"The best fighting game of 2012." Hands-on with Soul Calibur V

Made2Game has been excited about Soul Calibur V for a while now. Oh sure, we love new stuff as much as the next videogame website, but Namco Bandai and Project Soul's attempt to breathe new life into their ageing 3D fighter is actually shaping up into something rather brilliant. We've enthused previously about how Soul Calibur V is appealing to the fighting hardcore, while just last week we crowned Soul Calibur V as 2012's must-have fighter.

But why? Why is Soul Calibur V set to be the best fighting game of 2012? Well it's quite simple really: because it's got something for absolutely everyone.

Soul Calibur V features Unique, Time Tested Gameplay
Soul Calibur has existed in one way or another since 1996's Soul Edge, so Namco have had a while build on its foundations and iron out its irks and quirks.

Yet somehow, despite Soul Calibur existing as a 3D arena brawler for more than 13 years - the ability to move freely in and out of the screen to avoid attacks was added in 1998's Soul Calibur, it was not part of Soul Blade's gameplay -  it is still the only true 3D fighter available. Soul Calibur V encourages movement around foes as much as toward and away from them, and on this account it still stands unique in 2012.

Every other fighter being released in 2012 lends itself to direct Street Fighter or BlazBlue comparisons and while the likes of Tekken and Dead or Alive look similar to Soul Calibur, their fights take place in faux-3D spaces; there's next to no tactical advantage found in using that extra depth. They are both sheep in wolf's clothing. Well, not that cuddly. Or that demeaning for that matter. Perhaps it would be more fitting to call them horses masquerading as zebra. Or something like that...

Anyway, the point is we've been hammering 2D scrappers daily for a few years now and it's time for something else. Soul Calibur V presents an incredibly well formed and, most importantly, unique challenge.

Soul Calibur V features meaningful improvements
Even when a series stands on its own in the way Soul Calibur does, no one can ignore the stench of creative stagnation, and Soul Calibur has been ponging from some nasty mould growing on stale ideas for a while now. Things have been added over the years, sure, but they have been largely superfluous alterations to a solid core formula that Project Soul were too frightened to tinker with for fear of breaking the engine.

But that phase of treading water that made us shake our heads more and more is over; Soul Calibur V has taken a long hard look at the series' brawling and made the first meaningful additions and alterations since Soul Calibur's inception.

The Critical Gauge is the most glaring addition and lets you improve your offensive capabilities throughout the course of a match. Simply put, it's a super bar; you gain energy through fighting, which you can cash in to extend standard combos and improve grabs. Or you can wait and unleash a fully charged bar in a health-annihilating super move. It may be a rather obvious, almost uniform addition but knowing Astaroth is stomping around with a full Critical Gauge charged, meaning he could activate his super grab technique at any point, completely changes the dynamic of the arena.

The biggest change to Soul Calibur's defensive game is the 'Just Guard', a smart reworking of the Guard Impact of old. Oh but don't worry, Impact fans, some characters still have that ability. The Just Guard occurs when a player hits the block command at the exact moment an enemy's attack hits them, and a successful Just Guard will lets the defending player launch into an immediate offensive in a fashion not too dissimilar to Street Fighter III's parry.

Even the series' standard 8-way run has seen a tweak. The '8-way run' is effectively the fancy Soul Calibur way of saying 'moving in or out of the screen, effectively sidestepping, to avoid an opponent's vertical attack'. Soul Calibur V adds a nippy dash ability after a double tap up or down, effortlessly improving and encourages this important technique.

Soul Calibur V may not be an obvious 'shout it from the rooftops' revolution for Namco's tale of souls and swords, but it is a calm, calculated game-wide tweak that improves the fighting significantly in every aspect.

Soul Calibur V feels fresh
There's a lot to be said for a developer that can effectively clear out a franchise's cobwebs without ruining what made it shine in the first place, and Soul Calibur IV had some proper Taratula-sized constructions blocking the view.

After playing Soul Calibur V, you'll note that those cobwebs are gone, and everything is looking even brighter than we remember.

The biggest alteration to the furnishings are the new characters. They're great, and really lend the game an unmistakably minty-fresh aroma. While many have their roots in past fighters - Lexia is Xianghua, Natsu is Taki, Pyrrha is Cassandra, Xiba is Kilik etc. – their fresh, rebalanced move sets and new features, such as Natsu's teleporting and Xiba's monkey like grace, improve on their ageing predecessors with ease.

Then there are the completely new faces. Viola and her ball of death. Z.W.E.I with his rubbish name and disconnected minion. Patroklos' crazy powerful knock back attacks and counters. These are the guys that make Soul Calibur V feel like a real step forward for the series. Again, it's not a crazy over the top reworking, but it changes enough to make the game compelling again.

Soul Calibur V features a proper story and solo Challenges
In our 2011 Fighting game awards we said that Mortal Kombat set a new standard for the single player experience in modern fighting games and fortunately, for comparison's sake, Soul Calibur V is no slouch in this department.

Soul Calibur V's story mode is a proper narrative. There's none of that wafer thin individual character stuff or Star Wars shoe-horning here. This is a genuine tale presented through proper cutscenes and drawn stills with actual voice acting, all held together with some scrapping glue as you act out the important bouts.

Then there's the arcade mode that is chunkier than the usual effort, offering four routes as well as multiple difficulties. Then alongside this Soul Calibur V offers a spread of challenge bouts that unlock titles to personalise your fight card, and another list of 'Legendary Souls' battles to test your mettle even further still.

You know what else? The training mode will even explain a character's key attacks and techniques if you ask it to, meaning players looking for offline content and ways to prepare themselves for real competitive play are more than catered for. You know, or it's just a healthy slab of content for the solo player. Either way, offline gamers have a fair amount here to enjoy.

Soul Calibur V's character creator is unrestrained giggle juice
Oh sure, if you're a 'serious' fighter fan then you'll likely turn your nose up and bemoan this feature as pointless and gaudy but we guarantee to you that for everyone that acts all elitist against its inclusion, just as many people will be buying Soul Calibur V for its character creator alone.

'Why?' we hear you ask. Because it's fun.

The beauty of Soul Calibur V's character creator, as it has been since the mode's debut in Soul Calibur III, is that it's put together with nothing but fun in mind.

Want to create a serious alternate costume for Mitsurugi? Sure, go ahead. Want to make a version of Asteroth with a purple afro, shades and disco jacket, who speaks in ear-piercing chipmunk tones? That's just as easy.

Cat people, freaky gimps, tattooed hard men, hammer weilding pandas, bulging genetic experiments with a passion for neon - Soul Calibur V becomes as outlandish as you desire, and makes the game great party fodder.

Even if you never use it, Soul Calibur V's character creator helps this quite tricky fighter appeal to a wider audience. For everyone that obsesses over the framegap between Mitsurugi's B B combo, just as many will be posing big bearded brute's for quirky portrait photos and then taking them online just to freak people out. It's just a bit of silly fun, and that's something often missing from this occasionally stern-faced genre.

These five points above show why Soul Calibur V is set to be 2012's best fighter. It's got something for everyone - the fighting enthusiast will find delight in its tight, unique combat, while the casual entertainment seeker has plenty to delve into with the interesting narrative and silly character creator.

But how do we really know that it will be the best? Quite simple really; when our man James sat down to write this article he went back to Soul Calibur V to do a little 'research'. We didn't see him for two hours. And that was old code.

It's brilliant. Apparently.

Words by James Bowden (Twitter: @Dalagonash)

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