Soulcalibur IV
Soulcalibur IV (ソウルキャリバーIV, Souru Kyaribā Fō) is the fifth installment in Namco's Soul series of fighting games. Namco has announced that the game will be released on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 in 2008. It is confirmed that the game will be released at 16 June 2008 for North America and July 2008 in Europe, however, concerning Japan, nothing is confirmed about release date.[1][2] The game is unlikely to be released on the Wii although it has not been denied as of yet;[2] however, Soulcalibur Legends was released exclusively for the console on November 20, 2007.[3] For the first time in the series history, the game will have competitive online play.[4] An arcade version has not yet been announced, possibly making it the second game in the franchise to not be released in the arcades first.
Characters
Three characters were shown in the initial teaser trailer, Ivy, Mitsurugi, and Nightmare.[2] Director Katsutoshi Sasaki has also mentioned that Create-a-Character will be playable in multiplayer mode.[5] Electronic Gaming Monthly confirmed the return of Siegfried, Sophitia, Taki, Tira, and Yoshimitsu in its July issue.[6] Sophitia, her sister Cassandra and the series staple Voldo were featured next in Famitsu magazine.[7] A recently released trailer featured the first clips of gameplay footage, along with brief glimpses of a new character named Hildegard von Krone, Hilde for short, a female in knight's armor (with a wolf's head motif) wielding a red lance and a short sword. This article also confirmed the appearances of Raphael and Astaroth.[8] On January 25th, it was confirmed that Maxi , Seong Mi-na and Yun-seong would also return.[9] Also, Darth Vader and Yoda, characters from the Star Wars universe, are confirmed to be playable guest characters but exclusive to different platforms. Vader will be on the PS3 and Yoda will be on the Xbox 360. In an article in the March '08 issue of Game Informer, Namco hinted that the second characters may be available for download on the respective consoles at a later date.
Returning characters
- Astaroth
- Cassandra
- Ivy
- Maxi
- Mitsurugi
- Nightmare
- Raphael
- Seong Mi-na
- Siegfried
- Sophitia
- Taki
- Tira
- Voldo
- Yoshimitsu
- Yun-seong
New characters
- Darth Vader (guest character on the PlayStation 3 version)
- Hilde
- Yoda (guest character on the Xbox 360 version)
Features
- Based on the "design flow" of Soulcalibur II.
- Stages will be much larger than before and be more interactive with breakable objects.
- Ring Outs will be less common as this is something the developers want to cut down on.
- New characters will be revealed closer to release.
- New and Improved "Create a Soul/Character."
- Customizations will have an effect on gameplay.
- Created Characters can be traded online.
- Online Play.
- Chronicles of the Sword mode will not be included, but will be replaced with a new mode, Tower of Caliaga.
- The vitality meter will undergo some kind of change that will be integrated into a yet-unseen new feature.
- There will be "Finishing Moves".
- Guard Impact is back.
- Game can be patched if necessary.
References
- ^ Soulcalibur IV burns on Xbox 360, PS3 at GameSpot
- ^ a b c Exclusive first look at Soulcalibur IV at 1UP.com
- ^ Soulcalibur Ventures Forth to the Wii at 1UP.com
- ^ Soulcalibur IV Goes Online at 1UP.com
- ^ Soulcalibur IV Goes Online at 1UP.com
- ^ Electronic Gaming Monthly, July 2007
- ^ Famitsu scans via Jeux-France
- ^ http://www.tgfcer.com/club/attachments/forumid_33/20070913_4aaa37d1c06b8445bebeom9n2aiGTYC2.jpg
- ^ GameSpy: Soulcalibur IV
