No more just hand-to-hand combat but now bring on the sword clashing, bone smashing action! Soulcalibur IV pulls it off!
User Rating: 8.5 | SoulCalibur IV PS3
This 3D fighting game comes with it all from Story Mode to Survival Mode to even VS Mode. The only Mode it is lacking is Co-op which would have made this game a masterpiece but it still does not diminish the value the game already has. The 2 biggest aspects of SoulCalibur IV that jumped out at me were creating and customizing your own character (who even have their own story) as well as existing characters and being able to buy new weapons and armor to beef up the characters so they can kick even more butt. Not only can you change the outfits the characters are wearing (or even their whole appearance) but you are able to watch the story endings for each character with these changes. The combinations you can come up with seem to be unlimited. The controls for fighting are also something I have never quite experienced. Even though I have played other 3D fighting games, such as Tekken Tag & Virtua Fighter, I have never found those games to be as challenging as SoulCalibur IV. You can use the exact same button sequence and come up with a completely different move, or so it seemed to me, depending on if you were face to face with your opponent or behind them. The game could have been better in the Story Mode section had it gone into a little more depth of the character's story but I was still able to connect the dots so I was not overly disappointed, just a little saddened. All in all I would definitely say that this is a game worthy of being in anyone's collection. 
