I loved the original Soul Calibur. In fact, I bought a Dreamcast specifically for the game. I later went on to realize that the Dreamcast was the greatest console for fighting games ever, but that’s a different story. I also dove right into Soul Calibur II because the draw of playing Link was just too much.

Here’s my confession and the thing I love the most about the Soul Calibur series… I don’t have to play that often or study the manual or play the training guide to have fun. When I play Virtua Fighter it’s like a zen lesson in fighting. When I played Killer Instinct it was all about figuring out the combos. But Soul Calibur is all about kicking ass.

Anyway, onto the review. I actually meant to review this game a few weeks ago, but due to moving to my new apartment I ended up getting sidetracked. However, this worked out wonderfully for my Soul Calibur IV playtime. I ended up playing the game at work and found out a coworker of mine is a Soul Calibur junky. He ended up showing me things and pointing out things about the game that I probably would have never figured out.

First of all, Namco has toned down the story mode from the last time I played (I skipped SC III) and for that I am extremely happy. I don’t want a ton of story in my fighting games anyway. And of course, my favorite Soul Calibur feature is still here… kicking the crap out of a fallen player for that extra 5 seconds after you won the match. So gratifying and fun. Yeah, take that you loser. And that! And here’s some more… oh, time for round two? I was just getting warmed up!

As far as characters go, there are something like 100,000 playable characters. I have the 360 version, so that means I also have Yoda, who is awesome. Yes, like others have pointed out, he is totally unbalanced, but it’s just so much damn fun to fly around like a Tasmanian Devil and laugh at your opponents when their attacks go right over your head. I also really dig Hilde. Fun to play and great character design.

As far as the old standbys… they are all here and all play pretty much the same. Surprisingly, some of the sexuality of the game is toned down (ie, Taki only has DDD sized breasts now and Voldo is a tiny bit less creepy), which is a good thing in my opinion. But if you need some boob waggle physics, they are still there and Ivy will be glad to flaunt them.

But like I said, Soul Calibur is a series I appreciate for not having to pay attention to every detail. The biggest things to me about IV are the fact that armor can now be broken off, all the characters seem more balanced, there is a sweet character creation mode and finally, the “Critical Finishers” are fun. I was very worried that the Critical Finishers were going to be super cheap and ruin the game for me. However, they are handled well and look pretty good too.

One note on what is probably the biggest weakness of the game for me; the overall art direction. I understand the need to make things shinier and flasher as the series progresses, but I still miss the simplicity and character designs of the first game. You can barely see Siegfried under all his armor these days. Many of the other characters just feel over designed. And the menu screens and in game gauges… god save my eyes.

Regardless of some of the gaudiness of the game (is that also part of the charm… hmmm), it’s a beautiful thing to look at and an incredibly fun thing to play. By sticking to pick-up-and-play quality that I’ve always loved about Soul Calibur, adding a slew of new characters and making armor destroyable, this game is a total win in my book. Buy it!

Buy Soul Calibur IV for Xbox 360

Buy Soul Calibur IV for PS3