![]() This proved to be a little disappointing, as I quickly abandoned my custom character for a stock Hilde. Created characters start off relatively weak, and need to be improved significantly before they can stand beside even stock normal characters online. Players will need to spend quite a bit of time offline grinding their character up and unlocking better gear before they're ready to tackle the online mode. First, created characters are effectively useless from the get-go. The game's character creation system is one of the biggest new additions, but sadly the whole thing falls flat on its face. ![]() That should say all that needs to be said. Yoda cannot be grabbed at all or hit with most high attacks and the Apprentice can shoot lightning. As for Yoda and the Apprentice, imbalance is the name of the game. But even he, with his ranged Force moves, doesn't mesh well with the other characters. Darth Vader, the PS3 version pack-in, is by far the most balanced of them all, playing a bit like a short-bladed Siegfried with slightly more speed but slightly less power. While the anime guest characters are for the most part okay, if rather lifeless, the Star Wars cameos are an absolute joke. ![]() However, the bonus characters will likely wind up being soft-banned among those who play fair and exploited by those who don't. Hilde is the standout addition, as she offers a great mix of ranged and close-quarters combat for skilled players. The character roster is expansive, encompassing players from all three previous games along with some new ones. The mandatory equipment for my character made me abandon her almost immediately. Neither addition is revolutionary, but both are welcome. The latter, which is a powerful one-shot-kill finishing attack that can only be activated after breaking an opponent's guard, rarely occurs in normal combat, but does prevent players from turtling indefinitely. ![]() The former adds more than just a nice graphical effect, as it gives combat a nice technical dimension by allowing players to hone in on certain spots and deal extra damage. Combat largely feels the same, though the addition of equipment destruction and critical finishes does present some new opportunities. Speaking strictly about the combat engine and the stock characters, Soulcalibur IV is at best an incremental improvement on Soulcalibur III. Sadly, though, while the graphics have been improved and the combat has been relatively untouched, the game as a whole is hurt by unneeded or unpolished additions. Soulcalibur IV is one of the few high-profile fighting games built from the ground up for current-gen consoles, and as such it's a pretty significant release. ![]()
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