Fighting games seem to be thinning out of late, buried under a slew of first person shooters and sports games, but one particular gem has managed to emerge from the fray to continue a following that goes back decades, back to a simpler time when there were arcades in malls and most people got their head-to-head action from a room full of bleeping machines. Today we’re talking Soul Calibur IV, part of the long running series.
Featuring all your favorite fighters, and a panoply of new ones (including for reasons that still escape me Garen Malek, Darth Vader and Yoda depending on what version of the game you buy and whether or not you go in for the downloadable content), you’ll plunge headlong through the stories of all the various fighters, which is why you’re not getting a plot synopsis of the game this time around. It would just, plain and simply, take too long. Each character has his or her own individual story, and occasionally, it even overlaps with other characters’ stories to make this strange sort of massive latticework of plot over the whole game. I’m actually very impressed that this ridiculous brawler game is getting THIS kind of plot.
And your involvement with that plot won’t even feel all that minimalist. You’ll be fighting all the other characters, sometimes one on one, other times two on two, and sometimes even four against one as you advance through the stages to find out what your character’s particular connection to the legendary cursed sword is this time around.
I’m actually very surprised by this—normally fighter games, for me, have been pointless button mashers where you try to memorize lists of moves for use against opponents of varying and in some cases downright ridiculous skill levels, but this time I got access to a whole array of moves that required little more than a controller direction and a button press, plus a whole bunch more if I wanted them. I could use Yoda’s force powers to fling myself headlong around the screen, or if I wanted to, I could just use his surprising agility to make short hops and bash my opponent into oblivion with my light saber. There was a LOT of variety here, and frankly, I was glad for the opportunity to just sit down with the game and let the smack down go on. I even got little nuggets of plot regularly as I beat an opponent or series thereof, just enough in just close enough increments to make me want to keep moving. I got through Yoda, Voldo and Ivy’s plotlines in maybe a half-hour’s play time, but man, I wanted to catch everybody else’s plots too.
This game might be a bit big for just one rental—and if you’re a party game sort you may want to buy a copy just to keep it on hand—but even just a short time with it won’t leave you disappointed or missing a whole lot of the plot. This is a game with lots of surprises that looks beautiful and plays even better. I don’t recommend fighting games very often—maybe because I don’t get many of them TO recommend in the first place—but I can’t see a way you won’t have fun with Soul Calibur IV.
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