Before I start the review, just want to mention this is my 100th post and my official one-year anniversary of Gamerrob! Now onwards with the review.
Giant flashy fighters? Check. Explosive new gameplay mechanics? Check. Ezio Auditore? Synchronized. But do all of these components add up to be a mean fighting machine, or is this one fighter you should pass? Read on to find out!
Sound: When I first heard the AC remix, I fell in love with this game’s soundtrack. Since then, I’ve heard plenty more entrancing and mystical tunes, and this game no doubt has some of the best music I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing to. Sound: 9/10
Presentation: Definitely a step up from the last Soul Calibur game, because the graphics are superb and some of the most revolutionary I’ve seen to date. Stages and environments are differed and varied (especially when “ring out” brings you to a whole new level of the stage), and I congratulate Soul Calibur for being one of those rare games that has a lot of CGI cutscenes throughout its story mode. Presentation: 10/10
Gameplay: I’m glad to say for the most part SC gets it right. Gameplay is fast, frantic and intense. The eightway running and barrel rolling mechanic works great, there are hundreds of flashy combos to unleash, and the new “critical edge” (super move gauge) works great and although its hard to pull off when you do it looks phenomenal. There are loads of fighters, adding up to about thirty in all. But on top of that, character creator has seen some major improvements, allowing you to make billions of different characters that suit your style. On the topic of stage design, they look great. I especially like the “ring out” mechanic where you get dropped into a totally new stage, adding to the already huge variety. Overall, this game has a character, stage and difficulty for everyone which is something most games can’t say. Gameplay: 9.5/10
Multiplayer: Now, although this was the big hook for most people, for me it’s a damper to the real fun. Although there’s never any lag and the online itself is great, online matches have you sitting in lobbies for ten minutes, and when you get into a match your opponent will slam you into a wall and repeatedly pummel you leaving no room for escape. Some games find ways to avoid move-spamming and cornering, but here the minute my opponent gets his hands on me I go to my kitchen to get a drink and come back when the match is over. Oh, and there’s only two online match modes. Multiplayer: 5.5/10
Length: The fairly large array of singleplayer modes and the two hour story mode kept me busy for quite some time, and I’ll admit I even got about an hour out of online multiplayer. Character creation was an extremely fun time killer though, adding a couple extra hours onto the total amount of time I spent playing. Length: 8/10
Overall: Soul Calibur V gets an 8.4/10! A great fighter that rivals some of the best I’ve played *coughSuper Smash Bros. Brawlcough* and is definitely worth checking out.
Robert's Interstellar Soapbox 