Soul Calibre VI
Play a lizard and duel a horse.
DEVELOPER BANDAI NAMCO STUDIOS • PUBLISHER IN- HOUSE www.bandainamcoent.com/games/soulcalibur-vi
The samurai Mitsurugi launches into a vertical combo, sweeping his katana above his head and down again. He has several versions of this attack with varying ranges and speed, and it’s easy to dodge. In other fighting games these windows of vulnerability are fleeting moments, but in Soulcalibur they are long enough to savour. A deft step left with Geralt exposes the samurai completely, and I punish Mitsurugi with a quick combo.
Soulcalibur VI creates satisfying battles with a simple set of commands. You have a horizontal attack, a vertical attack, a kick and a block. Special moves ask you to press two buttons at once along with a direction or two, and aside from a super attack and power-up move on the right bumper, that’s more or less it.
It’s the fighters’ weapons that create real tactical variety. Maxi’s nunchaku dance feels different to Talim’s tonfa beatdown style, and range management is key when you’re facing Kilik’s bo staff or Nightmare’s greatsword. 18 of the 21 characters have appeared in previous Soulcalibur games, and their movesets are familiar. New fighters include Geralt from the Witcher series, Azwel who can summon weapons, and Groh who can split his bladed staff into two swords.
By pressing back and the right bumper each character can spend Soul energy to enter a powered-up state. That unlocks new moves, and can be punished by characters like Geralt, who uses his silver sword to deal extreme damage against empowered fighters.
Weapon arcs are marked by trails so you can easily see the shape of attacks. ‘Reversal Edge’ attacks trail bright red energy. When these connect the game goes into slow-mo and players have to choose an attack, block or dodge. These duels feel luck-based, but they look great and grant breathing room.
Each character has a story, made up of a gauntlet of fights interspersed with still art and dialogue scenes. There’s a main story of sorts, following Kilik’s quest for the demonic blade Soul Edge. You can also create your own fighter and march them around a map of Europe. On the way you get into fights with other character creator monstrosities, level up, find new weapons and bump into members of the main cast. This is a long mode with a lot of text. It takes ages for opponents to become challenging, and the interesting weapon upgrade system is absent for hours. When you do get to fight, it’s often for one all-too-brief round.
There is also ranked play. This is where you see the strangest custom characters. All creations have to adhere to one of the main roster characters’ movesets, and it’s still amusing to see a man with a giant horse head wielding Geralt’s swords. It sums up Soulcalibur’s appeal perfectly. It can be dumb and, in singleplayer, a little dull, but the fights are fun and sidestepping Mitsurugi never gets old.
Weapon arcs are marked by trails so you can easily see the shape of attacks.