This fifth instalment of Soul Calibur doesn’t bring what its predecessors brought. The story is set seventeen years after the events that happen in Soul Calibur IV, 1670 A.D. The people of the world are fighting each other on the side of their desired soul sword. Enter Patroklos, a noble warrior who is sick and tired of being pupated by knighthood. You play as this main character who doesn’t bring that much to bring you into the game. His sister, Pyrrha gives somewhat emotion to the story but not enough to keep it solid. The only positive is the hand draw stills on parchment to replace the cut scenes and goes alongside with the time period. But after a while, even they get boring and stale.

After a disappointing and deeply underwhelming story, Soul Calibur V doesn’t do its self any favours throughout gameplay. There is not much of a step up from Soul Calibur IV, the whole thing feels dated . After a while and forgetting certain character moves, Soul Calibur just turns into another button smasher, with no new fighting styles. The enemies within the first few episodes go from easy to super hard, there’s no easing in. Even playing as Ezio Auditore, one of gaming’s biggest badasses I found it blood boiling and soul destroying (No pun intended) as I got beat by someone who looks like Robin Hood’s dorky cousin.

Where all the characters look like they’ve been ripped straight from He-Man, it’s nice to see a game that has a deep character creation segment. It allows players to set free their imaginations and get creative and produce some ridiculous characters. It gives players opportunity to create whatever they desire from changing the tone of a characters voice, change the size of individual body parts, change the height, and various equipment and colour settings. Creating a Batman/Ninja/Priest character was pretty satisfying!

If the story and other single player modes boiled the blood, the multiplayer component will push that vein in your head to the max! Set out similar to the story mode, the multiplayer menus are laid out on a map. From here you can see different types of games and who’s playing them. It can vary time wise trying to get into a match, it varied from a couple of seconds to 10 minutes. Be warned! Soul Calibur IV has been out for a while so new comers who pick up this instalment better be prepared for a serious challenge. After a disappointing fourth game, Soul Calibur V is still lacking finesse.

With a strong customization component that will keep you more entertained than the actual game, it’s hard to stay patient with Soul Calibur V before losing interest. With only a bit more than a few hours to keep you entertained it doesn’t seem worth the hype. I think this franchise should remain blunt.

Soul Calibur V – 5/10

Games: Soul Calibur 5, Platforms: Xbox 360, Genres: Fighting, Publishers: Namco, Developers: Namco