The Soul games have been around for well more than a decade and have drawn in millions of followers worldwide. While many gamers eagerly await in anticipation for the next installment, there are still some who haven’t played any of the games. The recent announcement of Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Auditore as a guest character in the upcoming Soul Calibur V will surely draw in some new fans. Whether you’re new to the fighting game scene, or are just curious to learn more about Namco Bandai’s weapons-based fighting series, read on.
Developed by Project Soul, the Soul games are essentially a one-on-one, 3D fighting game that are well known for being easy to pick up but hard to master. The controls consist of a horizontal attack, a vertical attack, kick and a block button. Also, instead of fists and fireballs, each character possesses their own fighting style and weapon, such as swords, staffs, and axes. When coupled with vivid graphics and unique characters, it provided players with exciting and varied gameplay.
The Soul Calibur series actually started out as Soul Edge/Soul Blade in the arcades and on the Playstation 1, respectively, and debuted in the mid-1990s, which some consider the golden age of gaming. The sun was setting on game cartridges and 2D graphics, while 3D polygons and CDs began to emerge. Soul Edge first hit arcades in early 1996. The story revolved around roughly 10 characters seeking the legendary — but unknowingly evil — sword, Soul Edge that supposedly possessed great power. Soul Blade made its way to the PS1 later that same year with more game modes but still had a rough start with not much popularity. Nevertheless, it created a dedicated fan base that justified a sequel and set the foundation for the series.
Namco Bandai released Soul Calibur in the arcades in 1998. This installment added more unique features, most notable was the eight-way movement that granted more freedom for characters to maneuver to attack their opponents from the sides or behind. Soul Calibur also boasted a larger roster. Many of the new characters’ styles mirrored existing characters, however. For example, Astaroth’s move-set and style closely mimicked Rock’s, with only a few different moves separating them.
It wasn’t until Soul Calibur was released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 that people really took notice. The port’s expanded roster, addicting gameplay, game modes, smooth graphics and variety of unlockable content through the game’s Mission Mode earned it rave reviews, including being listed as number five of the greatest games of all time by gamerankings.com. If your interest is piqued but you don’t own a Dreamcast, Soul Calibur was re-released and is currently available on Xbox LIVE.
Building on the success of Soul Calibur, its sequel, Soul Calibur II slashed its way onto the arcades in 2002, and then arrived to the Playstation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in 2003, and was the first to include exclusive guest characters. Link from The Legend of Zelda graced the GameCube, equipped with his sword and shield; the PS2 version featured Heihachi from Namco Bandai’s Tekken series armed with a pair a gauntlets; Image Comics’ Spawn appeared on the Xbox, brandishing his battleaxe.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, became Namco Bandai’s approach to Soul Calibur II’s core gameplay, and it refined and expanded on those aspects by adding even more features, such as walled stages, move execution tightening, and a better guard impact system. A returning feature from Soul Edge was the inclusion of extra weapons with varied defense and offense stats and attributes. Soul Calibur II also did well on the competitive gaming scene for years after its release. Criticisms arose, however, regarding potentially game-breaking bugs. Regardless, Soul Calibur II received high marks from critics and gamers alike and remains one of the series’ better games behind its predecessor.
The 2005 PS2 exclusive Soul Calibur III possessed a cornucopia of game features and content. Nearly every character from the series was included in the roster with the exception of a few such as Inferno, Necrid and Edge Master, as well as the console exclusive characters from Soul Calibur II. Soul Calibur III was the first to introduce the Create-A-Soul game mode, which allowed players to create their own characters and customize everything from their weapons and fighting style to their physical features and attire. Once created, you could embark your custom character on a journey in Chronicles of the Sword, a real-time strategy mode in which they can be leveled up similar to an RPG and progress through up to 20 chronicles. Then there was the Tales of Souls mode that takes a chosen character from the roster through story-driven, mission mode similar to Soul Blade’s Edge Master Mode.
While the amount of different modes and content increased, Namco Bandai kept the gameplay relatively unchanged, but still didn’t iron out all the bugs from previous installments. Still, the sheer amount of content and proven gameplay formula that Soul Calibur III had, provided players with hours and hours of features to explore.
Soul Calibur IV, released in 2008 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, toned down the amount of content from Soul Calibur III, but retained the character creation mode. The latest installment also had a few ‘series-first’ features of its own, such as the Tower of Lost Souls mode that had players fight special battles to acquire rewards, and a tag team style feature nicknamed Active Matching Battle.
One of the most apparent elements was its Soul Gauge and Critical Finish system. During battle, a character’s Soul Gauge, represented by a gem next to the character’s health bar, would deplete and change color as the player guarded attacks. If the player continues to defend with little or no retaliation, the opposing player could manage to empty their Soul Gauge and have a short opportunity to perform a Critical Finish, which would defeat their opponent instantly for that round. This mode attempted to discourage “turtling”, or excessive defensive play, and evidently worked well as very few Critical Finishes are seen in high-level competition.
For the first time in the series, Soul Calibur IV gave players the option of pitting themselves against other people online via Xbox LIVE or Playstation Network in ranked or unranked matches. Online modes also included “Standard Versus”, or “Special Versus”, which allowed players to face off with various weapon and armor attributes enabled. The multiplayer had issues though, mainly due to poor network programming that caused some connection problems.
Soul Calibur IV’s guest characters came in the form of Star War‘s Darth Vader, The Apprentice and Yoda. Darth Vader came with the PS3 version, while Yoda was included with the Xbox 360 version, but soon became available for download on the opposing system. These characters attracted criticism, however, mainly due to being out of place and imbalanced within the Soul Calibur universe.
Despite the bumps it’s had along the way, there’s no doubt that the Soul games have left their mark in the fighting game history. The next chapter in its story will be revealed when Soul Calibur V releases to store shelves on Jan. 31, 2012.