“I can’t…please, stop!” she wails, as you batter someone with her Critical Edge mega-attack. But this reluctance to fight manifests itself with a grating, screeching vocal performance that lets us know how unhappy she is with virtually every strike of her sword. Fair enough, the poor lass has got a lot on her plate, I understand that. In the story, she is fighting for her life, against her will, against everything she believes in. He is an unlikeable, cocky, emo-tinged creation, who bangs on about “justice” all the time, in a whining American accent. Patroklos, with his feathery blond hair-do and holy crusader chic, looks like a suitably heroic dude, but when he opens his mouth, you feel the urge to punch it shut. Maybe it is just me, but I found that the protagonists that you start out with are among the most irritating creations committed to fighting folklore. The voice acting and characterisation is, at times, downright awful. It is in this department that I will deliver perhaps my only criticism of an otherwise sterling, rock-solid game. The sound effects are as sword-clinkingly excellent as ever, and all of the characters and cut-scenes are fully voice-acted. Even when Soul Calibur hit its Yoda-starring canonical nadir, you could always expect Namco Bandai to deliver with their musical compositions, and they have done it again, with a suitably bracing selection of dramatic tunes.
SOUND: Grand, sweeping orchestral fare is the order of the day once again in the soundtrack stakes.
Some of the backdrops need to be seen to be believed, I was particularly enamoured with the pirate ship stage, where you battle on the high seas surrounded by a veritable armada of ships, all firing cannons and whatnot as the waves jostle your floating platform all over the place. There are a huge array of new arenas, some of which feature different fighting layers (a la Dead or Alive), as you crash through the floor between rounds and drop down to a different area below to carry on the brawl. The well-rounded new additions to the roster, including Assassins Creed latin stealth-smith Ezio Auditore, fit right in to the mix, alongside the best representations yet seen of old favourites. The characters are huge and incredibly detailed. GRAPHICS: Soul Calibur IV was no slouch in the graphical stakes, and the sequel builds upon the excellent visuals of its predecessor and looks drop-dead gorgeous, a treat for the eyes.
Soul calibur 5 pc gameplay full#
The historical, weapons based drama that has become the series’ trademark is in full effect here, and while at times the script is a bit of a clunker, you don’t enter into “The Stage of History” expecting Oscar winning scriptwriting. The lengthy story introduces several new characters on either side of the Malfested fence, and features a number of surprising twists and turns along the way, told by a plethora of beautiful hand-drawn static illustrations and excellent cut-scenes. To begin with, the siblings are separated, and entering the sizeable Story mode you take the reigns of the pair at different intervals as they attempt a reunion, and to seek out the reasons behind their mother’s untimely demise at the hands of the creepy Malfested, people who have been altered to a demonic state by the damned Soul Edge weapon. STORY: Unlike previous games in the series, which have focused primarily on the Siegfried and Nightmare characters, and the ongoing saga of the cursed Soul Edge blade, this instalment centres on two new characters, the brother and sister combo of Patroklos and Pyrrha, who happen to be the offspring of Soul Calibur mainstay Sophitia, and her old man Rothion. The question is, can Soul Calibur once again take a seat at the top table with the big boys? Or is this a disappointment as huge as Voldo’s codpiece? Old school fighting favourites have had some stunning reboots in the last few years, and the genre is riding as high as it has ever been. Namco Bandai have had nearly four years to work on a sequel to the last Soul Calibur game and developers now have the clout to really squeeze some juice out of the consoles at their disposal.
But while Kazuya and Jin are all set to shine once again, people forget that Namco Bandai have another brawling franchise that, after a couple of horrible misfiring sequels, is definitely due for a makeover and relaunch. Namco are set to make a big splash in the fighting game market in 2012, whether teaming up with one-time rivals Capcom for the highly anticipated Street Fighter X Tekken inter-universe dust up, or striking out on their own with a new handheld version of Tekken, or the forthcoming (and very promising, if you check our look at the mouth-wateringly frustrating Hybrid) sequel to long standing favourite Tekken Tag Tournament. Available on: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (Reviewed on Xbox 360)