Soul Calibur

Welcome Back to the Stage of History

HIGH Getting curbstomped until I'm down to a sliver of health. My opponent's throw places him at the edge of the ring. I kick. Ring out!

LOW The AI blatantly cheating in the most infuriating ways possible.

WTF Ivy's the only person to speak with a European accent. Maybe she missed the memo that everyone was pretending to be American?

It's been quite a while since I spent any time with the Soul Calibur series... I think the last one that I really got into was probably the original SoulCal on Dreamcast. The series kind of dropped in terms of quality (for my taste, anyway) and it fell off of my radar until today when GameFly sent me Soul Calibur V.

The tale eternally retold... with more muscles, mammaries and licensed characters

HIGH I'm not what you'd call a Star Wars fanboy, although I grew up with the series. However, whoom-ing a lightsaber while playing as a menacing Darth Vader was a strangely satisfying experience. Did I mention that Darth Vader is cool (PlayStation 3 only)?

LOW Realizing that I'd rather be playing Soul Calibur I or II, where the characters flowed slightly faster (in my memory) and there were more interesting learning/adventure modes.

WTF I miss the days of non-hulking characters. Kilik and Ivy are seriously bulked, in their respective fashions. And Ivy is beginning to remind me of a drag queen.

Game Description: Return to witness the epic struggle between the spirit sword, Soul Calibur, and the cursed sword, Soul Edge, in Soul Calibur IV. Warriors from far reaches of the galaxy battle to control the powerful swords and use them for their own goals. Should these fighters succeed, they will face the ultimate judgment. The ongoing story continues with new revelations, exciting new gameplay features and stunning visuals. And perhaps most exciting of all, a character from the Star Wars universe will also make an appearance.

Remembering that yesterday was S-Day (the day Calibites celebrate the release of a new Soul Calibur title), I headed down to the store to pick up a copy. While I'm not a full-on Calibite, I don't own action figures or costumes or anything like that, I'm enough of a Soul Calibur fan that I'm generally happy to see a new game in the series coming out.

Boxing is often called the "sweet science." The strategy, execution and skill make up the "science" and I'm assuming the thrill and satisfaction of victory is what makes it "sweet." In Soul Calibur III, I feel there's very little "science" that goes into the combat and consequently, victory isn't particularly "sweet."

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Language, Violence

Boxing is often called the "sweet science." The strategy, execution and skill make up the "science" and I'm assuming the thrill and satisfaction of victory is what makes it "sweet." In Soul Calibur III, I feel there's very little "science" that goes into the combat and consequently, victory isn't particularly "sweet."