Soul Calibur VI

What is “Soul Calibur VI?”

“Soul Calibur VI” is the sixth entry in the weapon based fighting game franchise (seventh if you count Soul Edge). The game centers around two mighty blades, Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. The two swords represent your typical dichotomy of good and evil or dark and light. Countless warriors battle for the right to control these powerful blades.

At its core Soul Calibur VI is a one on one 3d fighter which focuses on weapon based combat. Each character yields a unique weapon and fights with a style that suits their weapon of choice. The large array of weapons and sizes further amplifies the “footsies” of your typical fighting game by making the player have to be ever conscious of the enemies potentially long or short reach.

The addition of a parry like mechanic known as “guard impacts” as well as a counter mechanic known as “reversal edge” keeps the fights lively even when you are on the defensive. Creating a very fast paced 3D fighter despite most attacks having some what long animations.

The Win Condition

I deemed the win condition of Soul Calibur VI to be finishing all of the main missions in Libra of Souls mode. I decided to use Libra of Souls rather than “story mode” as Libra of Souls is more expansive and is still a major story experience. Additionally the developers seem to view Libra of Souls as more of the primary single player experience given they place it at the top of the main menu and link more achievements to it than any other mode.

The Experience

When you first launch Libra of Souls you are asked to make a custom character. This character’s fighting style will be dependent on which weapon they have equipped. The move set will emulate the character whom traditionally wields the equipped weapon. The Character customization is quite expansive in this game but as I have mentioned in previous blogs, such as the EA Sports UFC blog, I don’t particularly care much about character customization but can see the appeal for some players.

After creating a character you are thrown into an overworld with various missions placed upon it. As you progress through the game new missions become available as well as towns, shops, and blacksmiths to visit. Each mission consists of some story followed by a fight with some kind of unique modifier. I personally like this idea of an adventure where every fight has slightly different modifiers such as “kicks are more effective.” As you complete missions you will level up and unlock new weapons to equip, making your character more powerful.

While there isn’t much negatives in terms of the fighting of this game, there are some downfalls of the Libra of Souls mode. A vast majority of the enemies you face end up being pretty unimaginative “custom characters.” Considering how much time the developers put into designing the games main roster, I would much prefer to be facing off against those rivals than generic pirate number 5. Additionally most of the story is delivered through text, which is fine on its own, but the text tends to be sprawled over the same backgrounds all the time. A little more variety to look at would be nice given this is a video game and not a novel. The story itself is fine but nothing particularly notable. Pretty typical stop the bad guy and save the world sort of plot. The game gives you some morality choices throughout the story but they always tend to be clear, this is the bad choice and this is the good choice options. There is no real moral ambiguity in these choices which makes these choices rather unnoteworthy. Additionally the only affect these choices have on the game world is which sword you wield at the end of the game. A bit more meaning to your decisions would make the story more interesting.

The Ranking

“Soul Calibur VI” has some stellar fighting mechanics that make it one of the best weapon based fighters on the market in terms of gameplay. Unfortunately a rather lackluster story full of generic rivals lowers the game while viewed from a single player perspective. That being said the game play is good enough that I will still place it decently high on the fighting list. “Soul Calibur VI” will be placed at the current third position. This puts it immediately below “Tekken 7” and above “Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid.”

Time to Beat: 8 hours 14 minutes 5 seconds. Platform: Xbox One

Where to Play?

“Soul Calibur VI” is currently available via Xbox Game Pass. Additionally you may purchase “Soul Calibur VI” from the microsoft marketplace.