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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land One of the first Soulcalibur IV user created creations we were sent, Solid Snake and Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 felt like the first drop in the bucket of recreated classic characters. Here’s a torrent of them: Mario and Link; Sub Zero, Shao Kahn, Scorpion, and Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat; B. Orchid and TJ Combo from Killer Instinct; Blanka and Chun-Li from Street Fighter. They’re all in here. There’s even a few guest appearances from folks like Dr. Doom and Thor from the pages of Marvel Comics.
Don’t ask us to explain the Skee-Lo soundtrack, though. We just work here. Thanks to Jeremy for the clip tip via Arcade Junkies.
When Namco first introduced SoulCalibur – the sequel to Soul Edge – to arcades in 1998, fighting game fans took notice. They then took that arcade gameplay, tightened things up, polished up the graphics, and released it on the Dreamcast, creating what many consider to be the best 3D fighter of all time. Even the next two sequels couldn’t stand up to the DC version of SoulCalibur, despite the addition of gimmicky guest characters and an in-depth create-a-fighter mode respectively. Now Namco Bandai has released SoulCalibur IV on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, perhaps hoping that the extra polish of next-gen graphics, the new create-a-fighter, and the addition of online play will launch it out of the shadow of the original. Failing that, hey look – Star Wars characters!
The question here is, are any of the new challengers enough to take on the toughest opponents of all? Game reviewers ready? Fight!
Above we have two backcover magazine ads. One is for Soulcalibur IV, and the other one is for Moe Sta. You remember Moe Sta, it’s that English training game that features cutesy girls and features 5,000 English questions that cover the spectrum from junior high school school tests to the Tokyo University entrance examination to help players “level up” their English.
While SCIV is rated CERO C (15 and up) for violence most likely, Moe Sta is CERO B (12 and up). Just check out that Moe Sta ad! It reads: “Do BLANK with me?” Hit the jump for a bigger version.
Soul Calibur IV is due out tomorrow (if it hasn’t already made its way to shelves on the sly), and if the idea of paying $100+ for this gorgeous fighting title makes you want to cry or throw pieces of chair at your dad, Ecogamer recommends you drop into K-mart or JB Hi-Fi. Both stores have the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, with the former platform going for $79 and the latter $89.
If you’re of the trade-in persuasion, I’d suggest hitting the jump. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay top-dollar for bouncing 3D norks jubblies chesticles breasts. Damn.
With character creation tools in our current-gen games comes some serious character creation; most of it character re-creation. To wit, Kotaku reader CB has gone ahead and created both Raiden and Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid 2 style, to tell a tale of souls and swords eternally retold. Or something. Read this post with Soulcalibur announcer guy voice and it might make more sense.
More pics of the sneaking souls in our gallery below. We await the flood of user creations when the game officially streets in North America this week.
Here’s an official trailer for Soulcalibur IV touting all the new stuff it has to offer. It’s worth it just to see the customised character they made — because a guy with a purple afro carrying a cricket bat is definitely some next-level shit for a fighter.
They also discuss Hilda, the armored-up female knight, and some new gameplay elements, such as the “Soul gauge” that controls when a character will have his or her block broken, leading to hits that destroy their equipment, and enabling their opponent’s finishing move. Online play and the aformentioned deep customisation options are also mentioned.
Above, a pic that supposedly proves that, via the wonders of DLC, you will indeed be able to play as both Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur IV, regardless of which version of the game you buy. It’s certainly far from conclusive proof, in that all it proves is that Yoda is on the left of a digital image while Vader’s on the right, but far crazier, far less likely rumours have turned out to be true than this one.
Update – Perhaps sensing the internet’s trepidation, the source of the pics – GamersReports – have thrown a video clip up on YouTube, showing Yoda and Vader going at it. You can see it after the jump. Still not proof, but it’s fun to watch regardless.
SoulCalibur IV is going on sale soon, and here’s your first look at the underoos in the game’s “Character Creation”. SCIV is bringing back the “Character Creation” from SoulCalibur III, and previously, we posted how it was possible to do things like created an Afro Ninja. Really, this right here is the reason for you to buy this game. And, no! It’s so not because of the trite girls in bikini fighting. (Yawn.) It’s for “Nightmare” and “Lizardman”. Forget Darth Vader, forget Yoda, Nightmare and Lizardman deserve to be on the box way more than those Lucas characters. Way more.
Click through the gallery to see what I’m rambling on about.
He still doesn’t belong in this game, but if he’s going to be in it, you may as well use him in his native surrounds. That way you can at least pretend Kilik’s an curious bonus character in a Star Wars fighting game, and not the other way around.
It seems almost pointless to write hands-on impressions of a game several of you have already gotten your hands on, by I assure you my hands are professional trained to receive impressions still harbouring the faint traces of a spiral notebook I fell asleep on in 1989. Those are lasting impressions right there. Either way, I got a chance to test my Soul Calibur IV mettle against some of the Namco Bandai folk at E3 last week, and boy did I ever fail to kick complete arse. Word to the wise: don’t button mash against employees of the company creating the game. They are wise to such tricks. Could I alter my strategy and beat them at their own game?
No. They were very good. After all, at that point they’d been playing the game for three days straight, so I didn’t stand much of a chance. Still I took a few swings, only to discover the force isn’t quite so strong in this one.
