A must buy for the collector in you.

The Premium edition of SoulCalibur IV is a must own for all the extra stuff. You get the game of course, a tournament kit, a cool poster, a comic and art book made by DC comics, and a nice T-Shirt, as well as a redemtion card for exclusive downloadable content to make a schoolboy, schoolgirl, or sexy maids, all in a very nice collectors tin. The overall game is very solid, with a robust character roster, very deep character customization, and online play. While I personally think it didn't quite live up to the quality of the second installment in the series, it still is one the best fighters this generation and is a worthy purchase, especially the very rare Premium Edition. If you love fighting games, or just like to throw down with friends or random people online, this game is for you.

Soulcalibur IV

Short review:

I bought this game summer 2008 when it first came out. I thought it was great, but I quickly put it down because I guess I wasn't interested in it as much.

Fast foward to late 2009 and I had recently bought tekken 6, also, before that I bought soulcalibur on XBL and I was greeted with the same pitch perfect gameplay and nostalgia from 10 years ago.

I'm going through a rabid star wars phase, so buying this game again was definitely on my radar. And for less than 16 bucks, you really can't go wrong with this game.

Likes:
- polished fighting system (harkenes back to soulcalibur 2, and ditches the broken float-fest that is soulcalibur 3.)

- tower of souls is a nice edition to the series. You basically ascend a tower and fight a ton of enemies while earning items and gold to use on the create a character mode.

- starkiller's pretty badass. Super effective in all aspects of battle.

- it's the most polished and well organized game since soulcalibur 2. No more pointless modes, just good, clean fighting, with tons of depth and substance. Story modes and tower of souls modes are great additions to the single player experience.

Dislikes:

- star wars characters are really gimmicky.

- yoda's pretty much the most broke character in the game.

- create a character could've been a bit more deep.

- online netcode could be a little bit better.

- kinda miss the edgemaster quests from soulcalibur and soulcalibur 2.

- you need to pay to unlock vader

Conclusion:

If you hated soulcalibur 3, this game redeems itself in every possible way. It's a gorgeous game, with tight, fluid controls, an incredibly deep easy to learn hard to master, fast paced, fighting system, and a character balance that is much more polished than it's previous entry. Although star wars cameos are a bit on the gimmicky side, but at least starkiller is cool. I would've liked to have a better netcode with this game as well, but a lot of players I play against have really weak connections. Story mode and tower of souls just engross the player and I miss the edgemaster quests from the first two games.

Overall, it's a great package. It's worth every penny if you can find it cheap. It's still worth the money if you see it full priced.

9/10

Soulcalibur IV (Playstation 3, 2008

Quite a number of gamers have been eagerly anticipating the next installment of the Soulcalibur series, considering the notable quality of past iterations of the franchise. Making its debut on the current generation of platforms, Soulcalibur IV once again offers fantastical, weapons-based combat and an inspired cast of characters, which should be appetizing to fighting game enthusiasts and casual players alike. I was particularly excited to play Soulcalibur IV, especially in light of my fondness for the first Soulcalibur title. I'm pleased to say that this game is an excellent addition to the series -- despite its problems -- and should find a welcome spot in your collection.

Soulcalibur IV is a great game -- especially if you've been following and enjoying the series for the past few years. There are over 30 characters to try out (granted, some of them are clones of each other), several gorgeous stages to battle in and enough special moves to keep you memorizing commands for months. As you might expect, Soulcalibur IV also has a healthy number of modes and unlockables that will keep you thoroughly engaged, along with a new online mode that lets you challenge other Soulcalibur fanatics through the magical power of the Internet.

Soulcalibur IV boasts the standard Arcade and Story modes that will be familiar to fighting game fans. I was actually surprised that virtually every character in the game has a "story" to play through, but I was disappointed that Story mode only lasts about five rounds and you can get through a character in ten minutes or less. There aren't really any cinematics except one towards the end, and many of those are repeated. What's there, however, is solid and works to give at least a marginal backdrop to the cast.

Another Great Installment

This game isn't as extensive as we expect in games these days, but we have to keep in mind that this is an arcade-style fighting game. You won't see much story, character development, or dialogue and don't expect to be moved by the time the credits roll (half an hour into playing Story Mode with a certain character). What Soulcalibur IV DOES supply are plenty distinct, playable characters and the smooth gameplay that earned the franchise a place in the genre. If you like weapon-based combat, Soulcalibur IV should be your pick. Also, the Character Creation option is expanded, and takes some playing around to find all the options available to you.

Some downsides include:
-Star Wars characters don't seem to fit like Link and Spawn did in the second game.
-Team Versus Mode is missing, a feature that always made versus matches more engrossing.
-Although character leveling is there for customization purposes, they cap off very quickly (level 9 or 10), so any run with your favorite character is short.

In summary, Soulcalibur IV is one of the best arcade fighting games you can buy, so get it if you like the genre and can throw down twenty bucks.

Soulcalibur 4: Star Wars & Custom Characters? GREAT!!

At first, this game seems a bit short. You can play through every character rather quick, but that's not the point. If you're into the story, then I suppose you might like it (but even the story mode is short and not very in depth). I was more interested in the custom characters. If you like creating your own characters, this game can be quite versatile....as long as you're creative and have a smidge of patience. You can't design whatever you want....well, at least not right off the batt. You do actually have to play through the HARDEST part of the game to get more tools to design your characters: "the Tower of Souls." This will certainly challenge ANY fighting game aficionado. If you thought the game was short, believe me, you'll wish it was shorter once you start tackling the tower of souls. 60 floors to beat (not including decent into the basement floors, which I believe is more like infinity since it's a 'survival mode' approach). But to get the most out of playing the tower of souls, you must defeat each floor in a specific way that is only hinted at (but you can find out how online...but that doesn't make it any easier). Oh, one last perk: who doesn't like playing as Darth Vader? Or, if you have the $4.99 to buy him, YODA!!!!