SoulCalibur V

Faster, flashier and every bit as accessible as before, Soul Calibur V is the sequel the series needed. Some design choices might leave you scratching your head and the lack of a few favourites will irk returning fans, particularly Talim and Zasalamel players where no similar alternatives exist. The AI can irritate at times and the unlockable characters may disappoint, but those into character creation will find themselves losing many hours in their pursuit of the ultimate, and personalised, fighting roster.

Namco once again offers the best weapon based fighting anyone can ask for. This is the best in the series since the first game.

SCV's great mix of spectacle, accessibility and depth make it a fun fighting game that almost anyone with an interest in the genre can enjoy. [Issue #81, p.88]

With its increased pace, defensive tweaks, and reincarnated fighters, Soulcalibur V feels like a sorely needed reinvention for a series whose formula has gotten too long in the tooth. It feels as accessible and nearly as entertaining as Soulcalibur II and soundly one-ups its HD predecessor. You won't realize how much you wanted this revamp until you've put in a few hours on the arcade sticks.

A great game, capable of keeping you entertained for many hours also thanks to the involving Quick Match mode and the deep editor; we would have liked a more fleshed out story and a special mode like the Tower of Lost Souls in SC4, but it stays, however, a recommended buy.

More than anything else, it puts up a great fight. More immediate than its predecessors and certainly easier to get to grips with, SCV still retains the special flavour of the series - the weapons make its fights fast and deadly, the kind of battle where one slip ends everything. The mix of tension and frantic violence is more potent than ever. It never really went away, but Soul Calibur V feels like a comeback.

While some of the changes are questionable and some might blame Namco for not taking the "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" approach, this remains a welcome new entry that will give another boost to the fighting genre.

Soul Calibur V is an assured return for the franchise that boasts a robust roster of fighters, a good selection of modes and the best visuals yet seen in the series. There's more in the gameplay system itself to tempt Street Fighter IV fans with Critical Edge, Brave Edge moves and whatnot, and the array of options presented by the character creation suite are superb. 17 years on and the story's still a bit daft, but Soul Calibur's overall enduring appeal hasn't dulled in the slightest.

This new entry surpasses the previous game in everything, but it is too conservative, continuing the formula instead of evolving it. It is still a great fighting game, but Namco Bandai could have taken more risks to innovate in the genre.

Soulcalibur V is just as solid of a fighter as its predecessors but it hit a few bumps somewhere in that 17 year skip from the last installment.

If you're looking for a fighter with a decent amount of longevity than Soul Calibur V is the game for you and whether you're a newbie or an aficionado of the series, the game successfully manages to keep things fresh, exciting and playable for everyone.

Overall Soul Calibur V is a solid title that will be sure to win back fans of the series. It features a solid mixture of new and old mechanics, as well as an incredibly fun and rewarding online playground.

Soulcalibur V is the next-gen Soulcalibur that I've been wanting as a fan for years. At the same time, it's nothing if not more Soulcalibur. Now if Namco Bandai would release a DLC pack with the full Soul Calibur II roster, I could finally retire that disc.

Diehard fans will definitely want to check the game out, but they are also the ones who are most likely to come away slightly disappointed. And if you aren't a legacy Soulcalibur fight veteran, you may want to just rent or wait for a price drop. There are a few more fighting games coming this year and Soulcalibur V has left plenty of room for improvement.

Project Soul took a step in the right direction. The newly introduced mechanics and the overall gameplay take the series to a new level. Interesting for new players and veterans alike.

If you want a fighting game to be a success, then nothing can be held back and all punches must be thrown. Soul Calibur V does take a couple shots that would normally stagger and cripple other fighting games, but the spirit will always live on as it brings gamers smooth, beautiful combat combined with a strengthened multiplayer system to provide hours upon hours of enjoyment.

Soul Calibur 5 won't offer many surprises. Obiviously Project Soul doesn't want to tackle a modern "Weapon Master" mode, the campaign is shallow as always (and cast with a bunch of unlikable characters). But the fighting system is still one of the best around, the presentation is excellent and the controls spot on.

SCV reinvents the series again, and implements a number of changes that add layers of complexity and depth to a winning formula. The new Street Fighter-centric direction is surprising, but one that still works within the general framework without being overpowering. While plenty of single-player content can keep you busy for months -- much like the original -- in the end playing with friends and real opponents is the best way to experience Soulcalibur.

Gorgeous and robust, Soul Calibur 5 shows that there is plenty of soul still left to burn in the series. Fans will find plenty to do and should have no problem burning the candles late into the night both online and off; the only problem is that if you didn't love it before, there isn't anything new that will make you a fan now. Instead, SC5 serves as the perfect demonstration of a refined formula that, thankfully, hasn't aimed to fix anything that wasn't broken.

While SoulCalibur V doesn't quite excel with some of the greatest fighting sequels out there, it's a huge step forward from IV, complete with online multiplayer that's meaningful again, a worthwhile character roster (Ezio rocks it, we're telling you) and a presentation that's as good as the series has ever seen.

Critics praised this series for its unique campaigns like Weapon Master that feature a variety of challenges and weapons with different properties, but SC5's offerings feel limited and rushed.

While there's nothing revolutionary in the gameplay of SoulCalibur V from its predecessors, fans of the franchise will enjoy once again the blade battling that looks just as good as it plays.

Overall, Soul Calibur V is a great fighting title. While the campaign could be majorly improved on, the improvements to the gameplay, the in-depth "Creation" game mode and the good online game modes make this a must purchase for fans of the series.

A step in the right direction and a great fighting game, although it's difficult to compete against the current king of the genre, SSFIV.

It's hard to criticize this SoulCalibur V. It's pretty, it's playable, accessible yet deep, will undoubtedly prove to be fun among friends both at home, or online. Too bad though, that the solo modes are so poor, and the roster of characters so far from being renewed as advertised. A good sequel, which could have been an unforgettable one with a better roster.

Quotation forthcoming.

If you are a fan of the series, you'll likely enjoy the new mechanical improvements. If you are a newcomer to the series, you'll enjoy the diverse roster and online play. My only suggestion is to avoid the single player mode and don't get too hung up on cranking down the difficulty level – Project Soul is trolling you by calling it 'normal'.

While I'm mildly disappointed in the linear and rather limited single player mode here in Soul Calibur V, the simple fact that Namco caught up to Capcom's feature sets in the online department is a pretty big deal. I'm far from a pro player, but I do think that SCV offers fast, offense-oriented action without the ridiculously frenetic pace and utter chaos of the Marvel vs. Capcom series.

On a straight fighting level, SoulCalibur has never been better and although it might be a little anorexic for lone warriors, the multiplayer side offers more than any Soul title since the original Calibur made the Dreamcast a must-have. Which, in and of itself, provides irrefutable proof that Namco Bandai has given SoulCalibur a clearly defined genre once more. Welcome back, Stage Of History.

Soul Calibur V is a game worth your time and effort, mastering its systems and dispatching opponents in a blaze of high-tempo violence is immensely satisfying. Newcomers may find the going a little tough, but the well-balanced cast means you'll not be left biting the dust for too long.

Issues with the presentation of the story and the general amount of single player content on offer are slight dings against the experience especially considering SoulCalibur's history of blending RPG elements into its single player campaigns - but even then this is the best reason to return to SoulCalibur's stage of history since the days of the Dreamcast.

SoulCalibur has always excelled at offering an accessible style of combat with a level of single-player content that other fighting games have only recently begun to match. These qualities haven't changed - and now, after what seemed like an uncertain return, the historical fighter is staging its best performance since that fateful Christmas of 1999. High five!

SoulCalibur V feels new without feeling reinvented. It's not genre-defining and it's not the complete overhaul probably needed to make SoulCalibur important in tournament-fighting circles, but it's still flashy enough to keep fans interested and technical enough to convert some series holdouts.

For my money, this is a decent fighter, but the real fun here is to be had with making increasingly ridiculous characters.

No doubt, Soul Calibur V is a good, if not great fighting game. However the new changes in the gameplay and roster might scare away some of the faithful fans.

Namco's newest game should be recommended "only" to those players, that require the most basic ways of beating up another person. Fans of more complex modes will stop playing after a couple of nights and forget about the game soon after.

It is a shame that V is largely a backwards step compared to IV, at least in terms of value. Playing this game, I get the overwhelming impression that the developers were phoning it in - who knows, maybe the budget was slashed, or they (somehow) didn't have much time.

My friends and I are going to have a ton of fun playing it, and playing it for a very long time. There are definitely some head-scratching design decisions from where we sit, but it remains that we can sink hour after hour into the game without even feeling the time pass.

If you are on the fence about this game I would definitely suggest that you rent it before you buy it. If you happen to be a big fan of the franchise then there should be enough here to satisfy you as long as you like fighting online.

This game is definitely a case of one step forward, two steps back. It's a modern, fresh SoulCalibur but it doesn't offer anything that you can't get from previous incarnations other than the more robust online offering.

Fans looking to relive the experience of SoulCalibur's early entries may be irked by this game's new additions. But once the steep learning curve is surmounted, you will find a fresh-yet-familiar fighting system that's fun to explore.