Soul Calibur 5 was released in Europe on Friday 3 February following worldwide releases through the week. Fighter fans from all over were excited to see what novel offerings would be brought to the table by a new incarnation of an old villian; a Spartan-styled warrior that happens to be the son of a well known heroine; and
an assassin born to nobility, orphaned by injustice and trained to become a deadly weapon that strikes from the shadows (Batman?) - Nightmare, Patroklos, and Ezio (pictured in cover art above).
It would seem however that gamers were not as excited as previously expected:
gamebandits.com tells us that in it's first week SoulCal5 sold less than half the units of it's prequel, shifting around 35k units for the PS3 and a mere 7.7k on the X360. You'd think 360 users might be more grateful after getting Yoda as a bonus character for Namco's 2008 release ...
Visually SoulCal5 definitely satisfied the high fidelity necessities of next generation gaming with beefed up graphics that look so good it makes babies cry. The graphics are so good they dig up the remains of the PS1's Soul Blade, sew it back together again, bring it back to life, just to slice it's head off again! All the movements are smooth and the reaction time is as excellent as is expected of any good fighting game.
The roster is an odd situation. We want some fresh blood but we also want to be able to use classic characters and styles that we've spent so much time rolling out combos with. Rather than going down the Super Street Fighter 4 route of having an army of characters, SoulCal5 has brought in some new fighters to replace the old ones and then given them the exact same fighting style as the character they replaced but for a few alterations in the speed and power and minutely different signature attacks. Those who pre-ordered with GAME will have had the refreshing if not a little frustrating experience that is Dampierre. Dampierre is awesome in his ways, however, as those of us who jumped in to numerous battles with him discovered, his fighting style takes a while to master.
Then there's the Ezio situation... I'll keep it brief. Everyone was excited about Ezio Auditore as the guest character and we knew he would be good ... but the problem is he is too good and this will be exploited, that is all (Ezio/Ken?).
Create A Character mode has improved. Though you lack items at the beginning of the game, the introduction of creating your own portrait for your character adds another element of creativity to it and you are rewarded by seeing these portraits make appearances in loading screens like a hall of fame.
The Tower of Souls and Edge Master modes are gone and the story mode is not substantial enough to make up for this loss. The game loses appeal quickly with little longevity to keep you playing, and once the novelty facto wears off there is little else left.
It is a good game in itself and part of an even greater series of games but this instalment suffers from a limited roster, little appeal for a single player, and apparently lack of interest. Playing online is still as good as ever but that just doesn't seem to be sufficient to make up for what has been lost. Namco's Soul Calibur 5 delivered everything it promised ... but perhaps it didn't promise enough.
Read a full review at
IGN.com
Start!
 |
| Remember this!? |
