Fans of the 3D fighting genre have had to sit out in the cold for the last few years as the fighting genre focuses largely on 2D fighters, but a new title has come to save the day and provide a unique style of combat that cannot be found anywhere else. Namco Bandai’s Soulcalibur V has been released today in North America for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The game takes place 17 years after the events of Soulcalibur IV and players must follow the story of Patroklos and Pyrrha Alexandra as their family’s destiny becomes entangled with that of the two Soul Swords. With a highly expanded character creation mode and a number of new features this may be Soulcalibur’s best entry in the series yet. Those looking to pick up the title can pick up a normal version for $60 or the Collector’s Edition for $80. The Collector’s Edition will include a faux leather-bound book, a music CD, making-of video content, hardcover art book and the Dark Knight and White Knight downloadable armor sets
Only those living under a rock don’t know that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is being released today to stores everywhere in North America, and while the title may offer a very large amount of gameplay time on its own, Square Enix is looking to extend your playtime even further. Though those simply interested in seeing what the main game has to offer can check out the launch trailer below.
Today Square Enix has revealed that the first piece of DLC for FFXIII-2 will be released the same time as in Japan, on February 7yth. The DLC will add Lightning and Master Sergeant Amador to the Coliseum battle gameplay mode and players will be able to use them in their party once they have been defeated. Further DLC will be released in the future, this includes various costumes for characters and more episodes to expand the narrative of FFXIII-2 though these pieces of DLC will be detailed more at a later time.
Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell finally has a more cement release window for their crazy shooter Hybrid. The release of Hybrid was delayed indefinitely in the past and now is currently set for a Summer 2012 launch window.
Thanks to the delay time, 5th Cell is promising a large amount of updates to the title, including a 60FPS framerate, a better looking game and a new twist on the in-air movement and combat. The trailer for the game can be seen below and features a large amount of gameplay. No price has currently been set for the title though one can assume it will be either 800-1200 MSP.
You may recall a few days ago when it was revealed that, unsurprisingly, the EA published SSX would contain an online pass. As such there was a bit of a hullabaloo but nothing too unexpected happened. At least not until today when EA has told Game Informer that the online pass for SSX does not actually lock out the online mode for the title.
Rather than lock them out of the game’s multiplayer functions it will lock out any credits players are awarded for competing in the online modes “Explore and “Global Events”. These credits are stored and will be available if the player chooses to pay the $10 for the online pass. EA went on to say that “Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore.”
Some people may think that being immortal is easy. However the life Bryce Boltzmann lives isn’t an easy one at all… in fact it is full of tragic suffering as he sees his beloved wife murdered in front of his eyes by the Demon King Astaroth and then cursed to forever live with that image in his mind.
His immortal life is empty and without aspiration as he simply battles against modern day demonic forces alongside his partner Arcadia for the National Anti-Demon Agency. While Bryce may not be the happiest fellow around, he can use his immortality to take on tasks no other mortal possibly could, including ripping off his own head and tossing it through the air or regenerating body parts like they are nothing at all. NeverDead is available today on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and players can try to possibly bring Bryce’s immortal life some closure as he faces off against the demons terrorizing the world.
If you are a publisher about to put out a very expensive and expansive new title that has never had a sequel before there is always the chance that the game may not do well in stores. In fact, Capcom has very high hopes for the game, so much so that they hope it sells at least 1.5 million copies worldwide.
While this may be a very admirable goal for a new I.P. Capcom has probably just guaranteed that they will hit that mark. For you see, they have announced today that every retail copy of Dragon’s Dogma on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will come with a downloadable code for an early demo of Resident Evil 6. Xbox 360 owners will be able to redeem their code on July 3rd… a full two months before PlayStation 3 owners who will need to wait until September 4th.
Various retailers are also detailing pre-order bonuses as well. This includes GameStop offering the “Pawn Upgrade Pack” which provides additional Rift Crystals and lets you rent higher level pawns from the start. Best Buy is offering a higher level armor upgrade via the “Armor Upgrade Pack” and Amazon is providing higher level weaposn via the “Weapon Upgrade Pack.” Seems like the May 22nd release of Dragon’s Dogma just got a whole lot sweeter than it already was. Those still on the fence can check out the story trailer for the title which was released today.
Today EA has released a video that not only provides us with plenty of in-game footage of the characters but also behind-the-scenes footage of the characters voice actors recording lines and talking about the title. The video can be seen below and the full voice cast and what characters they are performing can also be seen below. Let me say that Seth Green looks quite different with a full beard now but it is great to see him retain his role as Joker.
Martin Sheen as The Elusive Man
Seth Green as Joker
Tricia Helfer as Normandy’s A.I EDI
Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda
Carrie-Anne Moss as Aria T’Loak
Ali Hills as Dr. Liara T’Soni
Keith David as Captain Anderson
Lance Henriksen as Admiral Steven Hackett
Freddy Prinze Jr. as James Vega
Jessica Chobot as Diana Allers
Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale as Sheppard, Male and Female
THQ has had a troubling last few weeks, among news of various layoffs from their company to the company dropping all aspects of working on licensed children games, it has now received a deslisting warning from the NASDAQ stock exchange says Develop. The reason for this is because the company’s stock has been traded for below the minimum of $1 for the past month.
The publisher has 180 total calendar days, or until July 23, 2012 to raise its stock up above the $1 mark for at least 10 consecutive business days, if not then the stock will be delisted and taken down from the market which would have a very negative impact on the company as a whole. Now various companies have come back from this and avoided delisting in the past, Majesco has done so twice in fact. Those who are curious about THQ’s stock price will know that today it was being traded at only $0.70 a stock.
You may remember that a week or so ago EA revealed that they would be releasing a four-player co-op demo for their take on the Syndicate video game later in the month. Well it seems that the demo is now available on both the Xbox 360 and a little bit later on the PlayStation 3.
The demo will allow players to take on the “Western Europe” level and feature players infiltrating Cayman Global to take out Colonel Enrico Gabron and steal his blueprints. EA released a trailer for the demo and even talk about a little history from the game itself. You can add the demo to your download queue for the 360 version here to see if you want to pick up the full game when it is released on February 21st.
Soulcalibur V Developer: Project Soul Publisher: Namco Bandai Platforms: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3 Release Date: January 31, 2012 Price: $59.99 – Available Here
Overview:
Over the past few years the fighting genre has been flooded with a number of different fighting series making their mark on the genre. However all of these games have had one thing in common… they were all 2D fighters. This includes the ever popular Street Fighter series and its numerous iterations; BlazBlue’s multiple iterations, as well as Mortal Kombat and even the upcoming Street Fighter x Tekken.
What the fighting genre is lacking is a quality 3D fighting title, and Team Soul is looking to bring one to fighting fans everywhere with Soulcalibur V. A tale of souls and swords that transcends history and the world will be retold once again. Is this tale one worth participating in or left to fade into the same history it is meant to transcend?
Story:
The world of Soulcalibur has been rather quiet over the past seventeen years however a new war is brewing between good and evil and those who are to wield Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. Over the past seventeen years many new faces have appeared in the world and familiar ones have faded away, will the new generation of fighters be able to stop evil from consuming the world?
Now it is worth noting that unlike past titles, there is no individual story mode for any of the other characters in the game. The only story mode in Soulcalibur V is a structured path that is followed without change. This means that numerous characters are unfortunately left in the dark and barely see any screen time at all in the story, with some completely left out entirely with little to no explanation for why they are included in the title.
Soulcalibur V’s story mode follows the journey of Patroklos, the son of Sophitia Aelxandra as his family becomes deeply entwined in the fate of the two Soul swords. Patroklos believes himself a holy warrior who defeats any malfested, those tainted by the evil Soul Edge, while also searching for the malfested who has kidnapped his long lost sister. However little does he know that his own sister is too a malfested… Can this young man possibly reunite his family and defeat Nightmare to put an end to Soul Edge’s evil once again?
The story for Soulcalibur advances through chapter battles, with each chapter usually consisting of a battle against one or more characters. Before each battle the story will be presented through hand drawn still-images which is highly stylized but occasionally with cutscenes as well. Each of these images are then accompanied by a voice over from the characters as the story is advanced.
While the story mode unfortunately only clocks in at a measly three to four hours depending on player skill, there is a decent story told here with multiple twists that can catch the player off guard. But it is hard to overlook the structured nature of each chapter and the lack of gameplay length.
Visuals:
While the visuals in Soulcalibur IV were already of a high quality, the ones found in Soulcalibur V are clearly a step above and the care given to them by the developers is evident through the amount of detail found nearly everywhere on the screen. The characters themselves are full of detail and have seen various physical makeovers and improvements.
The same level of detail carries over to the Create a Fighter mode where players have the ability to create characters nearly as detailed as the main cast with just as impressive detail and overall quality. The arenas are also very detailed and full of animation in the background that makes the player feel like they are fighting in the middle of a battlefield in some cases.
Audio:
Each of the characters are given adequate voice work and the voice actor for Ezio Auditore sounds the same as the one for the Assassin’s Creed titles. The voice work is usually only exemplified during the Story Mode however as the player watches the various still art scenes and listen to the narration by the characters. One thing worth mentioning however is the great voice work provided by the Narrator who continues to excel in that field from past Soulcalibur titles.
The background music is suitable and players can select their own when they are choosing their match type. Most music provided is themed to a certain character so some themes may sound familiar to those who have played previous titles from the franchise.
Gameplay:
Soulcalibur V offers plenty of different modes depending on what you feel like playing at any given time. These modes range from various offline modes and online modes as well. The offline modes consist of Quickplay which allows the player to battle against pre-made custom fighters that were added into the game by the developers. Defeating opponents in Quickplay unlock various titles to use on the player’s license. Players will also receive experience points for any battle they fight in any gameplay mode which will contribute to their player level and unlock various Create a Fighter bonuses.
There is also the standard Arcade mode that allows the player to fight a series of six battles though no storyline is given in this mode, a training ground, the soul crushingly difficult Legendary Souls mode that players can unlock where they will face off against harder than hard fighters and see how many throws their controller can handle before breaking, a training mode, a VS. mode to face off against friends or the CPU cast and of course the aforementioned story mode.
At its core Soulcalibur has always been a title that allows for players to be able to jump in and have a good time even if they weren’t the most experienced player in the world. Of course an easy barrier of entry doesn’t meant that the title doesn’t contain plenty of complicated combos and extravagant fighting techniques to be learned by the more skilled players looking for a challenge.
Soulcalibur V’s fighting styles have always been a pleasure to try out and each fighter contains a unique set of moves that allow for players to quickly pick their favorite. There are different weapon types with various attack ranges and move sets that each character is a whole new experience that breaths fresh air into a fighting genre oft plagued with blatant copies with a minor re-skin (though there are more sword and shield characters than some may like.) In the character select screen each character is given a grid system showing how fast they can attack, their strength of attack as well as their ease of use so the more complicated fighters are already marked out for the inexperienced.
The new cast of characters is interesting at best and nearly all of the characters’ move sets have been adjusted in some way or another. This includes the removal of some techniques and additions of others for returning characters or characters mimicking past styles. There are a few worth mentioning however that bring unique abilities to the table, such as ZWEI a man capable of summoning a werewolf to assist in his combos and Viola who fights with a crystal ball that can be controlled all the way from the other side of the arena through various combo attacks. Also joining the fray is Ezio Auditore from the Assassin’s Creed series. He brings with him all of his various tricks and weapons and compared to past guest characters he actually fits the style of the game nearly perfectly.
As a whole the battles still feel slow compared to what other fighting series bring to the table. While this can be attributed to the fact that all the fighters use weaponry rather than their fists, the series does contain numerous combos that result in a very brief pause that can leave your fighter open for counterattack. The juggling system has also seen some adjustment as players will receive less damage from normal attacks the longer they are kept in the air and will fall to the ground after only a few hits thanks to Soulcalibur V’s acknowledgment of gravity.
Given that most characters will leave themselves open for a brief moment between attacks, the block button is likely to be the friend of most gamers in Soulcalibur V. While blocking will help you survive longer, the block break mechanic has been adjusted where players will have their blocks broken through and be left vulnerable if they have received too many blocked blows. This is indicated by their Health bar flashing yellow and then red as their block is about to be broken. Players can still break opponents clothing off as well, but this is not tied to the blocking mechanic anymore.
As the player battles against their opponent they will fill up a Critical Gauge in the corner of their Health Bar. When full the number will display a one, and be completely full at two. This gauge allows the player to perform a powerful combo attack called a Critical Edge that will deal a large amount of damage to your opponent and is unblockable if the first attack hits. Also making use of the Critical Gauge are Brave Edge attacks which help extend the length of certain combos and deal extra damage, though these only use half the amount of a Critical Edge attack.
Once you feel like you are ready to take on other fighters around the world you can face off against them in a few different ways. This includes your standard Ranked Battle where you will be given an opponent at random depending on your search parameters as well as Player Battles that let you create and search rooms to battle against your friends. In these Player Battles those waiting will be able to watch the fight happen as a spectator which alleviates the waiting time and provides hints at your opponent’s fighting style.
Closing out the online modes is the Global Colosseo mode that allows players to search for a large room that can fill with a large amount of players and they can join battles and tournaments there with much greater ease than in the Player Battle mode. Another new feature added is the Rival system that lets players register up to three Rivals. Rivals fighting stats are then tracked and compared to the player’s and help provide an easy comparing system.
As mentioned before, the Create a Fighter system has seen a major improvement as far as the level of quality goes. Players will be able to create nearly any type of character they see fit with a large amount of clothing and equipment provided at the start of the game with more to unlock by leveling up. Players can adjust everything about their character including their proportions, color their armor or even add patterns and tattoos and even the weapons themselves. As a whole the Create A Fighter system is the best we’ve seen so far and being able to take your created fighter online to fight against others is one of the biggest thrills the title can present.
Overall:
While Soulcalibur V may have taken a step back as far as a storyline goes, in fact it contains what some may find as a lesser story than ever before. However the amount of character creation abilities and the simple joy of the various fighting styles and mechanics outweigh the negativity of the lacking story. Boasting a lag free and easy to access multiplayer mode players will find countless hours of enjoyment as they create numerous fighters and battle against the AI, their friends and those online Soulcalibur V can stand proud as being one of the most enjoyable fighting games in recent memory.
