SOULCALIBUR VI
Almost hitting its Maxi-mum potential
Taki, Ivy, Seong Mi-Na, and, erm, Voldo, we need to have the talk… your outfits are eyesores. Naturally, Ivy, yours, the costume equivalent of wrapping your delicates in dental floss, gets the Twittersphere up in arms, but Mi-Na and Taki, you’re pushing too much underboob and nipple front and centre. And Voldo, a spiked groin, really? It’s enough to make Tomonobu Itagaki blush.
But Soulcalibur wouldn’t be the same if it covered up. And there is a reason for the very ’90s costumes – this sixth entry in the series is set after the first game and is actually a soft reboot. In terms of gameplay it’s a celebration of the old married with the new. The base gameplay blends vertical and horizontal strikes with blocking and eight-way movement, which enables you to sidestep an opponent’s vertical attacks, for example. This core setup alone delivers some of the most nuanced fights you’ll experience.
Dig deeper beyond the tussle of strikes, slashes, and blocks and you’ll find a pick-and-mix of modifiers from previous games – Critical Edge from SCV and Soul Charge from SCIII (the former is a cinematic special attack launched with the tap of i, the latter a state change that varies depending on your character, so Mitsurugi takes a Sha No Kamae stance for swift, powerful vertical slashes, while Taki will leap at her opponents to bamboozle them). Throw in the return of breakable armour and SCVI is a smörgåsbord of tasty Soulcalibur-y treats.
STILL TAKI?
New for Soulcalibur VI, however, is Reversal Edge, a simple counter system that instigates a slow-mo cinematic minigame – it’s rock, paper, scissors to a degree as inputs counter others – that can deliver massive damage and turn a bout on its head if connected. As a beginner it can feel great and enables you to turn the tide but seasoned players will find weaknesses in the system. Reversal Edge is a vertical strike and has a brief wind-up, meaning it can be sidestepped and even countered. In many ways it exemplifies the real core of this entry, which is surface-level spectacle married to deeper tactics. Scratch past Reversal Edge’s showboating and other new feature Lethal Hit (deliver particular combos to stun and down opponents), and you find character-specific abilities offer longer-term opportunities for experimentation.
Soulcalibur VI feels less polished outside the arenas. The main story mode, Libra Of Soul, is a simple campaign with RPG overtones where you to explore a map and unlock weapons, XP, Gold, and buffs as you close in on the game’s new big bad, Azwel. It’s the latest edition of Soulcalibur’s
“ITS REAL CORE IS SURFACELEVEL SPECTACLE MARRIED TO DEEPER TACTICS.”
campaign mode, but little has changed; dialogue is overwritten and quests lack depth, there’re no cinematics, and while weapons are unlocked gear is bought from a limited, pre-stocked store. Injustice 2 did something similar and made its single-player and XP upgrades its heart, but Libra feels like an afterthought. There’s more immediate satisfaction to be gained playing through Soul Chronicle mode, where you can experience the classic story from each character’s perspective along the narrative’s timeline.
The saving grace of both modes is the fighting, which proves Bandai Namco knows where to focus. In particular, Libra’s randomised arena buffs keep things interesting; some stages have slippery conditions where a mistimed combo can see you slide straight past an opponent and out of the ring. Other buffs include starting with reduced health, only vertical attacks doing damage, or an opponent’s attacks becoming more powerful the lower their health drops. Again, though, Injustice 2 delivered on this idea with greater variety.
IVY LEAGUE
However, Soulcalibur will always win its battles where it matters, in 1v1 flurries of weapon-based combat. This sequel manages the dance between being accessible to newcomers while offering the depth of tactics needed to satisfy fans. It’s a strength the series has always drawn on, so look beyond the costumes and lacklustre story modes, and embrace the core gameplay.
VERDICT
As a package Soulcalibur VI lacks the polish of recent fighters, especially in the story mode, but the core gameplay, honed over many years, offers some of the sharpest duels on PS4. Ian Dean