Soul Calibur V Review

[Vermillion Haze]

Welcome to Soul Calibur V. Over the years this proud series has been a standard bearer for high quality combat and loads of extra content. The biggest bang for your buck of any fighting game franchise. Unfortunately the newest entry seems to be a rushed title to merely capitalize on name recognition and close out it's long reign on top. Without question it's the worst entry in the series to date. It's a bare bones minimalist title that excells at multiplayer at ONLY multiplayer. No character endings, arcade cutscenes, or even a vague idea of why most of the cast is even in the game. The campaign is the only storyline in the game and it only features a small portion of the roster and some only have a single line of dialogue. Speaking of the campaign...you would think stripping away every single extra feature or mode would make them focus on making the campaign good right? Sadly it's quite terrible, scribbled drawings with naration and a few 5-second cutcenes here and there. I'm not sure what Team Soul was thinking. This game offers nothing to single player oriented fans, the only thing left to do after the campaign is...collect clothing. Which have no properties as armor and weapon stats are gone as well. This is a RENT. You can litteraly do everything this game has to offer in one nights work.

Gameplay/Controls: After tossing out all the content the franchise is known for, the combat remains a tried and true formula and is the only shining star in a otherwise bleak permanent midnight of disappointment. The single player campaign is absolutely atrocious and should be avoided at all cost. If you played SCIV you will be right at home here control wise

Graphics: SC's have always lead the way graphically and this one is no different. Characters continue to be eye candy.

Sound: The voice acting is a bit weaker then past titles but solid overall. Sound effects are stellar as usual.

Content: This is where things start to go south. Beyond a solid multiplayer base this game is a barren wasteland.

Replay Value: Once you grow tired of the online scene. Theres nothing else left to do but collect outfits.

Pros: Great multiplayer features. Good Graphics.

Cons: Almost no content, story or reason to care. Does not add anything to the series, only substracts established staples.


In conclusion this game is worth a rent but has absolutely nothing to offer you two weeks down the road after you go on a ranked multiplayer bonanza.

Summary


Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Content 3/10
Replay Value 3/10

Final Score: 5/10

[Top Dogs]

I haven't played one of these in a few years. Fun games but never perked my interest for more than a rental. Like you said not much to keep you playing except unlocking skins/outfits and that was never a goal of mine.

Fighting games are a dying genre IMO. I would say this is better than SF though. MK still the best for me.

[Vermillion Haze]

Mortal Kombat really rose the bar last year. Pretty amazing campaign. BlazBlue is also a really good upstart series everyone should consider.

[Chris]

Man I love Soul Calibur because it's the most balanced fighting game I've ever played, but after reading this, it makes me feel like I should pass up on this one. I'm a bit skeptical about this installment deserving a 5/10 because most other reviews are a lot more positive.

[Vermillion Haze]

The critic reviews are misleading. They praise the graphics, multiplayer and combat mechanics but don't seem to care the game has no substanance or depth. They also all agree the campaign is trash but it doesin't really reflect in thier scores much. If you ignore the game having no content, theirs plenty of good things you can say about it. But it defintely doesn't make it good.