Developed by the Project Soul team, SoulCalibur V begins 17 years after the events of SoulCalibur IV with new heroes and returning warriors clashing in a showdown between good and evil. The tale of Patroklos, son of Sophitia Alexandra, unfolds as his family's destiny intertwines with the Soul swords. With the series' 8-way run, allowing for true 3D movement during matches, a refined battle system, and fine graphics, SoulCalibur V will be of interest for this looking for a knock-down, drag-out fight...

I have to admit that I wasn't overly impressed with SoulCalibur V. While the graphics and game play are okay, there was nothing here that really caught my imagination. This is like so many other fighting games on the market, but I soon found that I got bored of the button mashing attck on opponents - where it seemed it was luck whether or not you landed your blows.

Back in 1997 I bought Soul Blade for the PlayStation (which originally released in Japan in 1996 as Soul Edge. The graphics and game play, at the time were pretty impressive. The series then went on to evolve into the SoulCalibur series. While this looks a little slicker, I actually prefered the old feeling to the game play than what it has evolved into.

There are two main gaming options: Off Line and Xbox Live.

Off Line, we get the following gaming options:

'Legendary Souls' (which is unlocked once you satisfy certain conditions from the other gaming options) in which you fight some of the harder enemies; 'Arcade' (in which you have to fight through six consequetive stages); 'Quick Battle' (a pick up and play fight); 'Vs Battle' (play against the CPU or another player - you can even watch the CPU fight against itself); 'Training' (where you can learn all the moves you need for each character against an opponent who can be customised for various aspects of training); 'Story - 1607 AD' (the main story mode where you progress through the ranks and unlock more of story of the game. The cut sequences are pretty poor though - like a poor man's online comic); 'Creation' (which allows you to create your own character).

Xbox Live offers the following options:

'Ranked Match' (take on Xbox Live opponents who have a similar skill level to your own); 'Player Match' (maximum of six players in a room for chat and fighting); 'Global Colosseo' (massive lobby for fighting and chat).

Apparantly the developers ran out of money and so couldn't polish the game off the way they wanted - which probably explains why the 'Story - 1607 AD' mode has what appears to be pre-vis artwork.

If you are a SoulCalibur fan then obviously you'll love this... everyone else should rent it first. You might find it's a little lacking in a lot of departments.

6

Nick Smithson