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On February, 3 2012 Namco Bandai Released the sixth main installment in the Project Soul series.
The game was released on the Playstation 3 platform and Xbox 360.
Guest characters: Assassins creed 3 : Ezio Auditore
SoulCalibur V.
SoulCaliur is a fighting game, where the player fights with not his bare hands, and martial arts as in most fighting games.
But with weapons of ancient times.
Each character has their own weapon and fighting skills.
Based on fighting skills from all over the world.
From Europe in ancient times, when there were heroic knights, and Roman warriors, to ancient Asia in the time of the Samoerai.
All have one goal.
To destroy of obtain the cursed sword SoulEdge.
Plot
The main story for SoulCalibur V contains two lead characters, Patroklos and his sister Pyrrha.
In the story line some new characters are introduced.
Z.W.E.I who uses a wolf as his companion and weapon, as one could say that Z.W.E.I is a werewolf, or a fighter with a wolf's spirit.
And Viola, who is a fortuneteller, and fights with her Crystal ball.
Other new characters use the engine of old characters from previous installments.
Natsu is Taki's successor,
Yan Leixia who is Xianghua's daughter, and Xiba, he uses Killik's staff fighting style.
After 17 years the children of Sophitia from the earlier soul-series, are fighting their own battles.
Sophitia was killed and Patrolkos swears his revenge on the malfested who have taken his mother and sister.
Nonetherless when he reunites with his sister Pyrrha it seems that Pyrrha is also a malfested. Now both siblings are traveling trough Europe to find a way to rid Pyrrha of her "curse"
Review
SoulCalibur is a nice piece of digital artwork.
The stages are humongous and the charachters are amazingly detailed.
The CGI is seamlessly integrated within the game itself.
And game lovers will surley get there hearts filled, upon seeing the huge possibility in the Creation mode.
The game play has not changed a bit.
There are two ways to fight, BASH all the buttons, or strategic planning on when to block, what moves to do, and when.
But for sure, there is one rule: If you want to win, you will have to train.
Online
SoulCalibur V has a online mode.
Here, players can participate in online matches from all over the world.
Thanks to there play station 3 account people can also invite there friends to a match.
There is also a online ranking system.
With each enemy the player defeats the player will receive points, earning him/her higher ranks online.
Character Creation
From SoulCalibur III till now. The Soul Series contain character creation, where the player can create there own characters and fight online, and offline battles.
With each installment the clothes and variation grew.
It begins with choosing your fighting style, to choose your base body type, to choose all the equipment you desire.
In the previous series, each equipment was part of defense. Like if you would equip an entire harness, you receive less damage than if you only wear leather tunics and trousers.
In SoulCalibur V it is only the style that matters. The feature for less damage has been removed.
Now the only thing you have to care about are the looks of your new character.
Down sides
As a fan of SoulCalibur I have mixed feelings for SoulCalibur V
The CG is absolutly beautiful, and the stages are unique.
In SoulCalibur III you had movement in the background of the stages.
Such as Lizardsman's cave stage, with other Lizardmens in the back.
But in SoulCalibur V ALL stages have moment in the back.
Whether it's a huge monster, being restraint by Nightmares servants, or fire that is burning a city down to the ground, towns people running for their lives, you name it.
The engine is as smooth as ever, and buggs, as in weird landings when you strike down your enemy, are fixed.
But,
A few things are missing in this game.
The story line
There is no more story mode, where you can follow the story of your favorite character.
The only story line is that of Pyrrha and Patroklos.
This really bugs me, because I want to know what other charachters are still in the game after 17 years, and why some have left, or are replaced by new ones.
Plus you do not have the excitement from passing all the stages in arcade mode, and seeing your favorite character in some cool CG ending.
Or at least see a story on the screen, telling you what happened after 17 year.
For example: I had to google who Yan Leixia was. On a forum I found out that she was Xianghua's daughter....well that's cool and all but...I would appreciate it much more as a bonus in the game, after fighting through her enemies.
Soul Repel
In the previous games there was a cool move named Soul Repel.
This is what you can call a counter.
When timed at the right moment, player can deflect ones attack.
You could always execute Soul Repel the entire battle, and it could save your live.
In the new SoulCalibur V they changed that.
There is a gauge for filling your Soul Repel, and when it's full enough you can execute the move.
This is highly irritating, because if the Soul Repel fails, you loose your all your hard saved soul power.
Also the buttons for executing Soul Repel have changed.
Each Character has his/her own way to Soul Repel.
The only way to know how to do this Soul Repel is to experiment with your charachter.
This could cause you your life!!
Stages
Don't get me wrong, I love the new stages.
But I do miss some old stages.
As in SoulCalibur III you had a beautiful stage with a cage hanging up in the air.
Of course when you hit it wright.You could destroys the walls and "Ring Out " your opponent.
Those were some epic stages!!
The Music
Junichi Nakatsuru,
Hiroki Kikuta,
Inon Zur,
Cris Velasco,
Jesper Kyd,
Andrew Aversa,
and
Tomoki Miyoshi, are the composers for SoulCalibur V.
The soundtrack is full of majestic sounds. Lovely, truly lovely and epic.
But some tracks have been re-used, and that is too bad.
Also, some of the audio lines when a stage opens have also been re-used.
Causing not much new to hear.
Characters
Some iconic charachters are missing.
Nightmare and Siegfried are in there ofcourse.
But the most iconic character has been replaced. Taki.
Of course Natsu has the same engine, and you can try to create your own Taki in Creation, but it is not the same.
Talim who was in the series since the beginning has been removed, and there is no one to fill her place.
She was none for her elbow side-blades.
RPG-mini
In SC III there was a small RPG mini game,
You had to fight battles on a world map, and could make your characters stronger, and take them on several missions. I wish they'd bring that back.
Conclusion:
Although SoulCalibur V misses a few of my favorite things.
I can't say that this game is a failure.
This game for the playstation 3 and Xbox 360 has certainly my approval.
And I waist my weekends to the online feature of this game.
I hope that in the future there will be a update to SoulCalibur V, and that the online waiting time will be shortened, by adding "fake" players.
But to no avail, SoulCalibur is a must-have item in the fighting game world.
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