Soul Calibur VI: First Impressions

The best way to describe my initial impressions of Soul Calibur VI (and yes, I know it’s ‘SoulCalibur’ but I prefer it with the space) is to say that it’s good but it should be better. It’s kind of frustrating because the foundation is here to build what should have been the definitive Soul Calibur game. At least, that’s how I feel right now, with just over 15 hours played. As I sink more time into the game, my opinion may change, so keep that in mind.

I haven’t really got stuck into a fighting game for several years. In fact, the last time I did was probably Soul Calibur IV a decade or so ago. The original SC on the Dreamcast was one of my favourite games on the platform, as was SC II on the GameCube. But I didn’t play SC III or V, and I’ve kind of drifted away from the fighting genre ever since SC IV.

So I was kind of excited to return to the series with VI. I think I probably preferred the SC series because it’s a more ‘casual’ fighter in the sense that it’s far easier to pick up and play. The button combos aren’t needlessly convoluted or tricky to perform and many characters share similar inputs, so even if you’ve never played a particular character before, you’ll already have a foundation of basic moves upon which to build. SC was never really about mastering complicated combos. It was more about movement, timing and precision. Knowing the right move to perform and when for the greatest impact.

I also liked the focus on solo/story content. Whereas many recent fighters seem to be more focused on online/tournament play, SC VI offers a substantial single player experience. It’s best to begin with ‘Libra of Souls’ – a story based mode in which you create a custom character – because it offers a good range of tutorials that explain various aspects of the combat system.

 

Libra is an RPG-lite in the sense that you ‘level up’ as you traverse the world and complete missions, but it’s pretty basic. You can buy or win new weapons, some of which can be upgraded with unique boosts, but it’s a very limited system. The story of Libra will carry you across the world and your custom character will encounter the ‘main’ cast of SC VI at various points.

It’s a story that runs parallel to that of the ‘core’ SC VI story and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. It starts slow, with a lot of very easy, single round fights. But once you start hitting level 25-30, that’s when it gets a little more interesting. I’m currently level 33 and I’ve just had a couple of very challenging ‘boss’ style fights and it appears I’ve still got a long way to go.

I also like that you can totally change your character or weapon at any time, so you’re not locked to a particular look or style. In addition to the Libra is the core story mode – Soul Chronicle – in which every character has their own unique segment that combines into a complete tale. But I haven’t got stuck into this mode yet, so I can’t really comment on it here.

And then we have Arcade mode, which is a little strange in the sense that’s it’s just eight random fights – there’s no ‘boss’ fight at the end. You’re also only ranked on time taken. I’ve played it a couple of times and it’s fine, I guess, but it feels a little tacked on. You also have the standard Versus mode against the CPU, and a training mode to learn the various moves.

 

The training mode is decent, but not great. Although I’ve gotten used to seeing the button inputs displayed as they would on a fight stick and not on my 360 pad – where A is X and B is Y – it would have been nice if you had the option to display the inputs according to your chosen controller. It would also be nice to be able to display them on the screen as you practice, rather than having to enter and exit the various menus every time you want to learn a new combo.

The custom character creator is a lot of fun, and I’ve probably spent a couple of hours just messing around with it. I do understand people not wanting custom characters in ranked – because some people design characters that use equipment to intentionally ‘hide’ their character animations, making it very difficult to read or respond – but those incidents are pretty rare from what I’ve seen, and I quite like seeing all the crazy shit people have created.

Which leads us onto online play which I’ve enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. It has its problems, no doubt. I’ve had several network errors kicking me out of a match, and lag can sometimes kick in making everything seem like it’s running in slow motion. In a way, I kind of prefer getting matched against higher ranked players because I know that – even if I lose – I’m going to get a pretty good fight.

 

I like to win, don’t get me wrong, but I also like a good scrap that goes right to the wire. I like fights where I can mix up my play. Where it’s a little more tactical. Cat and mouse. Where, even if I lose, I feel like I had a good time and maybe learnt something new. Of course, not every online fight is like this. There’s a lot of players who just spam one or two heavy combos and try to pin you against a wall or get an easy ring out.

It’s not my place to tell people how to play or enjoy the game, but I can’t say I find these fights much fun because the best way to defeat them is to simply find a combo they don’t know how to counter and spam it right back at them. Sure, I like winning, but winning like that just isn’t much fun, at least for me. I prefer matches where I get to see a range of moves and tactics, even if I lose. The ‘spam’ attack matches are kind of anti-fun, but it’s just something you have to learn to deal with.

Visually, SC VI looks dated. It doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look as good as it should, either. The character models don’t look much better than I remember in IV, and the stages look even worse. The production value, at least as far as the visuals go, is poor considering the price. Which leads us back to my initial impressions that everything Soul Calibur VI does it does well – but it could and should have done it better. That said, I’m certainly enjoying my time with the game and once I’ve completed Libra and the core story mode, I’ll be sure to post a final review.

Total War: Mortal Empires

Mortal Empires is the combined Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2 campaign. It released several months ago, but I decided to wait for some patches and content updates before finally getting stuck into an ME campaign. Mortal Empires isn’t just the Warhammer 1 & 2 maps stitched together, but a modified combination. There are new regions to accommodate ‘new world’ races into the Warhammer 1 map, and some of the Legendary Lords have been relocated to new starting locations.

The Warhammer 2 ‘Vortex’ map has also been altered – shrunk and slightly rotated – so it combines more appropriately with the Warhammer 1 ‘Old World’ map. That’s a little disappointing, but I can understand the technical and gameplay considerations behind that decision. If they’d incorporated the Vortex map in full, then there’d be a substantial separation between the new and old world maps, and it’s the interactions and conflicts between the varied races of Warhammer that makes ME such a compelling and enjoyable experience.

I began playing ME with a High Elf campaign as Alarielle from the Queen and the Crone DLC (which I didn’t review but highly recommend) and had a lot of fun absolutely melting the dark elves with an obscene amount of archer units. I then played as the Empire, a race I’ve not played since Warhammer 1 released.

The Empire are certainly in need of an overhaul patch, but they’re still fun to play. There’s something very satisfying about pushing back against all the ghouls and monsters of the Warhammer world with just a line of swords and spears. Unfortunately, I never ‘completed’ this campaign because Archaon refused to spawn. I think he knew I had several armies parked in the chaos wastes playing whack-a-mole with chaos stacks and didn’t quite fancy his chances.

I then began a Dwarf campaign, another Warhammer 1 race I’ve not played since the original release. They’re not the most tactically engaging race to play, but like the High Elves, there’s something very enjoyable about sitting back and watching them demolish units with their guns, explosives and artillery before they even reach your front line.

But, like my Empire campaign, I didn’t ‘complete’ this one, either. Archaon did spawn and was soundly squashed, but my campaign was marred by a diplomatic bug which was permanently stuck on an ‘unreliable’ rating. As a result, I couldn’t confederate with the other Dwarf factions or even trade or form alliances with nearly everyone on the map. I guess I could have just restarted, but it actually made the campaign a little more interesting to play.

I’m now playing a campaign as one of the Tomb Kings – the Exiles of Nehek. If you read my Tomb Kings DLC review you’ll know I was a little disappointed by their campaign in the Vortex map and I wondered if I’d enjoy them more in ME – and I am. Although the magic books they can collect are present, they’re not the focus of the campaign and I’ve had a lot of fun focusing purely upon expansion.

I think the starting location has also helped. Playing as the Exiles is a more challenging beginning as you’re faced with Beastmen, Skaven and Dark Elves. The Tomb Kings are very much a ‘snowball’ race in the sense that it’s hard to get them rolling (due to their reliance on utterly ‘trash’ units in the early game) but once you do (and unlock their fantastic monstrous units), very little can stop you.

Once I’ve wrapped this TK campaign up I’ll probably take a little break from ME ready for the upcoming Vampire Coast DLC. I’ll likely play a Vortex campaign with them first, before trying a new Lord in ME. From what I’ve seen, the new DLC is going to be a great addition to the game, but I’ll try to do a proper review once it’s released.

Mortal Empires clearly still has its bugs and issues, but it may just be my favourite Total War campaign ever. The sheer variety of races, play styles and terrain simply can’t be matched by any other title in the series. And honestly, it’s hard to see any future titles topping it, either. Warhammer Fantasy and Total War has proved to be the perfect combination. And it’s crazy to think that this isn’t even the ‘final form’ of the combined map, as we’re going to get an even bigger one once Warhammer 3 is released.

The only real downside to ME is that it’s made Warhammer 1 entirely unnecessary. I mean, it’s totally worth owning Warhammer 1 for the content it unlocks in ME, but there’s zero reason to install it. That’s why I like the Vortex campaign in Warhammer 2 – it offers a very different campaign experience and a nice alternative to ME.

The most exciting thing about ME and the Total War: Warhammer trilogy is that it’s a continually evolving experience. It’s not just new content being added into the mix – old content is also receiving regular overhauls and balance adjustments to keep everything on par. Three games and all the extra content may not come cheap, but unlike a lot of AAA games these days, I don’t mind paying a premium price when I feel like I’m getting premium content in exchange. With more than 400 hours clocked between Warhammer 1 & 2 already, it’s certainly been worth the price for me.

Gallery: Yakuza Zero

Now Playing: Shenmue 2

I played Shenmue again on Dreamcast back in 2014 and the intention was to continue my save into Shenmue 2, but I never quite got around to it. Spin on to 2018 and SEGA have now released a PC port of both Shenmue 1 & 2. Port not remaster – this isn’t a HD overhaul of Shenmue, so don’t expect any major graphical or gameplay upgrades.

As far as the port goes, it’s a fairly solid job but it’s had some bugs and issues, most of which appear to have been addressed by some patches post-release. I didn’t experience any real issues when playing the port aside from a couple of crashes so, overall, I’d have to say they did a pretty decent job – they just need to smooth out a few rough edges.

I played through Shenmue so I could carry my save into 2 but I won’t review that game again here because my original review in 2014 still sums up how I feel about it. Instead I’m going to focus on Shenmue 2 which picks up where Shenmue 1 left off – with Ryo arriving in Hong Kong to continue the search for Lan Di, and to uncover more information about his father’s past.

Shenmue 2 is a far more action focused and faster paced game than the original. When you look at the original game, most of it is just about walking around, talking to people and gathering information. There’s only a handful of action scenes and fights, and the plot doesn’t develop to any great degree.

 

Shenmue 2 drops you into the action almost immediately upon arrival in Hong Kong. Whereas in Shenmue, Ryo was in his home town and surrounded by people he knew, in Shenmue 2 he’s a stranger in a strange land and it isn’t long before he runs into trouble. The game has far more action sequences than the original in the form of QTE scenes, group fights and – most importantly – 1v1 battles.

I said in my Shenmue review that the combat system feels designed for 1v1 more so than the group battles. It’s a system that’s very reliant on patience, timing and position. But Shenmue 2 does seem to recognise this, and many of the moves you learn in Hong Kong are designed to help you manage these group battles more easily.

And that’s something I really love about the game – how Ryo’s training by various masters isn’t just a plot element, but a tool used to teach the player too. When Ryo is forced to learn patience and timing by say, catching leaves falling from a tree, it’s also a clever way of reinforcing these gameplay mechanics to the player.

As a result, group fights in Shenmue 2 feel far easier to manage, and when you do take down an entire group of bad guys without taking a single hit, you really do feel like a total bad ass. That said, some group fights do still devolve into some mindless mashing due to the small confines of the environment. But overall, they’re handled far better than in Shenmue.

 

It’s the 1v1 fights where Shenmue 2 really shines though, because that’s also where the combat system is best utilised. And Shenmue 2 gives you a lot of 1v1 opportunities throughout the game both in core and side content. But it’s when you leave Hong Kong and travel to Kowloon that you get to the really cool fights, as Ryo has to face down a variety of opponents in order to progress.

Like Shenmue, the world is impressively constructed and detailed. It’s also about ten times larger than anything in Shenmue. The sheer amount of locations you can enter and explore is kind of crazy, especially when you consider that if you simply follow the core story from A to B you’d probably never even see 90% of it.

Shenmue 2 builds a living world that puts even modern open world games to shame. And like Shenmue, it’s a game in which I always discover something new whenever I replay it – a new scene, a new character or a new location. And Shenmue 2 has far more variety to its environments than the original.

Everything about Shenmue 2 is a step up from the original – action, environment, characters and plot. Whereas Shenmue felt more like a solo quest for Ryo – despite a bit of help here and there from his friends along the way – Shenmue 2 has a larger and more involved cast of both heroes and villains, the best of which is the fantastic bromance between Ryo and Ren, the leader of a local street gang.

 

The story follows Ryo in his search for Yuanda Zhu, an old friend of Ryo’s father who’s also being hunted by Lan Di and his associates in the Yellow Heads gang of Kowloon. The Hong Kong area is a little more slowly paced and plays more like the original as Ryo explores, investigates and gets into the occasional scrap.

But the pace really picks up when he travels to Kowloon and from this point the action doesn’t really let up, culminating in a couple of very satisfying 1v1 fights in the Yellow Head building – one in the basement and one on the roof.

The characters and the story are great and I really hope we see many of these characters return in Shenmue 3. I also like that the game has more of a sense of humour than the original, my favourite moment being when Ryo is carefully climbing to the top of a building to find Zhu. It’s actually a pretty tedious and annoying section but thankfully you can save as you go, so if you fall you don’t have to restart from the bottom.

The humour comes when Ryo finally arrives at the top floor only for Ren to show up who used . . . the elevator. And the camera just lingers on Ryo’s face for a moment. He doesn’t say anything, because he’s a nice lad who keeps his cool, but his face says it all – F**K!

 

And just when you think the game is over, Ryo presses on into the heart of China to the small village of Guilin. This is best viewed as an ‘epilogue’ chapter because aside from some rather pointless QTE sequences it’s a very slow paced and dialogue heavy section. It introduces a character teased in the original game – Shenhua – and it’s really all about getting to know her and learning more about the origin of the mysterious mirrors at the heart of the plot.

And then it all ends with a cliffhanger which remains unresolved – but not for much longer. I must admit, I have my doubts about the upcoming Shenmue 3, so I’m keeping my expectations in check but I’m still pretty excited for it. Shenmue 1 & 2 were very original and unique experiences at release and they still are today. There’s nothing quite like them.

They may look a little rough graphically these days, and the character movement may feel clunky and dated, but the world, story, characters and – let’s not forget the fantastic music – keep Shenmue feeling like a very special experience. I think Shenmue 2 is a better game than 1, but 1 still has its charms and perfectly sets up events in 2.

So yeah, I still f**king love Shenmue 2 and I had a real blast playing it through again on PC. It’s still not a game I’d recommend to everyone, but if you think it’s something you might enjoy then be sure to check it out.

8/10