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Namco isn't skimping on fresh glimpses of Soul Calibur V. Gloss over the brief, mandatory “in days of yore” business to get to a non-stop barrage of character intros delivered via the welcome medium of fast-paced gameplay footage, which should serve to ease veterans back into the fold even while enticing newcomers (unless you don't like swords and randomly-yelled wisecracks, in which case you're SOL). There's also a glut of new screens and concept art, focusing on vampy newcomer Viola and returning Big Bad Astaroth.
Here's the trailer, which should give you a fair idea of which fighter you might like to pick first when the game launches early next year. Producer Hisaharu Tago promises the game will offer a “faster, lighter, and more elegant” addition to the series.
New fighter Viola is apparently a calculated attempt to offset the series' rep for gratuitous skin. She's also probably the closest you'll ever get to seeing what Ezio Auditore would look like as a sexy female Freddy Krueger.
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Returning antagonist Astaroth may be another angle on the same “see, we're well aware half-nude doesn't always equal sexy” message – though doubtless some of you get off on that sort of thing.
Here's a gallery of new screens showing Viola, Astaroth and some more of the SCV crew in action.
Sep 15, 2011
