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Namco’s latest instalment to the Sour Calibur series - Soul Calibur IV, on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Is it worth the purchase? Read on, and you decide.

If you’re a Soul Calibur fan, you’ll certainly know that like any other Soul Calibur game you’ve played in the past, the story mode is short and pretty uninteresting. Depending on the character you choose to play as, the story will slightly change; you may fight different bosses or perhaps play in a different arena – that’s all, lets move on.

The arcade/online modes of the game is what you’ll find yourself playing, pretty much all the time. The newest addition to the arcade section of Soul Calibur IV is a mode called the “Tower of Lost Souls”. This mode replaces the “Chronicles of the Sword” mode which was playable in Soul Calibur III. The aim of the “Tower of Lost Souls” is to reach the top of the so-called “tower” by defeating enemies with characters of your selection. The more rounds you win, the higher up the tower you will go, collecting treasure chests on the way. Obviously the higher up the ladder you are - the harder the enemies will become to defeat. This can be sometimes incredibly frustrating - some enemies seem almost impossible to defeat, so it’s vital to use some big combos and max out on reducing your enemy’s health.

Online? Yeah that’s right. For the first time in it’s series, - Soul Calibur receives an online gaming mode, and its fun! Select a host, choose a character to fight with and that’s it. You’re ready to battle. As you win a battle, you’ll receive points which will count towards your “Soul Calibur player level”. Like many online games, it can be addicting to level up and the same can be said about the Soul Calibur player level. Level up and show who the boss is!

The Character Creation feature in SCIV is awesome. There’s 1000s of different combinations you’re able to set for your custom character - literally 1000s. Just simply base your custom character’s fighting style on a current character and off you go! You can customize your characters voice depth, skin tone, armour - you name it, I’m sure you’ll be able to customize it! Oh, and what’s great about creating your own character? You can use him or her online in battles show off your creations - I’ve seen a couple characters from Metal Gear Solid and similar looking characters from anime such as Naruto.

The only difference between the PS3 and Xbox 360 version of Soul Calibur 4 is on the PS3, you get the bonus character Darth Vader, and on the Xbox 360 you get Yoda (both characters from Star Wars, obviously ;)). As you advance in the game, you’re able to unlock The Apprentice, also from Star Wars whom is available on both systems; PS3 and Xbox 360.

Overall we find the game great fun. The Character Creation system, online and arcade play will have you playing the game for hours giving you great value for money. Even if you’re not a Soul Calibur/Fighter game fan we really advise you to check the game out and to wrap up this review we give it a strong 8/10.