Written by: PlayDevil.com

 

 

 

From the moment I saw "SoulCalibur V" I was instantly reminded how much I enjoy the series. While I would never claim especially talented at the one-on-one sword swinging fighter it is a series that has continued to hold my attention far longer than any of its 3D fist-fighting cousins. It may be the weapons, the intuitive four button combat mechanic, it could even be the arcing streaks of colour with firework-like clashes that accentuated the action; but whatever reason I always find myself buying each new instalment Namco-Bandai produce.

 

Sitting down at the huge monitor with the Hori arcade stick on my lap I was happy to see the eclectic cast of characters on show. Many fan favourites remained (or at least some clone of them, such as Taki who now was reborn as Natsu) but fighter of choice, Kilik, was still missing from the line-up so I fell back on faithful old Siegfried for my first battle.

 

Combat was as instinctive as ever, with horizontal and vertical strikes joined by kick and block. My limited repertoire of tricks and moves quickly returned to me, as my opponent and I bashed away at the sticks, grinning inanely at the games kinetic action. Tapping out a few combos through muscle memory I even found myself winning a few matches. Half remembering, half mashing my way through combat it struck me how familiar it felt, and yet better with a greater fluidity both in animation and control.

 

Admittedly a few of the cast didn’t feel quite as balanced as their counterparts. Initially I put this down to my lack of practice but a few members of Namco Bandai team present echoed this thought as the evening progressed giving me some heart that my instincts weren’t completely off.

 

Most stricking of these imbalances was Ezio, the games guest fighter. A far more fitting addition than previous guest to the series (though I will always have a special place for Link in the Gamecube version of Soul Calibur 2), Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed star looked at home in the menagerie of fighters. Already a bladed fighter, he made use of both an elegant long sword he had strapped to his back and his arsenal of hidden weapons. His aptitude however was just a little too great in the arena, with his additional weapon giving him a little too much of an edge especially in combination with his acrobatic speed.

 

These small balance issues permeated the game and felt particularly pronounced in the new characters (probably due as much to my ignorance of their moves as any actually imbalance) but in every other mechanical and graphical aspect the latest Soul Calibur game seems to be shaping up incredibly. Characters and backgrounds have become ever more detailed (with the ridiculous members continuing their decent in to the bizarre), and the new cast all seem to fit well in to the series bizarre story even if I do draw issue with more outlandish cast members.

It will be interesting to see how Soul Calibur 5 fairs in a post Street Fighter 4 world with the new resurgence in fighting games popularity. It certainly seems to shaping up to impress, now it will all come down to the next few months of balancing.

 

"SoulCalibur V" will release for PS3 and 360 in February 2012, and I must say I am looking forward to it.