Soulcalibur IV

(Namco Bandai) Xbox 360, PS3
Rating:

Ever wanted to crush the hulking beast that is Nightmare while playing a puny but pugnacious Yoda? Or show off Darth Vader’s lightsaber skills to the lovely ninja Taki? Of course you have. Now you can—well, at least you can do one or the other, depending on which next-gen system you own. (Yoda is on the Xbox 360; Lord Vader is on the PS3.) In addition to the iconic Star Wars characters, other fighters have been added, including Hilde, an armored warrior with a sword and spear. As far as the new game modes go, it’s super fun to battle with your customized characters online, or do a dungeon crawl through the Tower of Lost Souls, where you test your character’s mettle and your button mashing skills to see just how many monsters you can take down. We’re also pleased by the return of the character customization we enjoyed in Soulcalibur III, which allows us to create bikini-clad versions of the game’s pixelated females, including the mega-busty Ivy. The customizations will have an impact on the way the characters fight, but as long as you’re skilled in offensive maneuvers (the new Soul Gauge prevents you from continually blocking, thus boosting the intensity of the matches), you should be able to handle the lack of armor.