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Available on: PS3, Xbox 360

Soulcalibur V review

Refinements and revamps help restore the lustre to the series

Words: on January 31, 2012
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28 comments

  • TheElephantManchurianCandidate - February 2, 2012 12:36 a.m.

    Soul Calibur transcends history and the world... All your arguments are invalid.

  • RedHarlow - February 1, 2012 10:10 a.m.

    Does it still have the ridiculous narrator when you start matches? "Two souls meet on the battlefield..." That guy was there every time you started a versus match.

  • CitizenWolfie - February 1, 2012 1:16 a.m.

    Much better score than I was expecting. From what I've seen (and played to a small extent) of SCV it felt like more of the same. Might end up getting this after all. Really enjoyed SCIV but I hear that quite a few characters had been dropped. What's the Character Creation like? Are there more options for faces, equipment, weapons, armour?

  • CH3BURASHKA - January 31, 2012 6:37 p.m.

    Fighting games are weird... that's basically all I got. Why did you only compare it to other SC's? Seeing as how fighting games are at the most popular they've been in years, surely it would have been reasonable to compare it to SSF4 or MvC or others?

  • BladedFalcon - January 31, 2012 7:32 p.m.

    Not at all... you evidently don't know much about fighting games, do you? The other fighting games that have come out recently are mainly 2D fighters, it's rather impossible to compare them fairly because te entre gamplay and rules vary greatly. It's like wanting ti compare a contra game with a gears of war game

  • CitizenWolfie - February 1, 2012 1:11 a.m.

    You absolutely should not compare 2D fighting games to 3D fighting games - they're such different play styles that it makes the whole comparison pointless. It's like comparing a racing simulator to a kart racer. Fighting games are only weird if you've never played one for any decent length of time.

  • OohWiiUILookJustLikeBuddyHolly - January 31, 2012 3:50 p.m.

    "Cheesy story mode not for the lactose intolerant" Made me crack up. I sure wasn't expecting a 9 from this and you sure as hell made it sound appealing. Considering Soulcalibur is my favourite fighting game series I might just have to pick this up..

  • Ravenbom - January 31, 2012 3:39 p.m.

    I will buy the shit out of this though probably not until it's used.

  • FauxFurry - January 31, 2012 1 p.m.

    I was really hoping for at least a passing mention to the options available to players in the Create-A-Soul mode and how it stacks up to the previous iterations' character creation modes. That mode was the reason why many people who aren't 3-D fighting game afficianados purchased Soul Calibur 3&4, after all. Oh,well. It's nice to know that Namco has its priorities straight, focusing primarily on refinements to the game play yet not skimping on the visual polish while letting neither of those areas suffer due to putting undue importance on story in a game whose conflict basically always boils down to a scramble over a pair of living weapons.

  • pr0tostar - January 31, 2012 12:32 p.m.

    Nice review Sterling. Touched on a few things that were pretty unclear to me up till today. Real quick I gotta mention that you wrote that Devil Jin is a guest character; just for the sake of preventing misinformation, it's only his STYLE that's unlockable for create-a-soul (another guest character appears using Jin's style, but I won't spoil his identity lol.) Anyway, the Legendary Souls difficulty and the push for online are pretty discouraging (I've always been a fan of SC for the lore and unique gameplay... I'm more about challenges in the 2D realm.) but since I'll have plenty of actual friends to play this with, and the new CAS looks amazing; I don't think even I can go wrong.

  • Squander - January 31, 2012 12:28 p.m.

    great review!!! no word on the music, did you like it?? I heard the OST has been performed and recorded by the Eminence Orchestra, so it must be good, right ;D

  • ZhugeLiang - January 31, 2012 12:25 p.m.

    HELLLLL YEESSSSS I'm gonna create souls so hard

  • talleyXIV - January 31, 2012 12:19 p.m.

    I guess there was a good game behind those boob and ass advertisements.

  • shawksta - January 31, 2012 12:11 p.m.

    Awesome. Eh, sure Fighting games are taking a stand but their being too rough to the noncompetitive and casual types, especially on teaching them how to play the games. They are just for fun, and competitive for the types. Anyways, if SCV makes it to the Wii U/3DS Link better be there.

  • kit07 - January 31, 2012 12:45 p.m.

    i thought Mortal Kombat was good at bringing in the casual types, i had more non-gamer friends play that then any other fighter in recent memory. but that's just my experience with it.

  • samsneeze - January 31, 2012 11:51 a.m.

    If it isn't as good as Soul Calibur II, then there really isn't any point in me picking this up anytime soon or at all really. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown will be out on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network Q3 of this year and Dead or Alive 5(My real "fighter fix") will soon follow that with its Winter release. So yeah, I'm going to pass. I may rent this at some point, though.

  • shawksta - January 31, 2012 12:13 p.m.

    I see where your coming from, but in general 5 is better through this gen, 2 was more open to all types of people, competitive, or just wants to have tons of fun.

  • samsneeze - January 31, 2012 1:04 p.m.

    Five is better because of updated visuals and online? I'm sorry, I'm not following you here. Even then, that's stuff I can do without since there is no point in getting something that I'll honestly only play for a couple of months before Virtua Fighter and DoA come along. They are fighting games that do it better than the rest in my opinion. I still play Dead or Alive 4 online semi-regularly and the game itself was practically a launch title for the 360. Whereas when Soul Calibur IV came out I played it for a few months and then sat it back on the shelf. Getting it now would be crazy. Paying sixty dollars for a series that I only kind of like and won't play very long would be crazy. And at best, by the time Virtua Fighter: Final Showdown comes out, the game will still be upwards of thirty dollars. The review says II>V (Even if it's just a bit) so I'm going with that to be honest. Now if the review had said something like "This Soul Calibur blows every other out the water and sets the new standard for 3D fighters" then I'd be hard pressed to go ahead and give it a shot. The way I see it, Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive function better as fighting games. Their community may not be as strong Soul Calibur's(Mainly due to the fact that VF is viewed as "Hard" or "boring" and DoA is viewed as "lol boobz") but that doesn't really matter when it boils down to the fun and depth to be had with the Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive series.

  • CrashmanX - January 31, 2012 5:15 p.m.

    So rather than find out something yourself, you're going to go off an article that is based off of opinion? I myself never really got into SCII. I played I, III, and IV. I've found III and IV to have good points and bad points. II just never really felt that great to me. If anything, I think far too many people look at II with nostalgia goggles on because Link was in it.

  • samsneeze - January 31, 2012 10:09 p.m.

    This is why making assumptions is bad: I had the Xbox version of Soul Calibur II. A friend of mine had III and I didn't really think I was missing much by not buying it. When IV dropped I figured that there would be enough added by that point to keep me interested, but no, I was wrong. Soul Calibur V is traveling down the same road of "not much happening" as far as I can see. I'll probably get it used when it's like twenty dollars or something. II being better than V was the last thing I needed to hear about the game and has honestly made me lose what little interest I had in the title. And of course I'm going to partially go by the reviewer's opinion, why else would I even bother reading the article? I find it's better than wasting money on a rental or purchase for more of the same.

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More Info

Expected release date: US
2012 (PS3)
2012 (Xbox 360)
UK
2012 (PS3)
2012 (Xbox 360)
Available Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: Fighting
Published by: Namco Bandai
Developed by: Project Soul
ESRB Rating:
Rating Pending
PEGI Rating:
Rating Pending
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