Game Review : Soul Calibur V

On the 29th of July 2008, Soul Calibur IV made it the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. I even wrote (albeit recently) an article about it on this blog (Game Review : Soul Calibur IV). 3 years and half later, a tale of souls and swords is once again retold. I have been a huge fan of the series, as I explained in SCIV's review. So I was naturally looking forward to the new sequel which was released on the 3rd of February 2012, and at the time I am writing this, it was just a week ago. Was it worth the wait ? My personal answer is in this article.

Music

Epic music composed by a team led by Junichi Nakatsuru, like for the previous games... Nothing else can I ask for. As I mentioned in the SC IV review, I like orchestrated music. Soul Calibur V is no exception. The soundtrack is, again, catchy and blends perfectly with the atmosphere of the game. As we say, why change a winning team ? Soul Calibur V remains true to the tradition.

My next purchase ?

Graphics

The introduction is great, flashy and spectacular. However, in my opinion, it does not beat the opening that features Taki VS The Apprentice in Soul Calibur IV. Fighting stages look really sharp and show a great variety in shape and types. Some arenas are completely blocked by walls, other have destructible fences (when opponent gets wall hit) and some are infinite (in the same way as Tekken). There are a few stages which will "change" (more precisely, characters move a new place) if you happen to fight long enough or if a ring-out occurred. Unfortunately, this transition will only occur between 2 rounds, so we are not at the level of a Dead or Alive 4 for this.
Visual effects are great, but hits and impacts feel somewhat exaggerated and too flashy, clearly influenced by Tekken 6. There are many other graphical influences from Tekken and this, in my opinion, was not a good idea.

A bit too flashy for my liking...

Gameplay

The gameplay has changed a lot (again) from its predecessor and puts the focus on the offensive. The controls are more fluid and fights are much more fast paced. While Soul Calibur V does not reach the rhythm and speed of Dead or Alive 4, I have rarely played rounds that lasted more than 30 seconds. The new pace makes the game really enjoyable and more thrilling as the adrenaline goes up quickly. Some combos and moves are quite different from SC IV for the same character/fighting style, which is confusing until you get used to it.

Soul Calibur V introduces a Critical gauge, a meter bar which fills up for a maximum of two full bars as you land strikes or get hit. Why ? Along with it comes the concepts of Brave Edge and Critical Edge. A Brave Edge attack consumes half a bar of your Critical gauge and can be executed as an extension of a combo. The character then performs it quicker and faster as well as with additional damage. In a sense, it is a bit more like a Critical Edge in Soul Blade on PSX. Critical Edge attacks have a different meaning and use here. They consume a full bar and inflicts a good amount of damage. Performing them "freezes" the game while the character prepares it (like Super/Ultra combo in Street Fighter IV) and, if successful, displays a nice animation. The following video shows the Critical Edge attack from each character. Both Brave Edge and Critical Edge, given the amount of damage they deal, bring new possibilities to stage a comeback or to ensure victory.

Soul Crush can also occur here when you are repeatedly guarding. However, unlike SC IV where it leaves to open to a lethal Critical Finish move, here it will just give a clear opening to your opponent but it will not necessarily mean your loss. Additionally, many more characters have Special Stances from which specific moves can be performed, like in Virtua Fighter 5 but luckily not with the same level of complexity.

I have read that Multiplayer has been improved. Good grief since SCIV was unplayable across continents. Having tested myself, I have not been able yet to run a single game with opponents out of the United Kingdom. I hope this is only a launch hiccup or something to do with my Internet Service Provider (see update). However, with UK-based players, I have had great games in nearly offline play conditions, much better than when I played with SCIV. Apart from the classic Ranked Match and Player Match, Soul Calibur V introduces the Global Colosseo, which divides itself into geographically local lobbies in which you can participate in tournaments, challenge other players, play random matches or chat with others (similar to the online experience offered in Dead or Alive 4).
UPDATE 1: I was able to play today a game in excellent condition with someone across the Atlantic Ocean. A huge change compared to SCIV really... But then again, it was midnight in UK.
UPDATE 2: 6pm in UK, an unplayable match against someone in Argentina which ended up being disconnected before the end of the first round.

A local lobby in the Global Colosseo

On the negative side, SCIV Guard Impact (-> G facing right) has been replaced by each character specific Guard Impact stance and Just Impact replaced by a Just Guard (G right before the hit) which I find practically unusable. The new impact system makes it less possible to pull out a last minute impact move and stage a comeback. Once you are back to the wall, you are really back to the wall and might as well put down the controller and wait until the massacre is over (especially in Legendary Souls mode). As I mentioned in a previous article, this is one of those things I hate in Tekken 6 (sometimes I really wonder why they copy stuff from Tekken... Ok they're both from Namco but still beats me). In Soul Calibur IV, you could use, for example, an Impact Parry (<- G facing right, also removed) to buy yourself some time or counterattack right after a Guard Impact. I cannot count how many rounds I managed to turn around with Impact parries and guards to end up winning by a hair, and by that I do mean the crucial one Impact move in a do-or-die situation. Because of that, fights seem to me a lot less tactical than in SCIV despite the Brave/Critical Edge addition. As I said earlier, the focus in more on the offensive.

I do miss Soul Calibur IV's Just Impact....

Training Mode

There are definitely some improvements with additional modes and CPU sparring options but overall, this mode remains the same as in SCIV. A nice addition is that you can switch sparring mode without going to the menu by pressing start. However, it is still as irritating as its predecessor in the most important point in my view : there is no exercise mode where you enter one after another all the moves and combos of your selected character. You still have to constantly go back and forth between the practice and the special moves menu. I am not buying the official guide this time. In that aspect, Dead or Alive 4 remains the game with the best training mode in my opinion.

Dead Or Alive 4 Training Mode

Content

First of all, one noticeable thing about Soul Calibur V : the loading time incredibly improved compared to its predecessor. I have not even installed the game on hard drive yet, but I feel it is slightly faster than a hard-drive running instance of its predecessor. Cutting down the loading time is always a good thing in a fighting game as players will move quickly from one battle to another. Apart from that, the rest of this section is sadly negative.

Characters

Where is Seong Mi-Na ? Clearly, this comes as my GREATEST disappointment in Soul Calibur V. I do not know what the reasons are, but the fact is that I lost my most favorite character/fighting style I grew up with and got accustomed to since the very first Soul Blade on PSX. "Can you beat me when I play Seong Mi-Na ?" Among my friends, not many could answer yes. My sister, however, knew my (good and bad) habits by heart. I was consistently losing until I also got used to her patterns, after which our battles became very intense and at such level that some of our friends seeing us playing SCIV felt discouraged from playing against us. Seong Mi-Na gone, I will have to find another favorite fighting technique for Soul Calibur V, but regrets will still remain. Of course, this is a very personal opinion, my own only, but affects greatly how I will judge and enjoy a game. Instead, I will have to play a recreated Seong Mi-Na using Xiba's fighting style, which is similar to Kilik.

Coming to him now, I have no idea why his fighting technique is now a mimic of all male characters. I find it a bit nonsense and my friend Byron Po even said : "I saw him in Voldo's stance and wanted to cry". Elysium, incarnation of the Soul Calibur (the sword) spirit and looks physically like Sophitia, impersonates on the other hand female characters fighting style while old Edge Master mimics everyone's technique.

As I preorded the game, I received as a bonus a code to redeem and download an additional character Dampierre, a "gentilhomme" looking fighter who was in the PSP spin off (Broken Destiny). No Star Wars character here, the guest here is the famous assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I had a quick try and he is quite interesting. The developers really provided him the arsenal you get to use in the Assassin's Creed series (hidden knife, guns, etc...). Note that I played and really enjoyed Assassin's Creed II (48 out 50 achievements, gave up on the Auditore cape).

Resquiat In Pace, Maxi...

Single Player modes

Let's face it : no Tower of Lost Souls which were full of challenges and items to unlock, no Edge Master mode where one will go on a quest for the ultimate weapon... Nothing of interest really. Story mode limited to playing the characters who are relevant to the scenario. The scenario is somewhat classic, acceptably good but terribly predictable. The Story mode starts immediately without even letting you learn how to play the characters. Thankfully, it is not so difficult to complete but I admit that my experience with playing Setsuka's fighting style in SCIV helped a lot as the most important and tough battles were with "α Patroklos".

α Patroklos's fighting style is based one SCIV's Setsuka.

Legendary Souls mode is a similar to Arcade mode with incredibly strong opponents. Legendary of Souls regroups the arguably most annoying characters of the Soul Calibur history and will be a gruelling test for your nerves (and possibly your controller).


The rest is much like Soul Calibur Broken Destiny (PSP) : that means limited. Quick battle allows you to fight 250 different AI-controlled opponents and earn titles from them while Arcade is just... arcade with 6 stages and time recorded.

Character Creation

Again, this is a lot like Soul Calibur Broken Destiny on PSP but the possibilities here are almost infinite : in addition to a greater variety of equipment, the gears can display certain patterns as well as plain colors. Additionally, players can apply stickers to each piece of equipment but also facepaint and tattoos. Customizability has never been richer in a fighting game...

Recreation : Seong Mi-Na is also in Soul Calibur V, but not in the way I wanted it...

The other side of the coin is that you do not have special abilities like in SCIV. I find this much less  challenging and less tactical as you only go for the look. In SCIV, while creating your character, you needed to know what you are looking for. While you could increase your attack power, you have to keep your defense and HP at acceptable level. I remember those countless hours of discussion and brainstorming I enjoyed with my sister (Clemence Le) and my friend (Byron Po) about how to optimize our builds while not leaving our characters ugly. For example, in SCIV, I had several themes of character build including (but not limited to) : the Impact (with Impact Edge, Impact Heal and Auto Impact), the Soul Crush (Soul Gauge Damage and Soul Gauge) to open a path for a Critical Finish and the most powerful one (High attack, HP Drain, Venom Fang). More interesting, some builds are only possible with some characters and not with other as their weapon selections have different characteristics.

Seong Mi-Na build based on High Attack, Venom Fang and HP Drain... in Soul Calibur IV

Devil Jin's fighting style (Tekken 6) is surprisingly interesting to play. You do not get to play him in person but his fighting style is only accessible through Character Creation. I gave a quick try out of curiosity and I have been quite impressed, to the point I am considering making it one of my "backup" character.

Wrapping it up

Is Soul Calibur V better than its predecessor SCIV ? My opinion leans towards no. Overall, the game lacks in content and tactical aspect. The fighting mechanisms are indeed better in the newer one. Battles are more fluid and intense, but they do also fall in the trap of allowing a player to hit and combo a poor victim forever. This makes the fight less tactical and more frustrating than SC IV, but the high pace and the new gameplay with Brave Edge and Critical Edge do make up for it. Make no mistake, while I do sound negative, Soul Calibur V is an excellent game, without a doubt one of the best around. However, for a SCIV fan like myself, due to a few frustrating aspects of the new gameplay, the fact that Seong Mi-Na is missing from the characters list and the special abilities being discarded, Soul Calibur V is not making its way to be my #1 Xbox game, although not far off. Furthermore, the Single Player experience here is probably the poorest of the series (if we exclude the spin on PSP Broken Destiny).

In a nutshell, a decent game but still a disappointment overall as it suffers the comparison with its predecessor. The ideal game ? SCIV's content (special abilities, Seong Mi-na, Single Player modes) and Guard Impact system, together with SCV's gameplay and pace, added to that the training mode from Dead or Alive 4. A potential Soul Calibur VI ?

I'll be back on Soul Calibur IV for this : The Seong Long Sword style !