SoulCalibur V Features

SoulCalibur V features brand new characters, many of which are the offspring of some SoulCalibur veterans. This "next generation" of fighters have the potential to stand toe-to-toe with the SoulCalibur greats and bring refreshing, yet familiar, gameplay to the battle.

Sophitia's children, Patroklos and Pyrrha use a sword and shield like their mother and many of their movements and abilities will feel familiar to Sophitia players. Leixia, the daughter of Xianghua, uses a sword just like her mother and moves around the playing field just as nimbly. Then, while not their children, we have Zatsu and Ziba who have trained under Taki and Kilik. Both characters fight like their respective masters and might become new favorites for Taki and Kilik players.

Finally, there's Z.W.E.I. and Viola, who are mercenaries for Siegfreid. Z.W.E.I. is accompanied by a teleporting beast that fights with him during battle and Viola uses a magical crystal orb to disorient opponents.

Fans of SoulCalibur IV's character creation will be happy to know SoulCalibur V features even deeper character customization. Players can now customize body type, height, facial features and even the attributes of individual body parts, such as forearms and calves. You can also customize armor and clothing with patterns and designs and even change the color, effects and style of the weapons.

You start off by picking an exisiting character's fighting style to mimic, one of which includes the "Devil Jin" style from the Tekken series. This allows players to make characters that fight similar to Devil Jin and is the only fighting style exclusive to custom characters.

SoulCalibur V features many changes to the systems introduced to the series in SoulCalibur IV. The Guard Impact mechanic has been changed so that players must hold back, as opposed to forward, and press all three attack buttons together. This uses a portion of the new Critical Meter to repel unblockable attacks. It also ignores the height of the attack, blocking both high and low attacks.

The new Just Guard mechanic allows players to retaliate after attacks more quickly if they block an attack at the perfect moment. Performed by blocking just before impact, the Just Guard can be used to rush in quickly and link together otherwise slow combos. This is particularly helpful with slower characters like Nightmare and Astaroth, where close-combat is almost impossible. By performing a Just Guard, I was able to catch quick characters like Ivy and Maxi off-guard with Nightmare's big swings.

The Critical Meter mentioned before is part of the new way SoulCalibur is played. Critical Finishes and the Soul Gauge have been removed in lieu of a new gauge that is used to perform the new "Brave Edge" and "Critical Edge" attacks. This new mechanic has transformed SoulCalibur into a more traditional fighter, where players are constantly trying to raise their meter in order to unleash a special move.

SoulCalibur V's new stages are vibrant and beautiful. There is a new focus on Ring Outs that transform stages into new environments when a character has been thrown to the lower level. The stages are ever-changing and players are constantly conscious of their environments and how to avoid attacks. Unlike other fighting games where the stages are just a pretty background and don't factor into the gameplay, SoulCalibur V becomes extra dangerous when players get too close to the edge of a stage. Suddenly, an intense battle will turn into both players frantically trying to out-sidestep one another to avoid being defeated via Ring Out.

On the Sinking Merchant Ship stage specifically, versus matches quickly turned into trying to push each other towards the edges and, if I was the one too close, trying to reverse the situation. Once one of us fell off, the next round would start off in a lower section of the level, which was a completely new environment with new hazards and scenery.