Soul Calibur IV - Hands on

Having said that, the parry system is as sharp as ever and this time leaves your opponent on the floor, rather than staggered. At first this seems like a good thing, but you then realise that the fall doesn’t damage your opponent and the fact they’re on the ground makes it near-impossible to start a combo on them, especially as their recover is near-instant.

There’s now an armour system, much like that of Fighting Vipers from the mid-nineties. Losing your armour is enough to lose you the fight, not least because it suddenly leaves the female characters showing a lot more flesh than before.

The series’ usual problem of button mashing seems to be present still. We managed a perfect victory against one fellow journalist, only for him to beat us next round by using the same double-swipe vertical attack for 90% of the round. Ring-outs seem more common too, especially when playing as Yoda, as many of his attacks see him leap forwards several feet.

It’s still gorgeous to behold, however, and the quality of the character models is superb. We love the ornamental appearance of Siegfried’s sword, all shining silver and bloom lighting. Oh yes, that’s another thing – this is ‘next gen’ Soul Calibur, so bloom lighting is rampant throughout. Of course we can’t cast judgement until we’ve played the final game properly, but we’re a bit disappointed by this. Soul Calibur should be about pirates, galleons, swords, treasure chambers and great warriors. Not about Yoda, bloom lighting and button mashing.