Soul Calibur IV [Xbox 360]

"It has been a while since I've played a game from the Soulcalibur/Soul Edge series. The last game I’ve played was Soulcalibur III for the Playstation 2 and I remember not being exactly impressed by it, although it received nothing but good critics.

This feeling changed when I got hold of this fifth installment in the series. Wow, check out those visuals, this is how a next-generation fighting game has to look! All characters are extremely well detailed. As you progress you can dress your fighter with better equipment and armour because you earn money by winning fights. But prepared as your armour can start to fall off when your character receives to many hits. The attention to detail is absolutely brilliant.

The backgrounds are also worth mentioning as they tend to draw your attention away from the fighting. Most memorable moment has to be seeing Yoda fighting against Darth Vader's apprentice, Starkiller, in the Star Destroyer Docking Bay. Tie-fighters were flying over our heads, Imperial Star Destroyers passed on by in the background, explosions occured everywhere and lightsabers clashed in on each other. I was to busy looking at what was happening in the background that I hopelessly lost to Starkiller; who is a brilliant addition to this game by the way!

There are various modes available like a story mode for each character, an arcade mode of course and a mode called Tower of Lost Souls in which you get to fight stronger opponents as you progress. Your character climbs up or down this Tower of Souls depending if you win or lose a game. Just like the fighters themselves the modes available all feel like they are actually different from each other, which is a good thing for the lastability of this fighting game.

But without a doubt the best thing about Soulcalibur IV just has to be the support of online play though. Although I did suffer with some lag occassionaly, it really made up when a versus game was lag-free. I actually won a few times...

All in all, Soulcalibur IV is a brilliant fighting game. Don’t worry if you haven’t played one of the earlier editions: you don’t have to be an expert in fighting to enjoy this game. On the other hand, this game can be a bit to easy for the more experienced gamer. Either way, go check it out if you’re into fighting games: you won’t be disappointed."