Soul Calibur 4: K.O! Stage Completed!

[Shixx]

Intro-
So I've played all of the Soul Games 3 was a big let down to me because it was pretty much 2 with an okay Character Creator. So I had high hopes for SC4 going in, see if it met those hopes below.


Story-
When I first played it I went to story mode you can pick Either Normal or Hard. I picked Darth Vader of course. went to my First battle saw me vs 4 others I was like Suh-weet! I quickly went through the 5 stages theres only 5 stages but like I said above theres like 4 challengers per stage except the mini boss and the boss. as far as the Story goes there is close to no story at all. depending on the Character you choose they either seek the two swords or seek to destroy them. there is a short Scrolling text telling you why and how they are going after the sword before you goto the first stage and a short Cutscene after you beat algol, Nightmare or Siegfried. Over all it's a Decent Story for a fighting game but it's time they start a new Sword Fighting game series in my opinion.

Graphics-
The Graphics are the best Fighter Graphics out right now.
you can see cuts in their Clothes if hit in that spot, Armour Breaks off
and the moves and Characters just look very good and clean.
even your create a character gets his/her own cutscene at the end.

Gameplay-
There is plenty to do on SCIV you can easily find your self trying to get every Battle Record or Unlocking every piece of Equipment by climbing the Tower of souls. For a fighting game it is near perfect. The new Critical Finish Feature makes it so you can't just sit there and block the whole match,(although it is very hard to pull off and if it's done to you consider yourself Owned)if you don't know what critical Finish is, if your Armour breaks then the Orb by your Health turns red and breaks the person your fighting can press all the buttons and perform an Ultimate attack instant K.O'ing you. the new and improved Impacts are great for turning a battle around and to cancel out Throws you just hit either A or B depending on the Throw. if you Favor any area of your enemy their armour will break making that area weaker and it takes more of their health away when hit there.
from what I can tell Everyone is pretty well Balanced and your screwed if you Rely on spamming the same attack over and over.



Single player modes-

Story-
Where you pick a character and Fight your way to the fork where they will choose Good or Evil
there is 5 stages. you end up Fighting 12 NPC's including the mini boss on stage 3 and One of the bosses on 5.
Tower of lost souls-
Where you ascend up a Tower Fighting NPC's on each floor and you can do certain things on the different Floors to unlock new Equipment for your created Characters. Such as finish Floor 1 with out losing any Health. There is some Floors like 7 that are pretty hard where you kill the NPC without missing ANY attacks. and the higher you go the harder it gets this is awesome for the Hardcore Soul fans that want to get all the Battle records and Equipment for their created Characters.

Arcade-
Arcade is the Old style SC where you fight one NPC on each stage on 8 stages and the 8th stage being the Boss. You can set the Arcade to the Hardest Difficulty "Edge Master" for a nice Challenge.
Training-
The Training is just that "Training" you can pick a character you want to learn and face your most hated character or who ever you want, View the Attacks in action that you want to learn, Record you playing the other Character and play the Recording with you fighting yourself.. to help you figure out how to avoid Moves you couldn't escape before. Overall the Training Feature is awesome.. for hardcore Fans that want to learn every move.
Versus modes-

Standard Versus/Special Versus-
Fight your Friends With or without the Weapon and Skill bonuses.
Online play (playstation Network)
From what I played it is very easy to find the Match you want and there was no lag what so ever for me you should be alright if you have decent DSL/Cable. it's also very easy to meet up and fight your friends, they implemented a Mode called Friend match where you can see if your friends are on and invite them or join them.
Character Creation-
This Feature is pretty cool there is alot of Equipment to choose from especially if you unlock all of it through Honor and the Tower of lost souls my only complaint is you can't make your own Fighting style yet and not everyone's soul is usable in character creation. Other then that it's pretty sweet. You can also buy Characters to use with your SC Gold here.
Museum-
Chain of souls-
Connects each character and shows you how, you can also Read every characters Back story and more.
Art Gallery-
View and purchase Art
Event Theater-
Watch Opening Ending and various Cutscenes
Battle Records
This is SC4's Achievement Equivalent. With every 5 Records you get an Equipment Package.

Final Thoughts-
A well balanced Fighter with Fun Features. A New comer to the fighting genre can pick this game up and be decent and a Veteran to the Genre can Find depth you will love this game if you like Fighting games, no doubt, but if you don't like Fighting games this probably wont change your mind but rent it, you might find a new love.

9.0/10Most of it's all been done before, it's Just perfected in SC4. Not going to change the Fighting Genre.

[LiNuX]

another great review, good job there - i used to play soul calibur 2 on my PS2 and it was the best fighter for me back then - never played SC3 and something tells me I have to play this one

the part about armor breaking and clothes ripping off sounds awesome, i always like realistic values to fighting games

good review - +rep given for making it thorough, clean, and very clear

now...i just need a console for the game lol

[Flab-Ender]

Nice job, but when you said your character gets their own cut seen, the cutseen is for all custom characters. So if you make another person it'll be the same cutseen.

[Hockeyfan]

I love this game. Loads of fun!

Online is really hard lol.

[Shixx]

Online is pretty hard unless you play alot. Luckily I have some friends who play just as much as I do so were all pretty evenly matched.

[Iceskater101]

good review
this game looks interesting