SoulCalibur VI Review: A Triumphant Return to the Long-Missed Series

Soulcalibur VI, the seventh entry in the main series, is a fantastic and epic return, with intense fights and great graphics. After waiting six long years since the disappointing release of Soul Calibur V in 2012, patience has paid off: we have been rewarded with a truly phenomenal addition to the Soul Calibur series. It combines everything that has made the previous entries so great and adds to the story a rich story that has rarely been seen in the long history of the game, helping to make Soulcalibur VI the best starter in the series.

Soulcalibur VI is primarily a reboot rather than a sequel. This latest version of the game takes you back to the source of its story and invites players to a new journey unique in the world of the sixteenth century, revisiting the original story of the cursed swords Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, while adding new elements that end up telling a passionately epic story of characters who tirelessly seek swords. But above all, Soul Calibur VI is extremely fun to watch, play and incredibly easy to handle.

Soulcalibur VI offers two totally different story modes. The first is the main story of the game called Soul Chronicle, while the second is the Balance of Soul. Soul Chronicle takes you on a fantasy journey illustrating the great tale of Soul Sword and Soulcalibur and Soul Edge, respectively, and retraces the story of the origin of the series. This time, however, it is completely restructured with the addition of new characters and episodes, each episode being represented in beautiful 2D and 3D animations, conversational parts between characters, beautiful illustrations and, of course, exciting battles that any fan of the Souls series will love.

Soul Chronicle does a fantastic job putting these characters in context. It guides you step by step in each character's thought processes, which in turn provides you with a rich and indispensable development of those characters that we know and love over the years. The fully played scenes and the exchanges between the actors really contribute to give them life in a way never lived in a Soul game. As such, they really feel like giving body to the characters in an incredible way. These characters have always been nested at each iteration of the game and they now interact correctly with each other instead of exchanging short passing comments that would be made at the beginning of a battle, as in older games, before starting. to beat them. other to a dough for mostly dubious or unknown reasons.

Balance of Soul is the second story mode of Soulcalibur VI. It is mainly told through texts. In this new game mode, you create the hero and it is here that Soul Calibur's brilliant character creation makes a triumphant return. Players create their own custom fighter from scratch and they embark on a great quest to travel the world to stop a new evil brain that seeks the evil sword of legend. During your extensive journey across the country, you'll meet characters from the main plot and other warriors created by the great Soul community. Fights include various rules or clashes specific to restrictions, such as the inability to use your Charge of the Soul or throwing people out of the ring. These specific battles and other RPG elements feel strongly influenced by the Weapon Master mode that was implemented in Soul Calibur II, which, in case you're wondering, is a good thing. By leveling your character, you will gain more powerful weapons with different visual styles and properties.

You are completely free to customize your character anyway. Do you want to be a lizard-man with Voldo's weapons? Sure. Maybe you want to create a skeleton character who fights like Witcher Geralt? Go from the front! The customization of this game is wonderfully broad and, while similar to Soul Calibur V's character creation, it is remarkably built from the old formula and has created something fun and unique. in which you can easily spend hours creating your perfect (or hideous). character. In this menu you can choose the character's fighting style, hair, clothes and even change the style of the hairstyle and its original appearance.

Balance of Soul plays and feels like a role play in the best possible way. You are shown a map of the world and you travel between many places of interest. Your character moves from point to point, exploring regions, visiting cities, gaining gold and fighting enemies that stand in your way as you advance the story. During your adventure, you have to deal with a myriad of choices that are considered good or bad and each of these special choices will push your soul to be good or bad. The balance of your soul values ​​your actions in order to discern the level or inclination of your soul and to define what will happen later in the story. For example, if you decide to go really well, you'll unlock hidden missions. It will be the same if you choose purely bad choices.

If you are completely indifferent to the general story of Soul Calibur and want only action, do not worry! The Arcade mode is back in full force, just as the glorious announcer is filled with his tacky features. The timeless formula does not need to be changed; you choose your favorite fighter (or a character that you have created) and you battle successively eight enemies of varying difficulty controlled by computer while you try to do it as fast as you can. Arcade mode is another way to earn soul points, which is a currency to spend to unlock more clothing options in the creator of the character, such as a horse head for a helmet if you have Feel like cosplay like a Bojack wielding the Cavalier sword.

Although the fight remained pretty much the same, it was tweaked to perfection in just a few adjustments and with the introduction of a new great mechanic called the Reversal Edge. The flip edge is a unique mechanism triggered by holding down the R1 (or right bumper) button on your controller, allowing you to ward off all incoming attacks before hitting. If the hit connects to your opponent, it triggers a cinematic sequence that uses a typical stone paper scissors system where you have to guess the decision of your opponent. You can hit, block, dodge or attack horizontally or vertically. If you defeat your opponent's choice or dodge his attack, you open it to gain the upper hand over the fight and give it an incredibly elegant look. Overall, the addition of Reversal Edge is welcome. It's a great way to do something new with Soul Calibur's fight while avoiding having to force the player to use it if he does not want it.

The fight seems smooth and very different from the way he played in later versions despite his resemblance. In fact, the fights are more like an upgraded version of Soul Calibur II's fight, because they have taken everything that has amused the face-to-face of the previous games and has really perfected them in this entry. The combination of updated graphics, refined and refined combat combine to form a powerful cocktail easy to digest and use.

The most anticipated part of Soulcalibur VI is perhaps the introduction of Geralt of Rivia, from the phenomenal Witcher series, as a playable character. Geralt was integrated into the game with the help of CD Projekt Red (CDPR), head of the Witcher games series, and they did a really fantastic job in this area. extreme care and dedication to bring life to life. All his animations are movements that you know well if you played The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. This process has caused so much care that you have the impression that Geralt has always belonged to the Soul universe. This is a marked difference from the fact that they invited Yoda or Darth Vader as guest characters and, for my part, I warmly welcome Witcher, a man with a little heart, into the illustrious stage of the history.

The ubiquitous number of season passes and downloadable content (DLC) is upright for the player community. In this case, there is a character you need to buy as additional download content to unlock it as a playable character. The character, Tira, appeared free in previous games, but the problem is that this character is already in the game. You can even fight against this character in arcade mode, but the only way to really play as she is by spending more. the money on the season pass to the "unlock", which causes a scandal quite strong and justified.

As for most games, Soulcalibur VI has its disadvantages. The most notable problem, present since the creation of the game, is the shameless and gross overexploitation of any female character. Take for example the character Ivy Valentine, who wears virtually nothing and who has the most exaggerated bust size of the game; she seems to have lost more and more clothes in every part of the game and wears VI in a purple leather jersey that leaves nothing to the imagination. Not only does it make no sense to dress in any combat situation, but today it's simply excessive, free of charge, and you feel completely at home.

This is an unfortunate relic of Soulcalibur that has persisted in every game and I wish they would leave this portrait in the 90s when creating the game. You may find that this problem persisted throughout the rich Soul Calibur story. Return to the Arcade version of Soul Edge and compare it to today. The character of Sophitia has seen her chest size increase inexplicably to the extreme of the series and most other female characters have had their armor or clothing removed in subsequent games. , a reboot of the series, would have been the perfect time to rectify this unfortunate trend through games and send an important message. I've always thought that Soul Calibur and Bandai Namco could have a powerful message in favor of women's empowerment given the number of strong and courageous female protagonists of which she is a part, but they apparently do not seem to exceed the idea of ​​over-sexualizing them because they have to be "attractive".

Overall, Soulcalibur VI is the best entry to date, easy to pick up and offer to the most casual players, while offering a truly competitive gaming capacity through ranked online matches for more technical and experienced players. . This game is a must for all fans of the Soul series and hopefully it will be the first of many others to come.