Soul Calibur V Review

Game Review: Soul Calibur V and latest patch update.

Genre: Fighting

Multiplayer: Online Versus mode, Leader boards, Replay upload/downloads

    Soul Calibur V is the 6th installation to the "Soul Series" ( not including the "Soul Calibur Legends"  for the Wii and "Soul Calibur Broken Destiny" for the PSP spin- offs). The story of Soul Calibur V takes place 17 years after the events of Soul Calibur IV. Soul Calibur is arguably the best installation to the sereis as of yet. With tweaks to existing gameplay mechanics and the addition of new ones, SCV offers the most in-depth gameplay experience in the series to date.

Story Line- Story mode:

    While Soul Calibur brings a lot to the table, a good story mode is sadly not one of them. The story mode follows The main protagonist Patrokolos and his sister Pyrrha on their journey to find the Soul Blades. I won't go into too much detail for the sake of spoiling the story, but the story mode forces you to play as Patrokolos and Pyrrha for the most part with the occasional few rounds played as 3 or 4 other characters involved with the story. This makes it so that most of the characters only make cameo appearances in the story while some don't even get an appearance and aren't seen once in the story. This gives us a relatively weak  story mode relative to the previous installments.

Soul Calibur V Story mode *Sigh*

 But enough of the bad (thankfully the only "bad") and on to the good!

Features:

   To make up for the weak Story Mode in SCV, it is balanced with a few well designed game modes. These include;

   Arcade Mode- Arcade mode is similar to classic SC (Soul Calibur) story modes  where you chose a character of you likening and fight 8 consecutive fights, each increasing slightly in difficulty. However, there are no longer any character endings so you don't get any character specific fights or stories or motivations, which I feel strongly strips the game mode of it's replayability. While this may be the case, the fact that your completion time is recorded onto a leaderboard strongly brings the replayability value way up. This including the addition of being able to unlock an "extra" mode which alters the camera angle to a dynamic view behind your character, adds a little spice to the game mode. While it isn't anything to go crazy about, it is a nice addition to the game mode. 

      Legendary Souls- Legendary Souls is personally one of my favorite offline modes in Soul Calibur (right under multiplayer). Legendary Souls puts you in in 7 consecutive matches against Soul Calibur "Legends". Without spoiling the surprises, I will say that each Legendary character is harder than the last which makes this game mode extremely challenging and maybe even "cheap" at times, since the AI seems to have a knack for taking full advantage of the fact that it is indeed a computer program and has  the inhuman ability of perfect timing with combos, throw breaks and guarding. In any case, this makes you feel that much more accomplished for actually finishing the mode and is always a place to turn to if you are itching for a challenge.

I quickly grew to dislike Inferno Nightmare in Legendary souls mode...  ok more like hate

    Character Creation- What can I say? It's character creation! In a nutshell, you can create or edit the appearance of an existing character. Items for customization are earned by playing the game and leveling up (in any mode). The only beef I have is the limited and rather un appealing face choices for creation (with the exception of maybe only 5.. in my opinion at least). Other than that, the depth of what you can do is pretty strong with things like adding patterns and creating a little screenshot for your characters card when you select them.

Cool Customization bro...

WTF  is that bro?

 

Multiplayer and Online- This is where Soul Calibur shines! Multiplayer is defiantly what keeps players engaged and for good reasons. Online mode has a typical Ranked matchmaking mode where you are put against a player with a similar rank in an effort to fight for experience points to rank up.. simple enough. Player match is the typical, casual create a lobby mode, complete with text and voice chat capabilities as well as spectator mode... simple enough. Then there is Global Colosseo mode which combines the social environment of Player Match with the competitiveness of Ranked Match by including a almost bi-weekly tournament mode. 

Global Colosseo!!

Need I say more?

Controls/gameplay:

     As to be expected, SCV presents 2D fighting mechanics (frames, directional+button inputs etc..) in a 3D fighting experience. Soul Calibur V tweaked a few well know mechanics of the franchised, as well as added a few;

Critical Gauge- What used to be "Soul Gauge" in the previous titles is now a meter system that builds up to a limit of 200% (two full bars) via hits landed, hits taken, and successful blocks and depletes via special actions such as Critical Edge, Brave Edge, and Guard impact.

Critical Edge- Critical edged is the equivalent to typical fighting games "ultimate" attacks. This move is initiated when the initial hit (or grab for some characters) of the attack lands and sends the players to a very short but sweet cut scene of wreckage. The amount of damage dealt depends on the character. This depletes 100% (full bar) of a critical gauge.

Brave Edge- New to the series. Enhances a character's basic move with additional attacks (or sometimes just an increase of speed or a little "umf" for an extra push). This depletes 50% (you do the math) of a Critical Gauge.

Guard Impact- Instant parry to high low or mid attacks but not unblockabkes or throws. In previous games, this could be done at anytime by anyone but now you are required to use up 50% of your Critical Gauge so timing is now a lot more important and since you will not only leave yourself open, but waste some of your gauge as well. Note: some characters have preset moves with Guard impact qualities.

Just Guard- New to the series. Just guard is a type of parry the allows you to guard an in coming attack without being forced to sit through the entire guard animation, thus allowing you to launch your counter attack much faster. To pull it off, a player must hit the designated guard button right as the incoming attack lands. This proves to be extremely difficult and incredibly risky with a very high reward however. You know you succeeded when your player flashes blue.. you know you failed when you find yourself on the receiving end of a brutal air combo.. Hey, at least it doesn't deplete your Critical Gauge.

Quick Step- New to the series. Quick Step allows you to evade incoming vertical attacks and position yourself in a more advantageous spot, such as the sides or back of an enemy.This, along with SC's characteristic "8-way run" mechanic, makes movement feel extremely fluid and important.  Successful execution sends you dashing in the desired direction with speed lines following behind you. Does not deplete Critical Gauge.  

Quick Step in action!

Patch Updates:

SCV went though a few updates recently, mostly correcting a couple of minor bugs and character balance issues. The patch mainly pertains to the die hard fans who notice these little issues since casual gammers most likely wouldn't even have noticed. These fixes included frame durations and the balancing of some over -powered characters (*cough cough* Maxi... *cough*). The patch improved gameplay for the most part and only makes players even more happy with the game. For in depth description of the updates included in the patch, click here!

Final Opinion:

Pros:

•  In depth Character creation
• In depth fighting mechanics and gameplay yet easy to learn
• Wonderful Online capabilities (including Replays and leaderboards!)
• Latest patch did it's job and nothing less
• Diverse character selection (guest character: Ezio Auditore from Assassins Creed)

Cons:

• Poor Story mode
• "Weird" faces outweigh the "cool faces" in character creation (im just being picky)
• Got rid of some loved charters from previous games such as Talim. (Future DLC maybe?)

Defiantly a must have for both fans of the series and newcomers!