds at the very most so I could get some quick play in.
Graphics
Hot damn, this game looks great. One of my favorite things about Soul Calibur is the graphics, which always seem top-notch but never sacrifice anything. All the animation is also super fluid, and the lip-syncing is actually pretty decent. The backgrounds all look really diverse, with lots of background events like dueling warriors, fires, elephants, an ongoing siege and…a troll?
Sound
The sound is also pretty impressive. It was nice to see the option to switch from English Dub to a Japanese Dub, but don’t worry, there are still subtitles. The Music is still pretty epic, while the voice-over narrative is always over the top fun.
Overall
The game feels like a bit of a rebirth. With a whole new batch of characters to learn about it feels a bit disconnected. It also takes a bit to get accustomed to the design style, but the core is still Soul Calibur. I think with a couple more characters and a better-fleshed-out, higher-production-value story mode this game really could have been near-perfection. As it stands it’s still a fun game and worth a playthrough for any hardcore Soul Calibur enthusiasts.