{"id":1287,"date":"2024-04-05T19:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2024-04-06T16:35:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T20:35:33","slug":"soulcalibur-vi-issue-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/soulcalibur-vi-issue-48\/","title":{"rendered":"Soulcalibur VI<\/span> \u2014 Issue 48"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A new stage of history<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nSoul\u00adcal\u00adibur returns to its roots<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long time since Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur was good. And I mean, real\u00adly good, where it\u2019s about the fight\u00ading and the locales and the sick char\u00adac\u00adter designs. Because make no mis\u00adtake, Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur hit a brick wall right about the time of the fourth entry. Seri\u00adous\u00adly, no one asked for Star Wars draped all over Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur, yet there we were with Yoda and the gang mak\u00ading them\u00adselves at home in the series known for its sword and sor\u00adcery. But then some\u00adthing hap\u00adpened: Some\u00adone on Project Soul said, \u201cyou know what would be great? Return\u00ading back to the thing that made us suc\u00adcess\u00adful in the first place: Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur.\u201d And here we are with the sixth entry and it\u2019s a return to form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur VI<\/span> is essen\u00adtial\u00adly a retelling of the sec\u00adond game in the series, Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur. The evil sword Soul Edge has fall\u00aden into the wrong hands through\u00adout his\u00adto\u00adry, and it has now found its way into the embrace of one Siegfried. Sigfried, hav\u00ading lost his ten\u00adu\u00adous grasp on san\u00adi\u00adty and real\u00adi\u00adty in gen\u00ader\u00adal, has trans\u00adformed into the Azure Knight, bet\u00adter known as Night\u00admare, and begun wreak\u00ading hav\u00adoc on the world in this demon\u00adic pos\u00adsessed guise. There are those who seek the sword for right\u00adeous rea\u00adsons and those who seek it for greed and glo\u00adry, but the sword must be stopped. Because it\u2019s a retread of Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur, not too much has changed sto\u00adry-wise. The entire cast of the game has returned with some new folks sprin\u00adkled in for good mea\u00adsure. This is fine because that cast was leg\u00adendary and set the stan\u00addard for future entries.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nBut what if you want\u00aded to do a lit\u00adtle some\u00adthing dif\u00adfer\u00adent this time around? The excel\u00adlent char\u00adac\u00adter cre\u00adator has every\u00adthing cov\u00adered. This mode is so well done and such a time sink. I spent at least two hours mak\u00ading a rea\u00adson\u00adable fac\u00adsim\u00adi\u00adle of the Cap\u00adcom\u2019s Ruby Heart \u2014 my favorite pirate \u2014 and it was pain\u00adless and easy to do, even with the default offer\u00adings. This cre\u00adator mode has been around a long time in Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur \u2014 since the third game \u2014 but here it\u2019s refined and pol\u00adished. I spent more time here than any\u00adwhere else, and what I want\u00aded to make was only lim\u00adit\u00aded by my lack of ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite lack\u00ading in skill with Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur over the years, I was pleas\u00adant\u00adly sur\u00adprised with the ease of jump\u00ading into fight\u00ading. I have had an extend\u00aded absence from the series, but I could still pull off moves and com\u00adbos with old favorites like Mit\u00adsu\u00adru\u00adgi, Cer\u00advantes, Ivy and Vol\u00addo. The fight\u00ading felt pol\u00adished and clean, much like old\u00ader entries, which is crit\u00adi\u00adcal in draw\u00ading in some\u00adone like me that has\u00adn\u2019t real\u00adly played much since Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur II<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anoth\u00ader good nos\u00adtal\u00adgic draw was the pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion. Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur as a series has nev\u00ader lacked in the aes\u00adthet\u00adics depart\u00adment, and this game is no dif\u00adfer\u00adent. It looks nice, with good char\u00adac\u00adter mod\u00adels and entic\u00ading back\u00adgrounds. Because it\u2019s basi\u00adcal\u00adly a remake, the back\u00adgrounds are ref\u00ader\u00adences to pre\u00advi\u00adous stages but with a more mod\u00adern cleanup job applied. I absolute\u00adly loved the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur\u2019s look and still do, and this ver\u00adsion does good in remind\u00ading me of why that is. While not quite as ground\u00adbreak\u00ading in its graph\u00adics as the arcade and Dream\u00adcast port were 25 years ago, they\u2019re still quite breath\u00adtak\u00ading and beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, there isn\u2019t too much to dis\u00adlike about Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur VI<\/span>. I\u2019m not fond of the AI<\/span> dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty, which seems a lit\u00adtle too spot\u00adty. A few match\u00ades felt like rub\u00adber band\u00ading in the sec\u00adond round if I won the first round, but then if there was a third round, the AI<\/span> would just stand there and let me wail away. That\u2019s weird in a fight\u00ading game, but then again, most Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur entries felt that way in the begin\u00adning of the series. I just wish that was fixed by the sixth game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over\u00adall, Soul\u00adcal\u00adibur VI<\/span> tries to make up for the mis\u00adsteps of the past with a sol\u00adid re-imag\u00adin\u00ading and return to its roots. Though it\u2019s been five years since release and no new con\u00adtent has been on the hori\u00adzon, it\u2019s a still a viable fight\u00ading game for those who haven\u2019t dived back into the world of souls. The soul still burns in this rehabbed and reformed sequel.<\/span><\/p>\n