As a rule, sequels will never be good as the original.
Soul Calibur 4 sort of follows that rule. As in, in most opinions I have gathered, the third Soul Calibur is superior to the fourth.
Well, let?s do a little comparison.
Soul Calibur 4 is a weapons-based fighting game. Everything really revolves around one-on-one duels between characters.
General gameplay is nothing special. Press Y to hit opponent with blunt object. Press X to slap them with it. Press B to put your foot up their ass. Simple stuff, really.
There are over twenty different characters to use, each with their own style, and a number of weapons in that style. So it?s all very simple and samey. Yes there are different moves, and yes, they?re probably worth using. If you can keep your opponent in one place long enough.
Advancing from SCIII, SCIV has added a new aspect to combat. Fatalities.
Oh. Sorry. I meant Critical Finishes.
Every character has a ?Soul Gauge?. An orb next to their health bar. If they keep blocking your attacks, you harm their Soul Gauge, rather than their actual health. Knock the Soul Gauge down far enough, and you will deliver a Soul Crush. Press the right button as soon as you see this, and you are treated to a cutscene of your character beating the **** out of their character.
Always good fun.
For some reason, the Chronicles of the Sword mode is dropped from this game.
If you don?t know what this mode is, look it up. Then play it. It?s a very fun game mode. And I want it back.
It?s been replaced by something called ?Tower of Souls?. Basically, you must climb a tower. There aren?t any stairs. In fact, there?s not even a roof. It?s just a large mesa in lava. But the aim is to beat people up. Sometimes there are special conditions and environmental effects. But the point still stands. Beat people up.
Once you reach a certain floor in the tower, you can fight your way to the bottom again.
God knows why you?d want to go back to the bottom.
A feature that actually stuck from SCIII is the Character Creation. And it is far from simple.
In SCIII, creating a character was all about looks. You chose armour because it looked good. The only things that would affect your performance were the weapons.
In SCIV, however, each armour piece has a different effect. For example, the Leviathan armour may look pretty, and I chose it because it did, but it has some bad things. And good.
It boosts your attack by a fair bit, but to compensate, cuts off 50% of your maximum health. The only way I can survive in battles now is because I wield the Spirit Sword, Soul Calibur, and it gives me a 25% health bonus.
But still, I?m starting fights on 75% health, where the maximum is 200%.
The only way around this is to play on Standard Versus. But that also nullifies your weapon effects. And that makes me sad.
The versus modes have changed too. Special Versus in SCIII used to have special battlefield conditions, like Slip Out. Which was a lot of fun. Basically, the arena was like ice, and you had to kill your opponent, while trying not to slide off the arena.
That?s missing from SCIV. And that also makes me sad.
Multiplayer is well?.just like singleplayer. And that?s all it can really be described as. However, there is one key difference. In Story mode, you don?t have to deal with attack-spammers. These players choose characters like Cervantes or Kilik, and just use the same move over and over again, to the point where you want to garrotte them.
It is immensely satisfying to knock them out of their flow. Cervantes? spam move has him teleporting into the air, then coming down hard for a guard-breaking strike. I sidestepped him and swung my sword like a baseball bat.
I really can?t think of anything else to write. Really. It?s just a game where two people hit each other with various objects, and suffer from bizarrely proportioned breasts.
Soul Calibur 4 sort of follows that rule. As in, in most opinions I have gathered, the third Soul Calibur is superior to the fourth.
Well, let?s do a little comparison.
Soul Calibur 4 is a weapons-based fighting game. Everything really revolves around one-on-one duels between characters.
General gameplay is nothing special. Press Y to hit opponent with blunt object. Press X to slap them with it. Press B to put your foot up their ass. Simple stuff, really.
There are over twenty different characters to use, each with their own style, and a number of weapons in that style. So it?s all very simple and samey. Yes there are different moves, and yes, they?re probably worth using. If you can keep your opponent in one place long enough.
Advancing from SCIII, SCIV has added a new aspect to combat. Fatalities.
Oh. Sorry. I meant Critical Finishes.
Every character has a ?Soul Gauge?. An orb next to their health bar. If they keep blocking your attacks, you harm their Soul Gauge, rather than their actual health. Knock the Soul Gauge down far enough, and you will deliver a Soul Crush. Press the right button as soon as you see this, and you are treated to a cutscene of your character beating the **** out of their character.
Always good fun.
For some reason, the Chronicles of the Sword mode is dropped from this game.
If you don?t know what this mode is, look it up. Then play it. It?s a very fun game mode. And I want it back.
It?s been replaced by something called ?Tower of Souls?. Basically, you must climb a tower. There aren?t any stairs. In fact, there?s not even a roof. It?s just a large mesa in lava. But the aim is to beat people up. Sometimes there are special conditions and environmental effects. But the point still stands. Beat people up.
Once you reach a certain floor in the tower, you can fight your way to the bottom again.
God knows why you?d want to go back to the bottom.
A feature that actually stuck from SCIII is the Character Creation. And it is far from simple.
In SCIII, creating a character was all about looks. You chose armour because it looked good. The only things that would affect your performance were the weapons.
In SCIV, however, each armour piece has a different effect. For example, the Leviathan armour may look pretty, and I chose it because it did, but it has some bad things. And good.
It boosts your attack by a fair bit, but to compensate, cuts off 50% of your maximum health. The only way I can survive in battles now is because I wield the Spirit Sword, Soul Calibur, and it gives me a 25% health bonus.
But still, I?m starting fights on 75% health, where the maximum is 200%.
The only way around this is to play on Standard Versus. But that also nullifies your weapon effects. And that makes me sad.
The versus modes have changed too. Special Versus in SCIII used to have special battlefield conditions, like Slip Out. Which was a lot of fun. Basically, the arena was like ice, and you had to kill your opponent, while trying not to slide off the arena.
That?s missing from SCIV. And that also makes me sad.
Multiplayer is well?.just like singleplayer. And that?s all it can really be described as. However, there is one key difference. In Story mode, you don?t have to deal with attack-spammers. These players choose characters like Cervantes or Kilik, and just use the same move over and over again, to the point where you want to garrotte them.
It is immensely satisfying to knock them out of their flow. Cervantes? spam move has him teleporting into the air, then coming down hard for a guard-breaking strike. I sidestepped him and swung my sword like a baseball bat.
I really can?t think of anything else to write. Really. It?s just a game where two people hit each other with various objects, and suffer from bizarrely proportioned breasts.
