I've played Soul Calibur since the Dreamcast. I'm not good at it (I'm not good at any fighting game), but the Soul Calibur series has always had a special place in my heart. But as of late, it has turned into a sort of love/hate relationship, and Soul Calibur 5 only adds to that.
One of the first games I bought for the original Xbox was Soul Calibur 2, which featured Spawn, and it was awesome. You could play through the story with any character, Spawn was awesome (he could fly and shoot fireballs), and it was a blast with my friends.
Then came Soul Calibur 3. Damn that was a good game. The Chronicles of the Sword mode was perhaps the best idea Project Soul has had in a decade; it was well done and gave your created characters their own story mode. Now, there was a lot more to it that that, but I'll leave it there for anyone who wants to to find out for themselves how fun and involving it was.
After that came Soul Caibur 4. Damn. Just... damn. I wanted this to be so good. SC3 was awesome, but this game? This game was anything but. Arcade mode was ass, as the CPU difficulty was set for each round, and it eventually got to the point where the AI would read your button presses and instantly counter or block or just throw you off of the edge. In fact, it was like that for every offline mode: you play for a while, and the further you got along in that mode, the more difficult it became to the point where the only thing I could do was attempt grapples for the duration of the match and hope I won or threw the opponent off of the edge. SC4 also introduced a new Critical gauge thing which was never really explained well enough for me to understand, so I would get roflstomped and have no way to defend myself.
Now, we have Soul Calibur 5. Is it better than 4? Yes. Is it as good as 3? Nope.
Pros:
-Looks great (mostly, some textures are bland that really shouldn't be)
-Sounds great
-New characters ZWEI and Viola are cool
-same basic mechanics, plus a more refined Critical guage system, breaks, unblockable attacks, etc. It has definitely gotten deeper and more intricate
-The ability to change difficulty levels. This shouldn't even count, but after SC4, it does.
Cons:
-No tutorial or introduction modes for new players. At all. New to this game? Good f**kin' luck pissing around in training mode for thirty hours.
-The CPU is still a cheating bastard. Even on normal diffficulty, it seems that if you beat the CPU 2/3 rounds, the difficulty level rises for the 3rd round. Also, if you pause the game, then unpause, the CPU can move before you can.
-Talim, Kilik, and Taki are out. For no good reason. Also gone: My favorite, Zasalamel.
-Character Creator is still shallow, but thankfully had those clothing and weapon stats removed.
-Story mode is a big, steaming pile of WTF and are you serious. And mediocrity. It's like the developers went "hey, we got that online thing down great... oh crap, we forgot a story mode!"
Honestly, if all you want is a fighting game, go for it. The online mode is well-done, but other than that, there is zero substance.
234/489 stars.
One of the first games I bought for the original Xbox was Soul Calibur 2, which featured Spawn, and it was awesome. You could play through the story with any character, Spawn was awesome (he could fly and shoot fireballs), and it was a blast with my friends.
Then came Soul Calibur 3. Damn that was a good game. The Chronicles of the Sword mode was perhaps the best idea Project Soul has had in a decade; it was well done and gave your created characters their own story mode. Now, there was a lot more to it that that, but I'll leave it there for anyone who wants to to find out for themselves how fun and involving it was.
After that came Soul Caibur 4. Damn. Just... damn. I wanted this to be so good. SC3 was awesome, but this game? This game was anything but. Arcade mode was ass, as the CPU difficulty was set for each round, and it eventually got to the point where the AI would read your button presses and instantly counter or block or just throw you off of the edge. In fact, it was like that for every offline mode: you play for a while, and the further you got along in that mode, the more difficult it became to the point where the only thing I could do was attempt grapples for the duration of the match and hope I won or threw the opponent off of the edge. SC4 also introduced a new Critical gauge thing which was never really explained well enough for me to understand, so I would get roflstomped and have no way to defend myself.
Now, we have Soul Calibur 5. Is it better than 4? Yes. Is it as good as 3? Nope.
Pros:
-Looks great (mostly, some textures are bland that really shouldn't be)
-Sounds great
-New characters ZWEI and Viola are cool
-same basic mechanics, plus a more refined Critical guage system, breaks, unblockable attacks, etc. It has definitely gotten deeper and more intricate
-The ability to change difficulty levels. This shouldn't even count, but after SC4, it does.
Cons:
-No tutorial or introduction modes for new players. At all. New to this game? Good f**kin' luck pissing around in training mode for thirty hours.
-The CPU is still a cheating bastard. Even on normal diffficulty, it seems that if you beat the CPU 2/3 rounds, the difficulty level rises for the 3rd round. Also, if you pause the game, then unpause, the CPU can move before you can.
-Talim, Kilik, and Taki are out. For no good reason. Also gone: My favorite, Zasalamel.
-Character Creator is still shallow, but thankfully had those clothing and weapon stats removed.
-Story mode is a big, steaming pile of WTF and are you serious. And mediocrity. It's like the developers went "hey, we got that online thing down great... oh crap, we forgot a story mode!"
Honestly, if all you want is a fighting game, go for it. The online mode is well-done, but other than that, there is zero substance.
234/489 stars.