His Review with Ian

Soul Calibur V (SCV) is a monstrously beautiful 3D fighter, packed with a suitcase full of characters that can be totally customised, is accessible for new entrants to the series with a few forgivable holes in it. This was my first foray into the arena of Soul Calibur and so I’d not experienced the previous critical highs of the series on the Dreamcast or the notable lows on the Wii.

I headed straight into the single player story mode. There were no instructions, guides or tutorials welcoming this newcomer into the series, so unfortunately I was offered no historical context. Over the course of 20 fighting rounds, Patroklos (incoming Ancient Greek history lesson – meaning "glory of the father" - Pat was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms) had to engage in a battle to find his sister then romp around various countries in Eastern Europe and Italy trying to find the reason why she had become “malfested”.

The “story/narrative” part of this particular mode was delivered through a series of poorly designed cut scenes (think early story board stills with pencil lines still visible – the kind of asset you unlock when you’ve collected 482 bottle caps) interspersed with 3D video content. This was all voiced over by a dialogue that was flatter than 17th Century steam rolled card. The voices felt hollow and were overly processed in the studio thus leaving my relationship to Pat slightly mismatched because what he was doing in the ring (which I’ll get on to later) did not match his voice.

The design of most aspects, apart from the fighting, left little to be desired. After completing each one of the 20 rounds, I begin to unlock various titles like “Arch Nemesis of Lord Byron” that can be used online. But these flick up at the bottom right of the screen where the summary and analysis of the most recent fight took place and there’s a long wait until the new titles have scrolled through till in order to make sense of the words on the screen.

There is currently a bountiful crop of fine fighting franchises available including: Super Street Fighter IV 3D (released March 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS) and Mortal Kombat 9 (released April 2011 on Xbox and PS3) that re-invigorated the genre, however, once I put aside all my other misgivings, the fighting was addictive and for me, SCV is another stellar addition to the fighting platform.

What has been created inside these 60 second bouts is nothing short of remarkable. The environments in which they fight in are beautiful to look at - full of animated details in both the fore and background (I’m sure I spotted a Henry VIII lookalike) and the soundtrack added a rich theatricality to the atmosphere – ranging from huge booming orchestras to tight emotive xylophones. Choreographically, the athleticism, movement vocabulary and physical boundaries of some of my opponents could teach the Royal Ballet a thing or two. I was happy to have my spine walked on by Astaroth or have my face sanded into the cement by Tira’s marvellous hula hoop dance. In fact it was a pleasure to knocked out so magnificently.

With the addition of the multi combo of Brave and Critical Edge unleashing nine barrels of hell upon your opponent, there’s so much opportunity to come back from the dead when all is left is just a sliver of life. There’s also Ring Out whereby knocking a nemesis over the edge gives an instant win, providing ample opportunity to come out on top, handy for inexperienced players like Tracey!

The fully customisable characters, down to different panels of cloth on the same outfit, had the finest textured hair I have ever seen in a game; it was like an advert for Pantene, wafting in the breeze so mesmerically. SCV is a fantastical fighting game, with characters possessing outlandishly shaped bodies complete with eye popping features and equally fitting infight call outs: “Now I’ll show you what my mother’s Athenian skills are made of!” or “I fight in the way I see fit!” This is complemented by the little details in the song titles introduced at the beginning of each bout: “Chainless Disaster” and “Through The Jaws of Death” which we take with a knowing pinch of salt.

There are other game and battle modes which include the pre-requisite online fighting lobby where you get to bosh friends and opponents from around the globe alongside an Arcade Mode and Legendary Souls (where the difficulty ramps up to 11, I jest ye not, I died so many times). SCV provides oodles of longevity through the multiple modes and with over 2 dozen characters (including the main man from the Assassins Creed franchise – Ezio Auditore) to master, I’ll be playing it this way this long after single player mode has been exhausted (3hrs in total and that’s because I sat through all of those dreadful cutscenes).

Her Review with Tracey

I’ve always resisted plunging deep into the genre, preferring to dip a toe here or there but the strong manga overtones and the promise of more Ezio from the Assassin’s Creed franchise were too strong to ignore. Having come out the other side, I’m surprised and happy that SCV is not only an accessible title but is crammed with melodrama, beauty and best of all, fun.

As Ian points out, there are many fighting titles on the market that already cater to a wide audience and are predominately aimed at hardcore, combo-mashing guys who have grown up with their series of choice. Street Fighter has the iconic characters (and yes, the poor movie adaptation that is best we all forget), Mortal Kombat and Tekken have encyclopaedic volumes of possible complex button combinations that would make a NASA control desk cringe. Similar manga fighting games like BlazBlue might be accessible but throw you right into the mix with little attempt at story. The appeal of a game that serves up a limp 2-hour story then pukes me out online to never win a match ever again was numb, so what’s so good about SCV?

The single player story is clearly designed to prepare newcomers to the series before heading to the online battlegrounds but unlike Ian, I liked the authentic, episodic manga drawings. The pencil and pastel artwork is full of dynamic detail and is a balanced break from the vivid colours of the battlegrounds. The plot and voicework is melodramatic and boomingly predictable; the bigger the muscles on a guy, the more powerful his voice, the longer the beard, the more wise, the more mind-boggling, gravity-defying boobs on show, the more sultry. This isn’t Shakespeare, it’s pushing familiar manga stereotypes to their extremes, which propels the whole story into the highest realms of fantasy. The purpose isn’t to empathise but to experience and just enjoy. Patroklos shouting, “You’re pale and filthy, you must be malfested!” before laying his sword into said pale and filthy man’s saggy belly tells me in the shortest possible way why I’m fighting and I jump in. Littered with convenient opportunities or reasons to engage in swordplay, the story is short and simple but provides the best training for what’s to come and has an amazingly rich soundtrack.I admit, I often wasn’t sure of how I executed certain moves and probably still can’t explain exactly why/how my meter was filling up (when I landed a hit, it went up, when I GOT hit, it also seemed to go up…) not that you’ll find a complaint from me. Learning as I went along made it feel personal, tailored by my discoveries with the bonus of still being able to carry on fighting without having to revisit training menus to perfect moves, committing them to memory. There was room within the battles to watch my opponent, gauge their moves then either counter attack, block or dodge the incoming blows. Being able to move in any direction also helps create a great sense of ebb and flow to the matches that I enjoyed. Unleashing the special Critical Edge move by random accident didn’t seem a waste as it all counted. There were no random jumps, no complicated finishing K.O. moves to master; even when taking a pounding, there was always a sense that I could (and occasionally did) come back to win. Noobs are given a fighting chance whereas more experienced players like Ian can develop the special moves into combos. It made me aware of my skill and my improvement so choosing from the diverse character line up became less random and balanced in a way that other fighters have never provided before.SCV has always had special guest stars and this time is no exception as Italy’s master assassin enters the fray. The familiarity of Ezio’s weapons might make him an obvious choice thanks to his long and short range of attacks but Zwei with his ability to call a white wolf out of thin air or Tira’s ring blade which she can ride a snowboard over Ian’s face are unique and all have their own special moves and advantages. This is where a quick stop by the character tutorial page is worth pursuing, if only to pick up tips on what their style or best move is. Choosing a character that best reflects your playing style is fun but in SCV you can also create new characters from scratch. Monsters or midgets, trying out new fights with some ridiculous looking opponents is entertaining and again provides opportunity for customisation and personal taste. It hints that there’s more to a fighting game than just the fighting, which I think is vital if the aim is to encourage newcomers to the genre. More importantly, it shows that SCV is rather tongue in cheek, which I think, rather suits this particular game and stops it from being the same ole bish-bash-bosh as seen in other fighting games.

The hammy story and dramatic battle cries aren’t to be taken seriously but enjoyed and Namco have poured real joy into the control and movement design where a little ole none pugilist like myself has a chance to do just that. It’s refreshing, empowering and was easy to immerse myself in. There is a balance of slick new ideas with well-delivered, familiar aspects that welcomes both new and traditional fighters.

Soul calibur V is out now on Xbox360 and Playstation 3