Sadly, I'm forced to give this game an 8.0
First thing you will notice, are the graphics, they are very nice indeed, and the frame rate rarely drops down (only in those situations in which you're pulling-off some over-the-top combos). Everything from the stage backgrounds, to the characters' clothing and armor, to their faces are really detailed. Something i really liked are the bloom effects seen on certain stages, such as the pirate ship. Overall, it does have some pretty good graphics, they sure have been bested by other games, but that doesn't means it doesn't look amazing.
Next up, gameplay. What can I say? It's SoulCalibur, each of the aproximately 30 characters you can choose from have his/her own original moveset, and it's not just a couple of different moves, while there are some easy combos, the ones that deal some serious damage are, of course, the hardest to pull off, and you may have some hard time either remembering them or actually making them work. New to the series are the "Critical Finishes", you see, when you fight against your enemy, his/her "Soul Gauge" (An orb positioned right next to the health bar) will gradually break and change from blue to red. When the orb breks, you have the option to press all four face buttons (or L1 to make it easier) to pull-off a Critical Finish, which is basically a cinematic attack in which your character annihilates the opponent. While it's a very nice addition, it's pretty hard to make it work, since you only have like a split-second to press the button. And you'll have a hard time telling when will the orb break, even if it starts flashing red, you'll probably miss it. It also breaks at the same time a piece of armor breaks, but you never know when does that happens... oh yeah, the characters' armor breaks and falls of when enough damage is dealt to certain part. Final thought's about combat system? It's awesome.
Now, I'd like tot alk about character creation. Like in SoulCalibur II, you can create your own characters, basing their fighting style on one of the already existing characters. However, you can customize them any way you wany. You can change their physique, muscularity, breast size in the case of females... which is nice, hair style, voice pitch, eye color, etc. Not to mention you can use give them different clothing and armor, gauntlets, boots, pants/skirts, hats, amongst other things. Indeed, the character customization has got to be what I liked the most, since you can make your character just about any way you can imagine.
Now, if I'm saying everything is so awesome... then why the hell did I gave it an 8.0? Simple, complete lack of replay value. Story modes have never been SoulCalibur's strongest aspect, so you can't expect much from it. Basically, you choose your character (either preset ones, or your own custom creations), then your given a little background about him/her in the form of... a couple paragraphs of text. Then you're pitted against other characters, after stage 2 you'll watch a cutscene of the Tower of Lost Souls, then you'll continue fighting until stage 4, when you'll watch another cutscene of either Sigfried, Nightmare, or Algol (A new character), the you fight him in Stage 5, and then... it's over, you'll watch the ending cutscene, which is usually short and lame since it doesn't explain anything other than how it ends. Each character has his/her own "story" but the only difference is the ending cutscene, and you probably won't care about the text that will be presented to you at the beginning. Indeed, it's really disappointing. What about Arcade mode? You're pitted against random characters, nothing to mention here.
Now, there's the Tower of Lost Souls mode, in which you go through floors, beating your opponents and unlocking some new gear if you meet certain requirements. However, while it is probably what you'll find yourself playing the most when not fighting friends or other people online (yes, you can play online), since it's not story-driven, I really don't feel I have a purpose of continuing to fight, I don't have a motive, I won't see a story unfold, i'll just fight some random characters. I guess some pleople wouldn't care about it, but i do.
So overall, what can I say about SoulCalibur IV? Well, while it has some amazing gameplay elements, with an awesome fighting system, and nice graphics, it's lack of single-player options really bring down the experience. I have found myself playing for up to 9 consecutive hours with a friends, we've have a lot of fun with the game, but if I'm alone, there's really not much to do besides trying to unlock those new items, and it's not all that thrilling.
So, in my opinion, if you and your friends are really into fighting games, absolutely buy it, But, if you're more of a loner, you won't find much to do here, even with the amazing gameplay and graphics. It really is a shame that such an amazing game doesn't have enough game modes to make it worth the $59 it costs, I'd gladly give it a 9.0, but I can't. Still, if you can afford the money, buy it, because it's really good if you have friends to play with.