PS3 exclusive content for Soul Calibur 4 available on XBL? Could this be a sign of things to come from Sony and its affiliates? Could we be seeing the end of PS3 exclusives?

I will, of course, start with the fact that you can now download Darth Vader on the XBL marketplace.  He was originally the PS3 exclusive character and we got Yoda.  I do not know if Yoda is available for download to PS3 owners, but I would assume so.

Some believe that this was planned from the beginning as there was an empty character slot even after you unlocked all the characters.  I hasten to point out that without Vader there was an odd number of character and there had to be an empty slot as no character selection screen can deal with asymmetry.

The other option going through the rumor mill is that the people making games that are PS3 exclusive aren’t happy because PS3 sales are not going so hot. Which they are not.  Sony announced this past week that they are planning to lay off another 8000 employees.  Why would you make exclusive content for a system that isn’t selling as well as the competitors?

All that aside, I would like to take this opportunity (in light of new content) to do an extremely late review of Soul Calibur 4.  I know it’s been out for a while, but I’m such a huge fan of the series that I’m ashamed that I didn’t do this review already.

SC4 is of course the latest installment in the SC series and varies only slightly from the last one in only a few, but important, ways.

First there are the new characters. Big shock, I know but important none the less.  First and foremost you have Yoda (360, PS3?), Darth Vader’s secret apprentice from the force unleashed (shameless and for both systems) and you have Darth Vader (originally PS3 only now on both).  As fun as these characters are to play it lead to the hope that you could use the create-a-character (upgraded as well) to make yourself a Jedi.  This hope was unfortunately crushed as you can’t do it.  If I’m wrong please correct me, but I’ve logged so many hours and have the player’s guide and all roads seem to be leading away from the Jedi school, but I digress.

Other characters are introduced for arbitrary reasons other then developer boredom (I hope).  First you have the group of five random female characters.  Each regular character encounters one of them on their journey through story mode for no clear reason that I can determine.  Also none of them have their own fighting style.  Their weapons are different but they all use a character’s established move set, so really it’s just like you took one of the main characters and changed their gender.

Hilde is the only character (or anything at all really) to come over from the “tales of swords” mode from the last game.  She’s the female night in armor and instead of fighting with just a lance she has a lance and sword in either hand.  For a woman who looks 150 pounds with the armor on this weapon combo is quite a feat, but if we can still accept Ivy’s sword-whip then physics and torque really don’t matter do they?

Finally there is the new “boss” character, Algol. I use quotes as not all of the characters final battle is with Algol. The other end fights being against either Siegfried or Nightmare, which is not shocking.  Algol is referred to as the hero King and wields the power of both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.

Moving on to the modes of gameplay there are the standard modes of story and arcade modes, as well as the new “Tower of Lost Souls”.  Arcade mode is very much the same as it always was with your set 8 rounds leading up to the Siegfried, Nightmare, or Algol.  The only difference is that the battle before will always be the apprentice.  Story mode is not as in depth as it was in the last game and almost operates under the assumption that you are already intimately familiar with all the characters.

As I previously mentioned, with the exception of one character, there is nothing left over from the “Tales of Swords” mode from SC3.  I must say I was a little disappointed as I really liked that game play mode.  It had a fairly generic story but it drew you in and you wanted to just keep playing it over and over.  At least I did.  SC4 brings you the “Tower of Lost Souls” (tols from now on for simplicity).  In tols you have 2 options, simply put, up or down.  If you choose assent you have 60 floors to go facing numerous sets of characters with treasures to be won by accomplishing set tasks for each floor.  Decent you have 40 floors and are awarded a specific treasure every 5 floors.  Sounds like the easier path, right?  Nope. Assent you get to pick new characters (1-3 working as tag teams) ever couple of floors and get full health again.  Decent you just keep going with 2 characters as your tag team and go on your merry way.  Neither one is easy. As I’m writing this I’ve only made it to floor 20 going up and about 10 going down.  All I can say is build your characters wisely before trying either.  I should also point out that all the items, armors, and special equipments unlocked here can also be unlocked by unlocking 30 achievements on the 360 or their equivalent on PS3.

All in all if you’ve been a big fan of the series, as I have, you’ll love this latest installment.  If you are new to the world of fighting games you’ll probably love it too.  If you are, however, looking for a fighting game with story and depth then please get Soul Calibur 3, play that for a few months, fall in love with all the characters, then pick this one up and you’ll love it too.

 

This entry was posted by Chris on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.