SoulCalibur VI Review (klimov.paul)
I am not familiar with the series, thus I can not compare this game with its predecessors.
Unlike most of the fighting games this one is focused on weapon wielding instead of bare hands combat. Each character uses a unique weapon set and corresponding set of moves. There are sword & shield, claymore, staff, naginata, dual blades and other weapons available.
The fighting mechanics are more or less standard: attacks, blocks, throws, special moves and so on. However in comparison to most famous titles like “Mortal Kombat” or “Street Fighter” this one feels quite differently. There are almost no jumps or air attacks - the game is focused on maintaining stance and feet movement. The arenas are fully three dimensional and using backsteps are one of the crucial techniques. Some arenas have downfalls at its edges, and you can knock out the opponent by throwing him/her off the cliff.
The best part of the game is the “story” mode. It has a brilliant design. We are going to embark on a long adventure with world map traveling, side quests, experience gain, inventory management, mercenaries hiring and so on. Besides the normal duel, we have to fight groups of enemies (one by one with the same health bar) and special bosses, which can be defeated only by certain conditions. Sometimes there are special effects in the battle, like fighting in a slippery ground at the top of the cliff.
Overall the “story” mode feels almost like an “action RPG” game. It is very interesting and enjoyable.
We are able to create our own avatar, picking one of the fighting styles (along with the weapon) wielded by the game character. We can choose the gender, body shape, face and clothing for our character.
The avatars can be used not only in the story mode. You can use your custom character for the “arcade” and “versus” mode as well as for online playing.
There are numerous options for the character customization, including changing color of the clothing and weapons. This allows you to recreate your favorite characters from other titles or create your own image of the existing characters.
There are also character specific stories: a short telling about a particular hero's journey. It allows the player to become more familiar with the game lore and characters origin and goals.
Alas the “arcade” mode is a little bit dull. We face 8 enemies in total, but the 4th and the 8th opponents are always the same. They do vary depending on the difficulty level selected, but it is not something you often change during the playing. As a result: we are facing exactly the same enemies over and over again, while some other characters never appear at all.
Lack of any other game modes limits the player experience and makes the game dull quite quickly.
There should be more options for the “single player”, like “arcade with totally random characters”, “survival” mode, fighting with arena modifiers and so on. The game already contains all necessary mechanics: they are widely used in the “story” mode. I do not understand why there is no quick setup for those in the main menu.
Graphics are good, but nothing special. It is mostly cartoon style but with high details. The asymmetry in character appearance is kept regardless which way he/she faces: the sword is always in the right hand, while shield is in the left. Thus we see the fighter from the face or from the back depending on which direction he/she looks. This is quite rare for “fighting” games.
Music is unremarkable, but there is nothing to complain about. There are into/outro speeches for each character. These even vary depending on the opponent, but they are far behind “Injustice 2” and other titles.
Total rating: 8/10.
The game is nice, but it lacks the game modes. You can not replay “story” too many times, while “arcade” mode is quite dull. If there were more “single player” options the game would be perfect.