Less disappointed than before.

User Rating: 6.5 | SoulCalibur IV PS3
I've been playing the Soul Calibur series since Soul Blade on PSX. I bought a Dreamcast specifically for Soul Calibur, and in my opinion, it's still the best one . This installment isn't nearly as bad as SC2 or 3, but still lacks any real improvement on the formula. Everything feels and controls jsut like it always has, but it's not a good thing. It feels very stale.

Arcade mode is a challenge, while Story mode is a joke. Each character's end video is mostly bland and pointless.

Darth Vader is cool, and has awesome moves, but is SLOW. His moves arent' very complicated, so pulling off big force moves is a cinche, provided your opponent is across the screen. Otherwise, you'll be interrupted in a flash. The Apprentice is pretty good. He lacks the appeal of Vader, but is much faster.

My chief complaint about the basic gameplay is that it takes for-EVER to restart a match. You'll grind your X button to dust before it asks you to retry. Also, While Arcade modes ahs fast load times if you choose to install the game, everything else is still balls slow.

Online is good, but getting into a game is frustrating. If you fail to connect to one game in the list, the system restarts the search, instead of letting you pick another game on the list.

Overall it's okay, but I kinda wish I had rented it. It's about 3 days worth of excitement.