Soul Calibur 4
mnemex picked it up today, and I spent some time opening a can of whupass on him.
My first impressions:
Overall, it's noticeably prettier than the previous iterations.
The stages feel like they're bigger, though they're still the flat arenas of previous games. Ringouts seem to be harder to do than they used to be, and some of the arenas have barriers at the edges that can break.
After seeing the redesign of Ivy's costume and some of the concept art, I was concerned that the game would be well past my 'ewww' threshhold of oversexualizing the female characters.
It's not. It's still better than the Dead or Alive series. Admittedly, that's a low, low bar. Aside from Ivy's standard costume, it all seems ok. (And her second costume is remarkably restrained. (Well, restrained for a character whose standard costume in prior games has been 'dominatrix'. (I play Ivy for the articles because I like her weapon.)))
Much to my surprise, the new mechanic where the characters' armor/clothing breaks and falls off due to blocking more than you attack hits was not made as titilating as possible. I am unconvinced it adds anything positive to the game -- it doesn't seem to at the level I play at, and the ability to finish the opponent in one move once their defenses break down either never happened or is very badly cued.
Other gameplay stuff I noticed:
Then there's the gratuitous Star Wars characters. I only got to play with Vader (Yoda's Xbox 360 only, and the new guy needs unlocking), and I was not impressed. Artistically, he sticks out like a sore thumb. His moves seemed to be nothing special, though the fact that there's an extra game mechanic just for the Star Wars characters suggests there are some obnoxious specials lurking around that needed limiting. He feels like a tacked-on addition that makes the game less cool for being there. Yoda may be more interesting because he ought to have a distinct fighting style, but I have no great hopes.
I didn't really get to play with the character creation/customization mode, though I have to ask why, given the storage available on modern consoles, are you limited to fifty slots?
All in all, it's more Soul Calibur. I can't judge the main change to the mechanics very well, but it doesn't feel like an improvement.
If SC3 were available for the Xbox, I'd probably get that and pass on this. As it is, I don't know if I'll get it, but I suspect I will.
My first impressions:
Overall, it's noticeably prettier than the previous iterations.
The stages feel like they're bigger, though they're still the flat arenas of previous games. Ringouts seem to be harder to do than they used to be, and some of the arenas have barriers at the edges that can break.
After seeing the redesign of Ivy's costume and some of the concept art, I was concerned that the game would be well past my 'ewww' threshhold of oversexualizing the female characters.
It's not. It's still better than the Dead or Alive series. Admittedly, that's a low, low bar. Aside from Ivy's standard costume, it all seems ok. (And her second costume is remarkably restrained. (Well, restrained for a character whose standard costume in prior games has been 'dominatrix'. (I play Ivy for the articles because I like her weapon.)))
Much to my surprise, the new mechanic where the characters' armor/clothing breaks and falls off due to blocking more than you attack hits was not made as titilating as possible. I am unconvinced it adds anything positive to the game -- it doesn't seem to at the level I play at, and the ability to finish the opponent in one move once their defenses break down either never happened or is very badly cued.
Other gameplay stuff I noticed:
- Soul Charge appears to be gone
- They've redesigned Ivy's move list again.
- Story mode is vastly abbreviated compared to SC3.
- Standard computer AI fights about as well as a pithed frog.
- There are subtle differences in how the controls handle compared to previous games. Or I was rusty at the start. I vote for the former.
- Tira seems to be slower
Then there's the gratuitous Star Wars characters. I only got to play with Vader (Yoda's Xbox 360 only, and the new guy needs unlocking), and I was not impressed. Artistically, he sticks out like a sore thumb. His moves seemed to be nothing special, though the fact that there's an extra game mechanic just for the Star Wars characters suggests there are some obnoxious specials lurking around that needed limiting. He feels like a tacked-on addition that makes the game less cool for being there. Yoda may be more interesting because he ought to have a distinct fighting style, but I have no great hopes.
I didn't really get to play with the character creation/customization mode, though I have to ask why, given the storage available on modern consoles, are you limited to fifty slots?
All in all, it's more Soul Calibur. I can't judge the main change to the mechanics very well, but it doesn't feel like an improvement.
If SC3 were available for the Xbox, I'd probably get that and pass on this. As it is, I don't know if I'll get it, but I suspect I will.