Soulcalibur IV (PS3)

Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Project Soul
Genre: Fighting
Release Date: July 29, 2008
ESRB: Rating Pending

Although yesterday's Namco Bandai event was loaded with a few big announcements, few had the impact of Soulcalibur IV. First, the publisher announced that the highly anticipated fighting sequel will come out in North America on July 29th. Second, it unveiled a Limited Edition release, which will come in a tin box with a console-specific T-shirt, art book, tournament supplies (bracket posters, etc.), and exclusive downloadable content. Finally, Namco unveiled a hot new trailer that highlights the game's new fighters, and of course, the bonus "Star Wars" characters who will be burning some souls with the usual suspects. Afterwards, we played a new build of the game with some fairly limited roster options. Nevertheless, we immensely enjoyed what we played.

The roster on the build was a little different than what was on the menu at CES. Although Taki and Cassandra were again playable, Mitsurugi was not available. Instead, we got two characters with more distance-based fighting styles: Hilde and Seong Mi-Na. Mitsurugi might be a favorite, but there's no complaints here about trying out new fighters.

So far, minus any profound reflections on gameplay differences -- it was only ten minutes of gameplay, after all -- SC4 looks to hit a sweet spot between some of the concepts of SC3 and SC2. The pace of action is a little slower than the last installment, and the fighting system is set up to minimize turtling, or playing too defensively. If you block too much, you're handing your opponent offensive points to build up a critical hit. A critical hit can break your armor and leave you more vulnerable than if you'd simply played more aggressively.