Plot. A group of warriors from different worlds and different lands, nations and empires gather to fight and obtain a powerful sword, known as the "Soul Edge". At the end of their journey, they fight against a powerful fighter named Algol, who wields the dark sword. After their victories, each fighter decides to either use the sword for good or evil. But others intend to destroy it for the safety of the world.
Players can choose to play as their favorite characters from previous games, and also they can create their own characters using the styles of the fighters in the game. Character Creation returned since Soul Calibur III for the PS2. In Story Mode, players fight against more than just one fighter, like a tag team match. The game's multi-fighter battles use a different structure from it's predecessors, known as the Active Matching Battle (AMB), which allows players to switch characters during fights.
Star Wars characters battle with their lightsabers and Force abilities. Darth Vader uses the Force with chokes, blasts, and punches, Yoda can use complex aerial abilities with the Force, and the Apprentice uses Force lightning and other techniques.
Concept. Players can play as one of 37 playable characters, which includes hidden fighters, created fighters, and so on. The game also tells the different stories and purposes of each character in Story Mode.
Design. The graphics have enhanced from high resolution to high definition since the last games. The stages have a unique design, and they look real good. Algol's arena definitely defines a dark, morbid world where a powerful dark lord lives.
History. The very first game of the series, was titled "Soul Blade/Edge" and was released in 1997 on the PlayStation, and met with success as a fighting game. The Soul series is one of the most popular fighting games since Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Soul Calibur was released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, and the graphics were improved, looking just like Dead or Alive.
Soul Calibur II was released in the late summer of 2003 on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, and Xbox. The PS2 version featured Heihachi from the Tekken series, Gamecube featured Link from Legend of Zelda, and the Xbox featured Spawn from the comic book series of the same name that was created by Todd McFarlane.
The Soul Calibur series released a third game featuring Character creation mode. Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny was released on the PSP in 2009, and the guest character was Kratos from the wildly popular God of War series. In the Wii game, Legends, Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia is a guest character.
Overall. As a fighting game, Soul Calibur IV has a lot of great qualities and replay value. This game gets an 8 out of 10.