Goo4you 7

I wanted to write a review that was a sparkling one but I can't. There is a lot of good to be found in Soulcalibur, but there's also a lot of I wanted to write a review that was a sparkling one but I can't. There is a lot of good to be found in Soulcalibur, but there's also a lot of garbage that should have been pruned out before it made it's way back to consoles, and much of it is there due to "Nostalgia."



Let me get the worst part out of the way: the story and acting are bad and not "fighting game" bad, because that's not true at all. Mortal Kombat, Injustice, hell even the story from Smash was good so that it can be done. What passes for a narrative here is just a "retelling" (ETERNALLY RETOLD!) of the same thing Bandai Namco put out, just a bit cleaner this time. It's still terrible, and the unacceptable delivery of lines from actors is just soul-cringingly bad. And I know it was left like this on purpose because god forbid to do something that corrects past mistakes; Nah, that just means to you ruining our childhoods (you're not). It destroys most of the game, but it's a fighting game so it can be overlooked?



Well, as it stands right now, the fighting is really out of balance in particular when dealing with the A.I. I can't tell you how many times I've found myself being beaten to the button press by A.I for an entire fight. That isn't the strategy by the A.I, that's reading my presses and cheesing the fight. I've seen the A.I match me step-to-step for a good 30 seconds as I try and dance around the opponent looking for a place to strike. I've watched as every attack animation for almost entire health bar be interrupted by the A.I giving me zero chance even to stand up properly. The A.I also likes to sprint to the ring edges often, sit there and then knock you out. And when I say they sprint I mean they just rubber band to the closest edge and stand there waiting for you to close the gap and mirrors your sidesteps so to keep you on the side that will eventually knock you out of the ring.



Create a character is alright. As a fighting game option, yea it's probably the best; but then ask yourselves just what that entails? It's not that big of a space and what you get is competent, just not the earthshattering thing people make it out to be.



Combat is fun if stilted a bit. Everyone has their tastes so I won't go on about who and why I think this one or that one is better. It is refreshing though there is a fighting game out that isn't relying on FoA and stupid air juggles (because why is any of that a thing at all?) to be the backbone of combat. The 3D plane is utilized well as it always has with SC and SC6 is the best at this to date. It's not about how many hits you can string together, but where to place the strike and when to.



Music is excellent but gets ignored fairly quickly. Visuals and art style are the common-fare for the series, but the color palette (and graphics) are a bit washed out. I'm playing this on a 4k screen with HDR enabled (though SC6 does not currently support HDR as of this writing) and textures are muddy. I never have any framerate problems (on a ps4 pro) and any tearing. I don't doubt there will be an improvement over time, but right now it's a tad subpar (not a deal breaker).



I've always enjoyed SC, I'd even consider it my favorite fighter, and I'm going to enjoy my time with it. I just wish they'd only improve the total package as a whole instead of holding on to past tropes and art style directions because of nostaliga. Worth the purchace, you'll enjoy the experience. … Expand