Going into Soul Calibur IV I must admit I was a tad nervous. See I'm slowly but surely realizing I'm not nearly as hardcore about some game genres as I used to be. Role playing games and fighters, specifically. So while I was head over heels in love with (and awesome at) SoulCalibur for the Dreamcast and later with part 2 on the Xbox, I've sort of waxed and waned on the genre since then.

But there was so much interesting here that I decided it was better to not wade back into the water but to dive headfirst into the deep end. Do I manage to stay afloat or do I end up drowned at the bottom of the pool?

I'd have to say for the most part the water is fine and inviting (ok I need to drop this analogy). I did find a few frustrating aspects poke up from time to time, but overall I had fun with the game and it offers enough that most people interested in it will find something in the spectrum for them.

I'll admit my attention was first attracted with the inclusion of Yoda and Vader (sacrilegious I know) and Vader on the PS3 is what tipped the scales towards that version. Graphically from everything I've seen the game is nearly identical across platforms, and while there's an install period on the PS3 (surprise, surprise) I have the feeling there isn't much different here. So it really comes down to controller preference if you're hardcore or character selection if you're someone like me. For the record, Vader's not a lot of fun (though the Apprentice from Star Wars: Unleashed is here and he's a blast to use).

And speaking of characters, the usual band is all here. Which is great but really the shining star here is the character creation too. Holy smokes is it involved. People have been out there creating all kinds of fantastic characters, and once I got my hands on the tools it was made quite apparent that I just have no artistic talent. Luckily though even though I wasn't really able to make the character I wanted (Guybrush Threepwood, who else), at least I was not only able to give my random dude a move set you can stat them out too. Playing with them is integrated well into the game, with them appearing in all the cutscenes and such. The only real reason my guy stuck out in all this was cause he was so poorly put together.

While it's easy to spend hours in the character creation system, that's really just there to make yourself a fighter so you can kick some ass... and in this department Soul Calibur 4 does not disappoint. Of all the fighting games out there this one is most likely the most unrealistic, since everyone wields seriously serious weaponry... and some swords larger then a person. Slicing and dicing does no bloody damage. Not that this is required for a fighting game by any stretch, I'm just saying.

If you're a fan of the series so far, you'll be happy to know that game play wise this looks and feels just like Soul Calibur.

So usually I start off a fighter these days by mashing buttons, seeing what combos I can get going and seeing what works. Once I get a few combos down I usually expand from there. It's a good system when you're almost always playing the computer, and since I was a fan of Xianxua I at least had a basis to start with on fight styles. I feel into a groove pretty quickly, and inside of an hour was doing a pretty decent job slicing and dicing so I decided to part with the standard arcade mode and check out the "Tower of Souls."

Now back on the Dreamcast my favorite mode by far was the "story" version where they set up all sorts of fight rules and conditions (fight 10 guys, win with weird weapons, time limits, ring outs, poisoned, etc.). So I was actually a little disappointed when I figured out that the tower of souls game mode gets rid of most of that in favor of straight on fighting. It was more fun than the arcade mode, and still lets you unlock cool shit... but I was a bit let down by the feature. I will say this though, it's not short. Fighting from floor to floor of the tower (and back down again) is not for the faint of heart. Unlike the arcade mode you won't finish this in 10 minutes.

In fact I have to admit that this was my biggest disappointment with the game. Since I'm playing the games 99% of the time alone, it was nice to have a mode that seemed to give us single players a good reason to keep moving forward. Don't get me wrong, the game isn't a lost cause with it not there... but I missed that story mode.

It seems to me that there's so much here that it definitely pleases someone like me that lands squarely between the casual and hardcore gamers when it comes to fighting games. I find it to be more accessible than Tekken and Dead of Alive (who's reversal system takes a good amount of time to master) so someone just looking for a fun fighter will no doubt enjoy themselves.

Hardcore fighter game fans are a special breed and typically have their favorites and don't wander far from it. So I seriously doubt anything I say here will sway them at all. That all being said I dug the game and would recommend it to someone looking for some fun weapon filled diversions.

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