When Police Academy ushered in its fifth iteration, it was already skating on thin ice, but the behemoth fighting might of Soul Calibur 5 seems to have no parallels. Back with brutal weapons, new characters and a whole new timeline, the Soul Calibur fight engine returns with a nightmare inspired vengeance.
The Star Wars influence of IV is nowhere to be seen, sadly, which could be a difficult one of for Soul Calibur 5 to make up for. However, there still looks like there’s a lot to make it an impressive game during the lull between the shift from the current games consoles and the next generation of games consoles.
Set 17 years after the events that went down in Soul Calibur 4, SCV is packed with characters with a massive array of different weapons. Though there are a few familiar faces, like Yoshimitsu, Voldo and a new incarnation of Astaroth to relive some of your old tried and tested moves with, there are also a lot of new faces, like Viola and her magic ball of destruction, Patroklos with his old school sword and shield and Pyrrha, Patroklos’ younger sister and Sophitia’s daughter who weilds her mother’s sword and shield.
To make up for the lack of Darth Vadar and Yoda badassedness, Soul Calibur 5 has brought in Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, with more daggers, knives, swords and implements of general mayhem than you can shake a stick at. However, it will be the fear factor of the all new incarnation of Nightmare that will be the killer blow for SCV, as he’s reputed to be even more powerful than his previous self. He’s got the Soul Edge too, so he’s definitely one to beat.
Soul Calibur 5 is due for release on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on the 3rd February 2012. While the storyline doesn’t sound very well honed, with online play and character creation options, it looks like another winning blow from the Soul crew.
