The eternal quest to wield the power of the soul swords continues as fighters from around the world battle against each other in Soul Calibur IV. Characters compete for their own reasons, but the skirmishes are always centered on the all-powerful weapons of mass destruction. This time around, a new character named Hilde will join the ranks, who looks like Siegfried's female counterpart, to help battle the monstrous creature, Nightmare.

Returning characters will see significant makeovers, including but not limited to some physical upgrades. As is tradition for the Soul Calibur series, the graphical detail for all the characters was significantly upgraded to take full advantage of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 hardware. The fast flying action that uses combos and a variety of weapon types will be further supplemented with environmental dangers to hurt or trap players.

Just to show that this isn't the same old Soul Calibur with a brand new coat of paint, the developers recently revealed the biggest surprise yet. The master fighters themselves, Darth Vader and Yoda, will make appearances as guest characters exclusive to each console. Darth Vader will only be on the PS3 version of Soul Calibur IV while Yoda fights on the Xbox 360. Although the two of them brandish light sabers, it's hard to imagine what stake they could possibly have in the whole Soul Calibur concept. However, this anachronistic crossover works in a strange way and offers the perfect opportunity to pit The Force against the powers of the soul swords.

The tale of souls and swords continues sometime in mid-2008, making it one of few fighting games scheduled to release this year. May The Force be with you when it does.