First impressions of the title are good. It's graphically stunning, with the characters redesigned and remapped into amazing high-detail models. Backgrounds, clothing, weapons and animation are all top notch, and there's some genuinely clever level design, such as the circus level, set in a cage that can be gradually unfolded.
It's looking upon the character roster that doubts may initially set in. Soul Calibur III's character roster returns in full, when it arguably could have used some trimming. There's only two completely new characters, though they're both good. Pike and sword wielding fraulein Hilde brings an unique style to the table, while final boss Algol avoids the problem of badly balanced super-enemies (Jinpachi Mishima in Tekken 5 anyone?) and proves both powerful and fun to play.
Not broken, honestThe roster is bulked out by five characters designed by prominent anime artists, all of whom, are net designs, but use other characters movesets, so don't really count. Finally, there's the controversial inclusion of the Star Wars characters. Now look, I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and I haven't played the PS3 version, but Yoda and the Apprentice simply do not feel right here. Yoda is ridiculously difficult and ungainly to play, while the Apprentice is utterly broken and in the right hands (ie the AI's) can simply attack spam you to death.
Leaving that particular controversy behind, once in the ring the game plays beautifully as it always has. Minor tweaks have been made to improve the flow, and the brand new Critical Finish attack is both spectacular and useful, preventing turtling and encouraging a more open and attacking play style. Great for button-mashers but deep enough for dedicated players, the vast variety of styles mean the game is exciting to watch and to play.
One of the things I've always personally liked about Soul Calibur is that it has possibly the deepest and most interesting story and set of characters in the fighting genre. Many cast this aside as unnecessary, but I like anything that gives context within a game and thus was very fond of the elaborate story-cum-mission modes in the previous games which culminated in Soul Calibur III's hugely elaborate Tales of Souls mode. Unfortunately, these aspects have been slimmed down considerably, with Story mode being reduced to an extremely short series of battles and the new Tower of Lost Souls mode being nothing more than a glorified survival mode. There's little of the inventive objectives that made the originals' Mission mode so compelling, or the insight that Tales mode provided. In some sense, this is made up for by the generous online play, which works well. Lag is kept down, although obviously response time is nowhere near offline levels, and matchmaking is excellent, producing good battles.
There's one final ace up Soul Calibur IV's sleeve, and that's it's lavish character creation mode. You can either edit existing characters or create entirely new ones based on preassigned styles, and the breadth and depth of the customization options is huge. There's a ton of costume parts available from the outset, with more unlockable as you progress through the game, and everything from finely detailed armour to jester costumes are available, enabling your avatar to be as noble or ridiculous as desired. The character creation adds literally hours and hours to the game's lifespan, and it's flexibility is remarkable, as evidenced by some of the creations already out there.
Overall then, this is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary step for the series. Though it occasionally feels oddly under-featured, the core gameplay remains an untouchable strength, and the excellent presentation means that it's very enjoyable to play. Unlikely to hit the heights of perfection as the original so regularly did, it remains the best fighting game around.
7/10
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