The best fighting game you can get right now. Nothing comes close.
I must say that i'm a huge Soul Calibur series fan, so I waited a long time for this and it was worth the wait. It was better than I expected.
First of all, the graphics are simply fantastic. Even if you don't have an HDTV, it still looks stunning. I tested the game on an HDTV and the characters are gorgeous. They look big, the details are excellent, it's colorful... you really can see that they worked a lot on this. Also the backgrounds are simply breathtaking.
But i'm not a graphics freak, i'm more of a control freak. I was afraid that maybe they would change the controls but they didn't really. It feels the same as the previous game and even better. I found that the controls felt easier, kinda faster even with a control pad. I don't have an arcade stick but if you don't too, don't worry. The controls on a normal pad are superb.
The moves are great, good thing they kept the same formula.
As for the story, well, it isn't what I expected... sure, it's a fighting game so you should not expect it to be extremely less deep in the story than something like... an RPG for example. But I really wanted to see how this would end up as the apparent last chapter of the series.
It's pretty much short. All the back-stories and the endings felt... not satisfying. It's like if they either didn't wanted reveal much or they didn't worked on the stories.
At least the ending are on CG animations and they look really good.
Finally you can play the game with friends worldwide. The multiplayer is simple: find someone and fight. And I didn't find much lag. It's simple and it's satisfying. But it can get frustrating with some people and their "fighting styles" because you can find people with "cheap" tactics but I won't develop on that because that's debatable...
Some are also new to the game or the genre so you might find it difficult to find a true challenge.
Anyway, you should have a good time if you play with your friends.
Overall, I really love the game. It's the best Soul Calibur game and it's the best fighting game I own right now.
I recommend it to all the SC fans and the fighting game fans.
This is a must. :)