Soul Calibur IV

I purchased this game about 3 weeks ago and I have spend about 11+ hours on it. I have completed the story mode with every character (and every unlockable character)and I've to say that I have rather mixed feels about this game.There are 2 things that stands out the most during your first playthrough in the game. The first noting down would be the vast improvement of Graphics compared to the Soul Calibur 3 and second one would be the ONLINE feature that fans have been much waiting about, so they can duke it out among themselves when they play online. Then there are details over character customization & the Tower Of Lost Soul mode, where you have to complete certain tasks in order to gain money and unlock different features.Story:The story of Soul Calibur IV is quite hard to grasp during your first play through, but the game itself doesn't fill you out in most details, unless you have been reading out in wikipedia & putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.The cut-scene starts with two men clashing with each other, where as one defeats the other and breaks soul edge and then freezes himself into crystal (Now thanks to Wikipeida, these 2 men that I just saw clashing were father and son, The father (Alogol, the games main antagonist and the final boss in most characters endings) defeats his son in a clash and realizes that he didn't only destory the soul edge but also his son with it, filled with regret he forges the holy spirited sword Soul Calibur to clash with the evil sword Soul Edge).Now you have your protagonists & antagonists from your previous Soul Calibur games that are chasing the Soul Edge for there own motives, each character has a prologue which fills you in with there story and after defeating the final boss a cut-scene follows.Characters:There are 18 returning characters to the series1. Amy2. Astaroth3. Cassandra Alexandra4. Cervantes de Leon5. Ivy (Isabella Valentine)6. Kilik7. Lizardman (Aeon Calcos)8. Maxi9. Mitsurugi (Heishiro)10. Nightmare11. Raphael Sorel12. Rock (Nathaniel Adams)13. Seong Mi-na14. Setsuka15. Siegfried Schtauffen16. Sophitia Alexandra17. Taki18. Talim19. Tira20. Voldo21. Xianghua Chai22. Yoshimitsu23. Yun-seong24. Zasalameland then a few new characters25. Algol26. Angol Fear27. Ashlotte28. Darth Vader (Star Wars guest character on the PlayStation 3 version)29. Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice30. Hilde(gard) von Krone31. Kamikirimusi32. Scheherazade33. Shura34. Yoda (Star Wars guest character on the Xbox 360 version)As you can see there are 34 characters in total, while Darth Vader beinge exclusive to the PS3 and Yoda to the Xbox 360. It is a very soild roaster of characters and extends the length of the game quite a bit.Final Verdict:Although there are many things I can go in detail about, I would like to point out that Soul Calibur IV was suppose to be the last game in the series at that point (they released Soul Calibur V not so long ago). It was suppose to be a sent off to the legendary series & I don't think it delivered on many aspects. Like I said previously if there are 2 changings you'll see in this game are the graphics and the online components, the rest of the game is pretty much the same as you remember in Soul Calibur 3. I think there are few changings needed in SCIV to make it fresh again, because after playing Soul Blade (also known as Soul Edge) & Soul Calibur I - IV I've to say this series desparately needs new & fresh ideas to breath the life back into the series, otherwise the series is getting pretty stale and I for one feel being drifted away from the series.

So, i wasn't a fighting gamer type of guy. But when a few years ago i stumbled across 'Soul calibur' It was my brothers and loved but didn't have the time. So i bought this game. YES! Okay Review Time.Graphics:They are okay graphics for a underated gaming company and Personally the first 55 minutes of playing i didn't really care!Delivery: I bought this in a busy time of gaming So around FIFA 14 and GTA 5 pre ordering dates. i bought the FREE SUPER DELIVERY service because i'm cheap :) Came day before expected which all ways brings a smile.Price: BEST PRICE YOU CAN GET FOR A PS3 GAME! The price was just amazing if you keep it for a month or a life time its totally worth the money.I rate this game 4/5 Superb but gets boring if play too long.

Four stars for being an incredibly well made and devised fighting game rather than five stars because it's not as easily accessible as the Mortal Kombats, etc.Great graphics but I prefer the first game for the original PlayStation; that game's opening movie got me right into watching the Lone Wolf and Cub movies, reading James Clavell's Shogun and a general interest in Samurai culture altogether.If you're a serious beat 'em up fan this review won't tell you anything new and if you're a cheapskate gamer buying a PS3 (like me) then it's a good two player game that requires investing some thought into to play and that's no bad thing.

I got this game to be challenged and because pa3 games are cheap but this kinda turned out to be lame. It is all the same fighting and no real story or different levels.

Is a good game to play, it is similar to the soul calibur 2 game i owned. A lot of the old characters still have the same moves with a couple of new ones. If you like this kind of fighting style then this game if for you. Don't buy this if u are into mortal kombat, marvel vs capcom kind of fighting. This is a little more confusing on the move list and not a lot of chain combos.