Soulcalibur IV

Soulcalibur IV (ソウルキャリバーIV, Sōru Kyaribā Fō?) is the fifth installment in Namco's Soul series of fighting games, due for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on July 29, 2008, in North America; July 31, 2008, in Japan, Europe, and Australia; and August 1, 2008, in the United Kingdom.



Characters
Darth Vader, the Apprentice and Yoda, characters from the Star Wars universe, are confirmed to be playable guest characters. Darth Vader will appear on the PlayStation 3 and Yoda will be on the Xbox 360. The Apprentice, the main protagonist of LucasArts' upcoming video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will be included as a playable guest character on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.[2][3][4][5][6] Revenant,[7] Frederick Schtauffen[8][9] and several other minor Soul series characters make an appearance in battle.


Returning characters
Characters are listed in alphabetical order.

Amy
Astaroth
Cassandra
Cervantes
Xianghua
Mitsurugi
Hong Yun-seong
Ivy
Kilik
Lizardman
Maxi
Nightmare
Raphael Sorel
Rock
Seong Mi-na
Setsuka
Siegfried
Sophitia
Taki
Talim
Tira
Voldo
Yoshimitsu
Zasalamel

New characters
Algol
Hilde

Guest characters

Starkiller battling Yoda, both are Guest Characters in Soulcalibur IV.Starkiller
Darth Vader
Yoda

Bonus characters
Angol Fear (designed by guest artist Mine Yoshizaki)[10]
Ashlotte (designed by guest artist Oh! great)[11]
Kamikirimusi (designed by guest artist Hirokazu Hisayuki)[12]
Scheherazade (designed by guest artist Yutaka Izubuchi)[13]
Shura (designed by guest artist Hiroya Oku)[14]

Gameplay

Modes
The fourth Soulcalibur game will feature the familiar Story, Arcade, Training and Museum modes. A new mode will be called Tower of Lost Souls, and it will put the player fighting special battles in order to gain rewards.[15]


Character Creation
Character Creation from Soulcalibur III will return in Soulcalibur IV. Instead of including original weapon styles for use with certain classes of fighters, SCIV now allows players to simply choose which character from the series they would like to have their created character mimic (excluding the Star Wars guest characters).

A wide array of new pieces of equipment are available for use in SCIV's Character Creation mode, and new options include a wider range of character voices (with pitch adjustment), the ability to change a character's general physique and muscularity, and even a choice of poses for the character to use on the versus screen.

In addition, equipped items now also affect a character's statistics. Some pieces of armor may increase health, attack or defense; some equipment and accessories may also grant skill points that allow the character to equip special traits that affect the character's playstyle.[16] Standard characters will also be able to be modified in this way to a modest degree, allowing custom costumes and skill sets to be used in Special VS. mode.


Active Matching Battle
Soulcalibur IV's battles will use a different structure from its predecessors, nicknamed Active Matching Battle (AMB). It allows players to fight multiple opponents at the same time under different circumstances.[17]


Soul Gauge & Critical Finish
Soulcalibur IV will feature an all-new Critical Finish system. Next to players' Health Meters is a colored gem that represents the "Soul Gauge." Starting green, the meter will change to blue when attacking and change to red when guarding. When the gem is pure red, an opponent can do a strike that breaks off a part from the character's armor, altering their appearance and making him or her weaker for the remainder of the match. More damage is inflicted on the area of armor that was destroyed. There are also three green boxes below the gauges, reflecting the state of the characters' armor: high, mid, and low.

If the character manages to empty out the opponent's Soul Gauge again, he or she will get a short chance to perform a powerful Critical Finish move, which will defeat the opponent instantly, by pressing all four face buttons at the same time. Each character has his own personal Critical Finish move. Namco says that it developed the Soul Gauge to decrease the benefits from constant guarding, thus giving the game a faster tempo and making the matches more offensive.[18]


Force abilities
The Star Wars guest characters, Darth Vader, the Apprentice and Yoda will all feature unique, Force-based styles. Darth Vader will be able to utilize Force-based pushes and chokes, Yoda will use the Force to launch himself into the air for complex aerial attacks, and the Apprentice will be able to use Force lightning. These moves will drain a special Force Meter, until it is emptied, at which point Force-based moves will drain the character's health.[19]


Online Battles
For the first time in the series, Soulcalibur IV will have the option to fight against other players online. Confirmed versus-modes available in online battles are Standard VS (for classic matches) and Special VS (for customized characters).[20] Director Katsutoshi Sasaki has mentioned that created characters will be playable in the online multiplayer mode.[21]


Premium Edition
According to an article from gaming site GameSpot, Namco Bandai Games confirmed there will be a Premium Edition of Soul Calibur IV available which will include an art/comic book, a t-shirt, a tournament kit that will "give fans the opportunity to document the battle amongst friends," and sell in a metal packaging on the same release date as the regular game. Gamespot also mentions that there will be exclusive access to extra customization content in this version.[22] In New Zealand and Australia there will be a Steelbook case edition with bonus DVD containing, 4 trailers in HD, 4 wallpapers, exclusive concept art and an exclusive booklet with character biographies.


References
^ "Soul Calibur Page". GamePro. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
^ The Apprentice
^ Keighley, Geoff. "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed". GameTrailers.com & Spike TV.
^ McWhertor, Michael. "Darth Vader's Apprentice Joins Soulcalibur IV Cast". Kotaku.
^ Gandhi, Mayur. "Exclusive The Force Unleashed Information!". NZGamer.com.
^ Gandhi, Mayur. "The Force Unleashed: Interview with Dan Wasson". NZGamer.com.
^ Revenant
^ Frederick Schtauffen
^ "Soul Calibur IV Character Spotlight: Siegfried" via 1UP.com
^ Ashcraft, Brian. "New Soul Calibur IV Character, Has Sharp Nipples". Kotaku.
^ Good, Owen. "New Character for Soul Calibur IV: Ashlotte". Kotaku.
^ McWhertor, Michael. "Soulcalibur IV Adds One More Female Fighter". Kotaku.
^ Ashcraft, Brian. "New Soul Calibur IV Character". Kotaku.
^ McWhertor, Michael. "Soulcalibur IV Ups Its T&A Quotient Again". Kotaku.
^ Namco Bandai Games America
^ Soulcalibur IV Hands-On Preview
^ Namco Bandai Games America
^ GameSpot: Soulcalibur IV Updated Hands-On
^ Electronic Gaming Monthly 229 (June 2008)
^ Namco Bandai Games America
^ Soulcalibur IV Goes Online at 1UP.com
^ IV Premium Edition Details at Gamespot.com

External links
Official English website
Official Japanese website
Soulcalibur IV at NamcoBandai.com
Official Namco Bandai Promotion site
Wikia has a wiki on this subject: Soulcalibur Wiki