SoulCalibur V First Impressions

The teaser trailer with which Namco Bandai announced SoulCalibur V (out next year for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) was a tease indeed. It offered only glimpses of returning character Siegfried, much older than he was in the fourth SoulCalibur game; new character Patroklos; and the now-shorter SoulCalibur sword. Speaking to the press after the game's announcement, the producer, Hisaharu Tago of Project Soul, was slightly more informative, though plenty of questions went unanswered and were deflected with reassurances of details to come at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

With the game set 17 years after the events of SoulCalibur IV, Siegfried is now 39, says Tago-San, and he no longer wields the SoulCalibur but another, unspecified two-handed sword. The new guy, Patroklos, is the son of Sophitia. The SoulCalibur and Soul Edge are no longer two-meter-long megaswords but "short" swords, and the game's story will explain how they came to be truncated.

The game's plot follows on from Siegfried's ending in SoulCalibur IV, beginning a generation later. Tago-san explains that this "generational shift" allows for a break from SoulCalibur traditions, introducing new characters, including Patroklos, and setting the scene for a new battle system. This system is "lighter, sharper, and more elegant," says Tago-san, and SoulCalibur V's new characters will play into the new fighting styles.

Patroklos' style, for instance, is based on his mother Sophita's, but it's lighter and faster in feel. (We have to take Tago-san's word for it, with nothing more to go on than the teaser trailer.) The faster, lighter fighting styles will be more accessible to new players, Tago-san says, for whom the slower, more deliberate strike-pause-strike feel of the usual SoulCalibur battle system may have been off-putting. By way of improving accessibility, combos will also be easier to perform. Between the lighter, quicker fighting and some improvements in the online system, fighting should generally feel more immediate and reactive; unlike previous SoulCalibur titles, where it felt heavier.

Other characters from the previous games will return, though Tago-san wouldn't be drawn on which characters. (Wait for E3, he says.) There will also be guest characters, as with the Star Wars characters in SoulCalibur IV. (Wait for E3 announcements, again.)