An exclusive look inside battle royale Soul Calibur IV

The tale of souls and swords, eternally retold, is back. Soul Calibur IV (from Namco Bandai) will be simultaneously released on July for the Xbox and PlayStation , and promises the same gameplay the series is known for, with a plethora of additional features, extensive online play and the inclusion of Star Wars characters—Yoda will be appearing exclusively on the Xbox and Darth Vader on the PS. We had a chance to speak with Namco Bandai’s Product Marketing Manager Wayne Shiu on the new features, downloadable content and even Chuck Norris.

What makes this a current-gen title as opposed to a lastgen title with updated graphics? ey basically took Soul Calibur III and upgraded everything they could. In the character customization, instead of just introducing new parts they’ve added the ability to affect the attributes of the character. e gameplay has definitely been revised and Soul Calibur IV now features more combos and retooled fighting mechanics so that the characters are much more balanced than before. ey’ve also added what’s called the Soul Gauge, visually represented by two jewels underneath the health bar. If you’re fighting against somebody that is a lot more defensive, their Soul Gauge will slowly start to get red. Once it starts flashing red and black, you can break their guard. At that point you can quickly pull off another strong attack, which destroys their equipment, whether it be somewhere in the head area, torso or leg area. If they’re wearing armor, you’ll see it visually shatter. If they’re wearing regular material, you’ll see it shred. If you break off all three armor segments, you can pull off Critical Finishing Maneuvers resembling super maneuvers seen in D fighting games. e Soul Gauge essentially forces characters to be less defensive and keep the battle moving. Online play has also been added and is split into two separate modes. In one you can bring in customized characters or created characters, and the other is a standard versus with stock characters.

It seems like this is the most accessible Soul Calibur yet, but will it still appeal to the hardcore?

Definitely. For the hardcore fans, the Critical Finishers and equipment destruction are things that can only be pulled off if you really understand the game.

How will the Soul Gauge apply to Yoda and Darth Vader?

I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure that you will not see them visually get their equipment destroyed, unfortunately. That’s more due to licensing. If we could pull it off, we definitely would.

Why have you decided to include more guest and bonus characters than ever before? Is it an effort to turn Soul Calibur into the next Super Smash Bros.?

I think people may draw those comparisons. What we’re not doing is taking a lot of established characters and cramming them in. We’ve worked with leading anime artists who have actually designed characters for Soul Calibur whose storylines will intersect with the existing universe; some of them may in fact have ties to existing characters. We’re essentially adding new characters and not necessarily adding a guest character you won’t see again.

The new character Angol Fear looks less human and more like a porcelain doll. Is this an aesthetic choice or is it directly tied to the storyline?

Not every single character will be tied to the storyline. There will be a couple that will be. e artist that designed Angol Fear has more of an anime style and they tried to keep [it] intact for the game.

Soul Calibur IV features more female fighters than any 3D fighting game outside of Dead or Alive. Why is this? To showcase female empowerment or so male gamers have more pretty ladies to ogle?

[Laughs] I think it might be a little of both. Our fighting game is weapons-based and we have a lot of different types of weapons in there, and not having a strong set of characters wouldn’t be fair to gamers in general. A lot of the different fighting styles are better when pulled off by a female character.

IGN and EGM have reported conflicting statements in regards to whether or not Yoda and Darth Vader will be available in the future as downloadable content. Could you clarify that?

There are a lot of rumors floating in and out, but right now they are exclusive to each console. Who knows what may happen in the future.

Can we expect to see any Namco Bandai-sanctioned tournaments on Xbox Live or PSN?

There is nothing specifically planned yet, but there may be something down the road.

Can we expect to see very specific parts for other Namco Bandai characters included in the character creation segment?

I don’t know if there are any specific plans, but I wouldn’t be surprised… When are you going to announce Chuck Norris as a playable character?

[Laughs] That’s awesome. We should definitely look into that. Although, it’d make the game a bit unbalanced.

You’d turn the game on and it would shut off because it wouldn’t be able to handle the sheer power of Norris.