by Robert Workman on Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Nine years ago, SoulCalibur, changed the way we looked at fighting games, thanks to its outstanding visuals, addictive combat and tons of modes. Now it returns as a downloadable game for Xbox Live Arcade. Although the experience has diminished a little, its Soul still burns.
SoulCalibur is a weapons-based fighter featuring several well-trained warriors, each with a particular weapon of choice. For instance, the voluptuous Ivy uses a sword that doubles as a whip, while Kilik carries a bright red bo staff. The game's 19 combatants offer a separate destiny that tie into the mysterious Soul Edge weapon. As the characters reach an eventual final showdown with the devastating Inferno, we learn their fate through attractive hand-drawn cut scenes.
Controls are very user-friendly, enabling you to pull off throwing attacks, combos and stylish maneuvers with ease. With a little practice, you develop techniques with each character, eventually learning what charging or standing attacks work best against an opponent. In addition, the ability to build Soul Charges by pressing the three attack buttons at once is a powerful, even though they temporarily leave you open for a counter-attack.
In the process of transferring the game from a disc to Xbox Live Arcade, SoulCalibur went through minor compression. The fighting is limited to a 4:3 format (versus the 16:9 HDTV format) so the play screen is bordered by black bars. That small limitation aside, the graphics look beautiful, with smoothly animated fighters and stunning backdrops; you'll love watching the "bouncy" Taki take on the freaky Voldo as they fight on a raft floating through an underground cavern. Furthermore, the game still runs at 60 frames per second with very little slowdown. Even better, the orchestral soundtrack and effects sound great, even though a few tracks repeat themselves.
A couple things, however, make SoulCalibur less enjoyable. In an effort to squeeze it under 200 MB, the Mission Mode that made the original game so innovative is gone. It changed things by introducing quirky rules for each match, such as ferocious winds, quicksand floors and poisoned fighters. Without it, everything in the game is unlocked, including the bonus fighters (such as Lizardman), additional costumes and artwork. This detracts from the game's replay value.
We're also disappointed that SoulCalibur doesn't include online play over Xbox Live. It does feature a Versus mode where you can challenge your friends locally, as well as online leaderboards for Survival and Time Attack, but that's it.
Enough with the negatives, SoulCalibur does include an Arcade mode (the game's general story mode), a Time Attack mode (where you must defeat a certain number of enemies in a time limit), a Survival mode (you battle enemies until you lose) and a Museum mode (you can view artwork and character demonstrations, as well as fights with computer opponents). There are also several Achievements to increase your GamerScore, some of which are easier than others (ry winning Time Attack in less than four minutes.)
Minor shortcomings aside, SoulCalibur is a superlative fighting experience and a welcome addition to XBLA. It controls wonderfully, it looks superb and there's still plenty to keep you busy, even without online play and Mission Mode. It's a nice little $10 appetizer to snack on until the main course, SoulCalibur IV, arrives July 29.
Previous Page
Next Page