This is very helpful since throwing is now not the only way to deal with turtlers, and the threat of being insta-killed forces chronic blockers to further utilize the game’s 8-Way-Run and Guard Impact mechanics. Once a fighter’s guard bar is broken via excessive blocking, it’s easy to lose the entire match outright if the player on the offensive is quick enough. The two main additions to the game engine are the ability to destroy pieces of clothing and armor (with wonderful fanservice-laden results), rendering them more vulnerable a la Sega’s Fighting Vipers, and the Critical Finish, which stops massive turtlers cold. Many move motions have been reset to their SC1 and SC2 versions, nullifying the jumble-thon that was Soulcalibur 3, and allowing people who’ve learned legacy games in the series to shine once again. Soulcalibur 2’s skittishness and ability to ring-out someone simply by breathing on them is gone. Right off the bat, the fighting feels much improved from the previous games. It’s a shame it’s not really finished (we’ll get to that later), but what’s here still impresses. Fortunately, in terms of playability, Soulcalibur IV is one of this year’s pleasant surprises. Thus, no test locations, no playability info, no high-level character analysis. To find any news on the game’s actual feature set and engine, you had to dig a mite deeper, and even then, there was no way to fully know what to expect, since, like Soulcalibur 3, this game is debuting on consoles rather than arcades. The "hype" centered around it certainly wasn’t pretty for me: giant chests (no!), Star Wars characters (why?), seemingly random (not unwelcome, really, just random) contributions from Japanese guest artists and designers, and the director of the game inexplicably feeling proud of himself for "managing" to create a fully clothed female character (who you can strip to her skivvies using the character creator if you wish, but it’s far too early in this review for biting irony). It still feels strange for me to say this, because up until I played it at E3, I was sure I’d hate it.
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