After six minutes and three seconds, we’ve completed SoulCalibur yet again. The pencil-drawn endings, capped off with entering a trio of letters to initial our victory, are nostalgic enough, but the six glorious minutes of massacre a la Mitsurigi that took place prior has us in high-five mode.
With SoulCalibur IV coming in a mere month, we were sceptical as to how relevant a decade old fighter could possibly be, but after relishing in Kilik’s notorious cheap-ass-ery, Nightmare’s gigantic sword and devastating power, and the stupendous existence of one Lizard Man, we were convinced that no matter how great the upcoming Namco fighter looks, the roots will always remain relevant; even if Taki and Ivy are still despicably offensive.
After almost ten years, the sequel to Soul Edge is as tight and responsive as we expect any modern AAA fighter to be, and with the increase in resolution and smoothed out textures, we were amazed at how slick the classic looked in comparison to other recent titles. From the lighting to the fluid fighting animation, SoulCalibur has never looked so good – though we wish to death that it was widescreen, and not marred with vertical borders – and it’s baffling that the title is being released as a download for Xbox Live Arcade when you take in to consideration the amount of available gameplay.
Various single player and multiplayer modes await players – including timed bouts and up to 16-character team battles – who long for The Good Ol’ Days, or, if the latest iteration of SoulCalibur and its intergalactic cast do not quite catch your fancy, this re-release will knock your socks off when it hits digital shelves on July 2. Without Xbox Live integration, however, it will be a tough sell to fans who want to kick it with their online buddies. Still, this is going to be some of the most multiplayer fun you will have on your couch all year.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Xbox live’s downloadable content is much more interesting to me then most of the retail games for 360.