Info Tech Guide

Soul Calibur 5 still plays in a similar style to its predecessors and Namco beat-em-up brethren Tekken. Eight-way-run combat is the order of the day, with combos based around this and three types of attacks: horizontal, vertical, and kick. Many characters have as many as 16 different moves for each type of attack, so we're talking about an extensive move-list, not to mention the numerous attack strings and combos on top of that.

Namco seems to have a penchant for creating characters and then giving them an old character's moveset, and Soul Calibur 5 is no different. Granted, Soul Calibur has more of a story arc than many fighting games and the changes are largely for this reason, but story canon aside it would have been nice to see some more of the old guard playable in Soul Calibur 5.

That said, the new versions of characters such as Kilik, Xianghua and Taki are well balanced and are different enough to justify their presence. 

Fans of the series will be relieved to know that many of Soul Calibur's more iconic characters have still made the cut. Bullet-slicing growly man Mitsurugi, razorwire-wielding dominatrix Ivy and hulking executioner Astaroth are all included, as is Namco ever-present Yoshimitsu.

Again, their movelists have been simplified somewhat but if you've played them in previous games, you'll find that they are much the same, save for a few tweaks. 

Namco has allowed itself a degree of fan-service by bringing in Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin's Creed as a playable character. There is always a danger that guest characters simply won't fit into the style of the game, We've already mentioned the disaster that was the inclusion of Yoda in Soul Calibur 4, but Ezio is well suited and accompanies the rest of the cast well.

In short, fans of the series may be disappointed to lose a few characters, but the new cast are well balanced and have enough new tricks to keep both newcomers and series vets interested.

Soul Calibur 5 has the best character creation facility of any fighting game ever. That's not an overstatement, it really is excellent, and other than modelling your character's fighting style on one of the already-present cast, you have total freedom to make your blade-wielding battler look as crazy as you want.

Then, you can take him or her (or it) online to fight players around the world, either in ranked or player matches, or in the 'Global Colosseo' - effectively a giant player match where players can face off against each other.

And as for the experience, Namco has absolutely nailed this one.. Until now, fighting game online lobbies have been dark places, filled with bitterness and thoughts of revenge.

Soul Calibur 5's are brilliantly designed, allowing you to watch the current fight while text chatting with the rest of the lobby and checking out your opponents' records and statistics. So much so that you can easily miss your turn to fight if you aren't paying attention.

The single player modes are extensive, but at the same time they feel a little bit lacking. Arcade mode is very well done, giving you lots of options and a reasonable difficulty curve should you so wish. The story mode is not so good, and actually feels unnecessary to Arcade mode.