The soul still...flickers.
Maybe such a perfect package of gameplay and beauty on a first try has simply become too much to overcome. Maybe the initial formula was so near-perfect that Namco is simply terrified of messing with it too much, or messing with it in other ways that make absolutely no sense at all. But, in spite of the improvements and tweaks the series has seen since 1999, this latest incarnation feels much less like Soul Calibur IV, and much more like Soul Calibur 1.4.
Or maybe that should be Soul Calibur: Attack of the Silicone. I like boobies as much as the next guy, but the ones on display here (especially in Ivy's case) aren't so much offensive as they are just ridiculously over-the-top. We get it Namco...you can animate boobies that bounce. We know. You did that in SC1 too. Next.
Unforunately, over-the-top is an accurate description of what you'll find here, especially with the character designs. Although many of the characters here have returned from previous iterations of Soul Calibur, and look better from a technical standpoint (though not by THAT much), their outfits all seem to be so damn BUSY and overaccessorized. Who could possibly FIGHT wearing all of this stuff?! Creating characters doesn't make things all that much better...to create one that's truly effective you'll often have a mismatched mess, as opposed to one that actually looks cool.
It doesn't get better in other ways as well. What does it tell you that the original Mission Mode in SC1 is STILL the best long-lasting single player mode to be found in a Soul Calibur game? SCIV's Tower of Souls is OK, though it can get tedious, and Story Mode should really be named Short Story Mode, complete with awkwardly-translated walls of text in a weak attempt to convey a story. And which version of Soul Calibur will FINALLY utilize voiceover actors that don't sound completely amateur? The uncomfortable deliveries and poorly-written dialogue continues to be painful to both read and hear, and has a way of taking you out of the element.
Speaking of "out of the element", I'm going to make this REALLY simple: if I want to play a Star Wars game, I'll play a Star Wars game. Yoda, Darth Vader and the Apprentice have NO PLACE AT ALL in a Soul Calibur game. None. Zip. They're nothing but gimmicks. I'd much, much, MUCH rather have two or three other new characters, complete with new arenas, that fit within the confines of the SC universe than these complete misfits. At the very least, if Namco's going to insist on having these guys in, can they at least include an option to turn them off?
As much as it may sound like I hate Soul Calibur IV, I don't. The fighting engine, rehashed though it may be, is still very much a blast, deep-yet-simple and lots of fun, although I'm finding that there's more matches where the CPU never gives you a chance to get up; this is especially true of the Apprentice, who to this point might very well be the cheapest SC fighter to date. And the visuals are once again easy on the eyes, though they don't really do more than take advantage of the power of the hardward they're running on, as did SC2 and 3. Audio is what you'd expect as well: sweeping epic numbers that all start to blend together after awhile.
Overall, if you've been a Soul Calibur fan through the years, and don't mind that the series has pretty much stagnated save for minor or questionable "improvements", the tried-and-true fighting mechanics are still there, and the soul still burns. This series, however, is starting to flicker.