Soul-Calibur
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Wii Warm Up: Soul Calibur Legends
Since its announcement, opinions of and feelings toward Soul Calibur Legends have been volatile, to say the least. At first, the game inspired almost universal excitement among series fans, and it's (mostly) been downhill since then. But what's the real situation here? Are you you already deciding to avoid this one like the plague after seeing some early impressions, or are you willing to wait and see if the gameplay improves? How do you feel about the screens you've seen so far? We've updated our gallery with some new shots if you'd like to take a peek. As a rabid fan of the series, this blogger is planning to give it a try unless final reviews mention eyeball-melting atrocity. Nothing short of that will stop high action beatdowns! %Gallery-3272%
Soul Calibur Legends gets a new character
A tale of swords and souls, eternally remade as an adventure game for Wii. GAME Watch welcomes us back to the stage of history with some new information about Soul Calibur Legends, including a new character, Isuka. Isuka is apparently a guardian of the Holy Roman Emperor who encounters Siegfried and offers him information about the Soul Edge. He also deals with Taki as she meets with the emperor about a fragment of the Edge. For those of you not familiar with the Soul Calibur storyline, the Soul Edge is a really bad sword that people are constantly getting into one-on-one fights in circular arenas over. It seems unlikely that Isuka will be joining the fight, unless the fight is against a paper bag. And not some evil, sentient Soul Bag either-- just a regular paper one. He'll probably show up from time to time to direct you to your next stage of history.
Hands-on: Soul Calibur Legends
Soul Calibur Legends is an affront to the games industry. The horrendous gameplay and horrible graphics not only shame the Wii as a platform, but lower the reputation of a remarkable franchise. Wii fans should be appalled at Namco's clear lack of concern with the title, and should expect more. Graphically speaking, Legends is nothing short of unacceptable. If the game could look even remotely like Soul Calibur 2 on Gamecube, we'd be, at the very least, satiated. Instead, what we saw were blocky recreations of our Soul Calibur favorites trapped in boring, poorly textured environments that make the Dreamcast original look like a modern technical achievement. There is absolutely nothing to praise about the visuals in Legends: the art is generic, and the characters are stiff and lifeless. The screenshots that have been released are poor representations on how this game really looks. The gameplay doesn't fare any better. Legends is a mindless hack and slash with poor controls. Enemies stand around, dumbfounded, as you hack away at them by shaking the Wiimote. The combat is imprecise, and simply not fun. We did appreciate the dodge: shaking the Nunchuck will allow players to make a quick dash. There was no challenge or depth to the battles. Ultimately, each encounter was reduced to wild waggle sessions. Wii owners deserve a lot better than this -- Namco, we'd point to Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as an example on how to properly implement sword attacks in an adventure game (and please learn how to create a proper lock-on!) If we had to give an award for most underwhelming disappointment of the show, Soul Calibur Legends is an easy candidate. Unless this game undergoes a serious redesign, don't expect the first Soul Calibur game on Wii to be anything more than a complete disaster. %Gallery-3272%
Joystiq impressions: Soul Calibur Legends (Wii)
Soul Calibur Legends is an affront to the games industry. The horrendous gameplay and horrible graphics not only shame the Wii as a platform, but lowers the reputation of a remarkable franchise. Wii fans should be appalled at Namco's clear lack of concern with the title, and should expect more. Graphically speaking, Legends is nothing short of unacceptable. If the game could even remotely look like Soul Calibur 2 on Gamecube, we'd be, at the very least, satiated. Instead, what we saw were blocky recreations of our Soul Calibur favorites trapped in boring, poorly textured environments that make the Dreamcast original look like a modern technical achievement. There is absolutely nothing to praise about the visuals in Legends: the art is generic, and the characters are stiff and lifeless. The screenshots that have been released are poor representations on how this game really looks. The gameplay doesn't fare any better. Legends is a mindless hack and slash with poor controls. Enemies stand around, dumbfounded, as you hack away at them by shaking the Wiimote. The combat is imprecise, and simply not fun. We did appreciate the dodge: shaking the Nunchuck will allow players to make a quick dash. There was no challenge, nor depth to the battles. Ultimately, each encounter was reduced to wild waggle sessions. Wii owners deserve a lot better than this -- Namco, we'd point to Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as an example on how to properly implement sword attacks in an adventure game (and please learn how to create a proper lock-on!). If we had to give an award for most underwhelming disappointment of the show, Soul Calibur Legends is an easy candidate. Unless this game goes under a serious redesign, don't expect the first Soul Calibur game on Wii to be anything more than a complete disaster. [Update: A Namco representative was right to ask us to point out that this is, in fact, an early build of the title which isn't due until later this year (note these were our impressions, not our review). While many of the shortcomings appear to be design-oriented, she said the team was looking to make changes based on the feedback gathered from E3 players. We're certainly hopeful they can clean Soul Calibur Legends up before its release in Q4 '07. For other impressions of the E3 demo, check out Wired, 1UP, and Gamespot.] %Gallery-4983%
Soul Calibur Legends on Wii trailer
In a world, where battle armor is nothing but a string top, comes Soul Calibur Legends for the Wii ... and most everyone is fully clothed. The Soul Calibur spin-off is an action-adventure title that lets you play as your favorite characters from the game, minus the whole one-on-one fighting. The trailer shows off some basic Wii controls and talks about joining forces with another character. Whether that means your companion is AI controlled or is actually in the hands of another player is still unknown. We just hope it controls better than the similarly looking in principal, Prince of Persia: Dual Swords. Heading into the first anniversary of the Wii it'd be nice to see third-party developers using the Wii controls and having it feel responsive in an action game. Down with the feel of waggle, it can be done.
Japanese Soul Calibur Legends site opens for business
The Japanese site for Soul Calibur Legends is up and running, complete with screenshots and a few character profiles, and lots of room to expand for later content. Despite the change in gameplay, the site gives us warm and fuzzy feelings of familiarity. While this isn't the same ol' fighting game that we're used to from Soul Calibur, the mood of the series is definitely intact. [Via GoNintendo]%Gallery-3272%
Soul Calibur to have one-to-one gesture measurement?
The game's director, Jin Okubo, has been flapping his gums recently, talking about the spin-off title set to grace the Wii. In regards to how in-game characters will react to the player's gestures with the Wiimote, the in-game characters will apparently follow the player's exact movements. Jin states that by "swinging the Wii Remote as players please, in-game characters will perform the exact sword actions that players are thinking of." If you're wondering exactly what we're talking about, think about how the baseball bat moves in Wii Sports. Jin also elaborated on how the nunchuk attachment will be used in-game, explaining that the "Nunchuk is mainly used for body movement, but by shaking the Nunchuk it's also possible to block incoming attacks, evade dangerous situations, and to perform other unique moves. And there are various moves that can only be pulled off by combining Nunchuk and Wii Remote actions." %Gallery-3272%
Welcome back to the screens of history
The latest batch of Soul Calibur Legends screenshots isn't entirely new, but we think it's worth sharing. Famitsu posted the screens online that we previously featured in magazine scans, and the digital versions are much cleaner-looking. They're also no longer obscured by effusive Japanese blurbs. It looks pretty good, especially for a Wii game. But why are the enemies so shrimpy? Mitsurugi can totally take on normal-sized people (and unnaturally beefy dudes like Astaroth up there), so why have we only seen him surrounded by pencil-necked mummies?
SCIV scans: medieval cleavage galore
Hot on the heels of the revelation that Soul Calibur IV will feature online play, images pulled from the related EGM article are beginning to hit the internet. The images come to us courtesy of Xboxygen, and they are quite, ahem, revealing. We are of course referring to the amazingly supported female naughty bits (made even more amazing considering the game takes place in an age before the underwire bra). The image above also reveals a well-wrought thong (or a spectacularly painful wedgie). Ogling aside, the images certainly do look sharp. We also have to point out that one shot contains a dodo. Given that Soul Calibur IV looks to be the last in the series, the fact that it contains an extinct bird seems appropriate. Here's hoping the gameplay does a better job of evolving (ba dum bum, psh!).Hit the "read" link for more images.
Soul Calibur IV now burns online
This is the sort of thing we like to hear. In the latest issue of EGM, Namco has confirmed that Soul Calibur IV will feature online play. The news comes straight from the game's director, Katsutoshi Sasaki, who says that online play is part of all current-gen consoles and "with the current environment, we really couldn't make SC4 without online play." We would be remiss if we didn't point out that every iteration of Soul Calibur has appeared on a console capable of supporting online play, but we digress. In other news, players will be able to take their custom "create-a-character" avatars online, though Sasaki isn't sure whether or not players will be able to trade them. We shudder to imagine all the Takis and Ivys -- wearing nothing but flesh-tone underwear -- we'll be facing online.Now, if only we could get Sasaki-San to have a talk with SEGA about Virtua Fighter 5.[Via Joystiq]
Soul Calibur IV to feature online play
The latest issue of EGM includes a nice little tidbit of info about Soul Calibur IV, reports 1Up. The game will feature online play, for the first time in the series. Most fighting games, with Mortal Kombat as the exception, have shied away from online play in the past, citing latency and a lack of timing accuracy as the reason why. Katsutoshi Sasaki, director of Soul Calibur IV, explained what has changed in this respect by stating "the next-gen platforms have network infrastructure already in place." Clearly this allows for much better connections between machines, allowing pin-point accuracy for special move combos. No doubt more information about Soul Calibur IV will be released during E3. We'll keep you up to date during the show.
Fresh Soul Calibur Legends scans
JeuxFrance has posted some scans from the latest issue of Famitsu, showing off images from Namco Bandai's upcoming spin-off title Soul Calibur Legends. The title is already confirmed to include Taki, as well as a franchise newcomer, but what we didn't know was that the game is 40% finished. That's a lot further along than we would've guessed. Soul Calibur Legends is currently slated for a winter release in Japan. %Gallery-3272%
Soul Calibur IV's bountiful bouncing breasts bulge bigger
Far be it from us to besmirch or bemoan Soul Calibur's penchant for propagating polygons with puppies packed in fun pillows, but Games Radar noticed it's getting extreme. Not only that, but they've chronicled the boobilicious beauties from the Soul Calibur series and pointed to the best work of McNamara and Troy.Although women are objectified more often in almost every visual media, as we learned this weekend, boys do not come out unscathed in the virtual world's impact on our precious psyches. And as much as we like to view mountainous mammaries, seriously ... look at those things. It's full-on Jerry Springer material and completely inefficient for fighting. At least Ivy used to have a breast plate, now it's a string top where if the blade hits it the right way her bosoms come flowing out. We're not saying she's got to proportionally tone it down and get a full body remake like Lara Croft did for Legend, but Ivy's battling Rachel in a quest for the most ridiculous cleavage in a video game. At least Extreme Beach Volleyball keeps its breasts in context.
More Soul Calibur Legends details
Gaming mag Famitsu has revealed some more details about the upcoming Wii exclusive Soul Calibur Legends. We assume that the creators of this action title felt that choosing a main protagonist from the existing fighters would cause unnecessary flamefests, so they felt fit to introduce the sixteen year old Iska. Among playable characters are Taki, Mitsurugi, Ivy, and Siegfried (Nightmare), though interestingly, no one mentioned Iska himself. Traditionally, the A and B buttons have mapped to horizontal and vertical slices, respectively. In true waggle fashion, Namco has felt fit to physically map these actions to the Wiimote. We're wary; the recognition will probably be fine, but seeing as how at least two-thirds of all moves in previous Soul Calibur titles involved the use of one (or both? What the heck?) of these actions, this might wear out its welcome very, very quickly. Also, the nunchuck is shaken for "evasion," whatever that means (guard impact?).The title will allow for tag-teaming against a boss, as a second player can join in for cooperative fun. There's traps and obstacles and all that lovely goodness as well; for some more minor details, check out the in-depth IGN report. With the announcement of the true Soul Calibur 4 for the PS3 and 360 yesterday, are you guys still excited for this?
Taki's back in Soul Calibur Legends
We knew that in addition to Siegfried and Ivy, Soul Calibur Legends would feature other playable characters from the series. Everyone's favorite underdressed ninja, Taki, is joining the roster, to help the other two battle wave after wave of wimpy-looking mummies and three-foot-tall ninjas. Astaroth is also visible, though it's not clear if he's a player character or an enemy.Of course, now that we think about it, putting a female assassin in the game hews even closer to Death By Degrees territory. Well, Soul Calibur was always better than Tekken, so maybe the spinoff action games will follow the same pattern!
Soul Calibur IV revealed, first trailer
Good news for fighting fans, Soul Calibur IV has been officially unveiled for the Xbox 360.The trailer reveals, well, basically nothing. We see some character models, though they could easily be pre-rendered. What's more, they don't even move. Finally, we are treated with a logo and "2008." The text in the trailer also implies that Soul Calibur IV will be the last title in the series. Honestly, there isn't much to learn from the trailer. Let's hope next month's EGM -- whose contents will no doubt spill all over the internets ahead of time -- gives us something we can really sink our teeth into (this is where most blogs will make tasteless Ivy jokes).[Via Joystiq]
Soul Calibur IV officially unveiled, teased
Considered by many to be the best weapons-based fighting game around, 1UP is giving gamers an early tease of their upcoming exclusive Soul Calibur feature for EGM. Namco is giving fighting fans exactly what they want as they have announced Soul Calibur 4 will be appearing exclusively on Xbox 360.And PlayStation 3. While we're appreciative of this first-look, we're sad to admit that this has simply whet our appetite for more. Hopefully, it won't be too long until our local postal employee stops by our door and rescues us from our shriveled, frothing Soul Calibur-deprived lunacy.
Soul Calibur 4 about to reveal its true form
Ever since the announcement was made that Soul Calibur was getting a little side story treatment on the Wii, the fighting game enthusiast crowd let out a collective sigh. They expected a big, next-gen announcement of their favorite fighting franchise. Namco Bandai heard you, oh brave warriors! In just a few short weeks, make your way to the nearest corner store and pick up a copy of the freshest EGM you can find. They'll be unveiling the first look at Soul Calibur 4.As EGM said, "if you're truly looking to give your opponent something to cry about, it's all about wielding sharpened steel, and nothing beats Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur series for weapon-based fighting thrills. In our world-exclusive preview, we'll reveal the future direction of this beloved series." We know the future direction! It's definitely headed towards the PS3 and probably the 360. We can't wait to grab our copy on July 3rd. Once we get the info, we'll gladly forward it to you.
Rumor alert: Pretty much everything you could think of
Hey, rumors are fun! We see two possibilities regarding this list of Wii games that "will be coming out" according to WiiYou.com. First: they scooped the entire world and got an exclusive look at a list of unannounced Wii games that nobody has heard anything at all about. Second, they didn't. We're looking at the list, and it seems to be about half educated guessing and half dreaming. Call us cynics, but we're going to wait for verification before we go put our money down on F-Zero or Metroid Xterme.Of course Sega Nerds latched on to the listing for Shadow the Hedgehog 2, but, in our minds, that's not the biggest news item on the list. We'd be more interested in hearing about the two Zelda games. Check after the post break for the full list.
Some nice concept art for Soul Calibur Legends
1UP has got a pair of different pieces of concept art for the recently announced title from Namco Bandai in Soul Calibur Legends. Revealing that the game will revolve around Seigfried, it's also made known to us that the game will include many of the franchise's characters, as well as introduce a few new ones. Nothing else is really known about the game, other than the controls will include both the Wiimote and nunchuk. Head on past the post break for the concept art.
