It'll be almost three years since the last Soul Calibur when Soul Calibur IV is released this summer. We find out if it's going to be worth the wait...

Many regard Soul Calibur (the follow up to Soul Edge) as the best fighter of its times. The fact that it's one of only eight games (and the only fighting game of the bunch) to receive a perfect 40 score from Famitsu is testament to this. However, the series' critical acclaim has dwindled as further iterations have been released, which is entirely predictable for a franchise that peaked so early on in its timeline.

It's certainly possible to level criticisms at Soul Caliburs II and III, such as the gimmicky addition of Spawn and Link characters or gameplay that never quite recreated the brilliance of the Dreamcast's Soul Calibur. But say what you will... Soul Calibur III was still a damn fine game. The content alone was vast, including RPG and strategy modes that were woven around the game's main campaign, while the combat itself still shines amongst the best fighters on the PS2 (although the console wasn't exactly littered with masterpieces).

One Step Too Far

While we might defend the Soul Calibur series up until this point, we simply cannot defend Soul Calibur IV if our recent UbiDays hands on is anything to go by. Firstly, let's deal with Yoda and Darth Vader: while Yoda is an exclusive character to the Xbox 360 version, Darth Vader will come to the PS3 exclusively when the game ships. This was first announced at the beginning of the year and there were certainly a few groans from various corners of the TVG office as a result - merging the Star Wars and Soul Calibur universes seemed a bit like shoving Rambo into a historical epic like Braveheart or Gladiator. Nevertheless, we're always more than willing to be proved wrong and so it was with a fair dose of anticipation that we took to the controls on both versions of the game to see what's what.

As you might expect, Darth Vader feels sluggish and cumbersome which is certainly befitting of his lightsaber style in the original trilogy. Unfortunately, this slow fighting style isn't complimented with particularly powerful moves, which leaves you questioning whether it's worthwhile even selecting him. Yoda is pretty nimble on his feet, which is similarly loyal to his fighting style from the new Star Wars movies. He'll unleash the odd aerial attack move unlike Darth Vader (this is supposedly Yoda using his force powers, while Vader has chokes and pushes), while his greater agility makes counters easier to pull off.

Where we were a bit confused, however, is in some of the animations of the two guest characters. They seem to retract their lightsaber blade whenever they're not performing attacks, which is quite unlike any lightsaber duels we've ever seen. Additionally, successful attacks or blocks are occasionally accompanied by force lightning effects (only for decoration), which just isn't consistent with either Star Wars character. Neither use force lightning in the movies with the one exception that Yoda returns one of Count Dooku's force lightning attacks in Attack of the Clones. But even if we set aside our geeky objections for a moment, Yoda and Darth Vader just didn't feel quite right. If you're looking for a fighting game that brings Star Wars characters to life, Soul Calibur IV is unlikely to be it.

We didn't get a chance to play as Starkiller, the new Star Wars character in Soul Calibur IV that was revealed last week. Starkiller is Darth Vader's secret apprentice in LucasArts' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, demonstrating even further that the Soul Calibur series really has become a gimmick filled cash-cow. In this way it's comparable to David Beckham's career these days - all merchandising, gimmicks, advertising, and huge paycheques even though the player himself is a shadow of his former brilliance.

This leads us smoothly onto our next major disappointment from our hands on, which is the basic combat and gameplay that we experienced during our UbiDays demo. Remember Soulcharge? It's been a key gameplay dynamic throughout the Soul Calibur series. In Soul Calibur III on PS2, the Soulcharge controls were placed on the shoulder buttons. They were named as such because they allowed you to charge up certain special moves, resulting in some impressive graphical displays and fearsome attacks.

Now, we can accept that Namco Bandai may have decided that the feature was outdated and as long as they replaced it with something that's a) good, and b) original, then we would have been happy. Instead, the replacement appears to be some grab moves on the left shoulder buttons, which will initiate automated combo sequences with flashy animations should you time the grab right (i.e. when you're next to your opponent and they're not attacking you). The grabs are as tricky to perform as any basic grab from a fighter, but result in fairly damaging attacks which seem to be more rewarding than is deserved.

We did manage to get a lowdown on the basic control setup for Soul Calibur IV (we'll list them for the PS3 although they're identically laid out on the Xbox 360): X performs a block, Square is a light attack and Triangle is a heavy attack, Circle is kick, while R2 provokes your opponent (L1/L2 perform the aforementioned grab moves). There are certainly similarities here with Soul Calibur III's layout, but the exclusion of Soulcharge fails to bring any of the conventional attacks to life. The setup feels grounded in comparison to its predecessors.

Critical Finish

The Critical Finish system in Soul Calibur IV had the potential to be a nifty addition to the gameplay, but disappoints as much as any other new features we experienced in the game. The system works differently in the game's various modes, but the basic principle is the same: beside your health meter is an orb which turns from green to red the more you block attacks. When your adversary's orb is red, it is possible to perform a Critical Finish that ends the round in your favour there and then. We initiated one with Darth Vader, which resulted in the arena melting away into darkness, leaving only a flat battle plain (producing a kind of trans-dimensional feel) and an explosive finishing move from Vader.

There are two different match types that determine how this Critical Finish system works. In one mode, once the orb has turned to red then you can knock off one of your enemy's three pieces of armour using a heavy attack. This depletes your enemy's defences and once all three pieces of armour have dropped off your opponent, you can then initiate a Critical Finish by pressing all four face buttons on your control pad at the same time. The alternate mode to this does away with the armour system, allowing you to initiate a Critical Finish the first time that your adversary's orb turns red (as long as you perform a heavy attack just before mashing all four face buttons, which needs to be well timed).

It's a decent enough system, except for the fact that it may not play a particularly large role in matches. The reason for this is that your enemy needs to block a lot before their orb turns red. In fact, the only time we saw it in action was when we sat there blocking so that we could turn the orb red on purpose - this took quite a while. If the final game plays similarly to the build at UbiDays, then the Critical Finish feature will only become a deciding factor in matches between very accomplished players. Because it requires huge combos and players who are adept at successfully parrying these combos, average players won't even get a sniff at a Critical Finish.

The other playable characters at UbiDays were stalwart Soul Calibur fighters Siegfried and Mitsurugi, who displayed the usual well balanced fighting styles, and Soul Calibur IV's newcomer Hilde was also on show. Brandishing a long pikemen's spike, Hilde's strong point is certainly ranged attacks. She'll do well if you can keep enemies at bay by poking at them from a distance, but Hilde is not particularly strong at close combat. For example, her grab moves are pretty weak and hard to pull off, so you're best off using the spike to its full potential.

As for the graphical capabilities of Soul Calibur IV, the game certainly does what it has to. At least its visuals show next-gen capabilities, with various weapon clashes that send off light displays a pyrotechnician would be proud of. Regardless of our various semantic objections to Yoda and Vader's animations, their general appearances are fairly accurate (although Vader seems a little thin - perhaps he's been cutting down on womp rats). It's far from a visual masterclass though, with fight arenas that aren't mesmerisingly beautiful by any stretch of the imagination.