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Profile
Story: Soul
Calibur Legends is described as a "side story" in the series. The main
character is a brand new character to the series, Isuka, a mysterious 16-year-old
boy of imperial blood who sets out on travel with Siegfried Schtauffen.
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General: No, Soul
Calibur Legends
is not a fighting game, but a "spin off" action platformer... For
that, it deserves to be here on TFG. Legends takes the series away from one on one
fighting and into 3rd-person action, with
players facing off against multiple enemies simultaneously. Enemies consist
of classic Soul Calibur fighters as well as some new beasts. Players use
the Wiimote and nunchuck controllers to control their on-screen counterparts
directly. Slashing the Wiimote horizontally or vertically results in respective
horizontal and vertical slashes. The nunchuck is used to move your character
around and can be shaken for evasion and other special types of movement.
Buttons are included for jumping, guarding, and some special moves.
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Soul Calibur
Legends had the chance to be what Tekken Force Mode was to Tekken
3 and Tekken 4. Unfortunately, it doesn't
come close to being as deep or enjoyable as Tekken Force or even Tekken
5's "bonus" action platformer Devil Within. Why couldn't a stand
alone title surpass or even live up to the level that a "bonus mode" was
for Namco's other hit franchise? What went wrong Wii? First, characters
feel incredibly dumbed down to say the least, and when compared to their fighting
game counterparts, are missing most of their moves, combos, and unfortunately
can't even change stances. I expected this going in, since the Wiimote
seems to have limits, but I also expect more from a franchise that has
associated it's name with "quality," until now...
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The Wiimote
controls aren't a complete disaster... Your character will attack
accordingly when you thrust, slash horizontal, or vertical. Combos can
also be performed by alternating your attacks. It's fun for a while, but
then you realize you'll be doing the same combos over and over again. There
are some special attacks you can do by holding down the special move button
or jumping and attacking, but there aren't that many variations. The vast
movelists that put Soul Calibur characters on the map, are non existent in Legends. If Soul Calibur characters played in the fighting games like
the way they do in Legends, the Soul Calibur series would have died a long
time ago. There's more variety in the original Soul
Edge, than there is in this game.
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The control
scheme will actually change depending on the character, with new playable
characters being unveiled as you progress. Players can select two characters
to take through the one player mode, and can freely switch between them
at will. The only big downsides about this feature, is that you can't really
perform "tag combos," and when your partner comes into the fight,
he or she drops from the sky, as your current character "evaporates" into
thin air........... Yes, that was a long awkward pause of disappointment,
the same exact one I had while playing this game. In addition to "mindless"
combat, players will have to deal with traps and other obstacles in dungeons,
more annoying than anything else. Honestly, it doesn't take much to mow
down hordes of enemies while slashing away with the Wiimote; it actually
doesn't take any skill. I never imagined a Soul Calibur game wouldn't require
any skill to play it. Amazing.
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The story mode and
presentation...*sigh* Let's just say it's a let-down. The cutscenes are
filled with "pop up" 2D art, and really don't do much justice at all, besides evoking
laughter. And if you're not laughing at the cut scenes, you'll
definitely be laughing at the English character voice acting; HORRIBLE!
And no, turning on Japanese won't make the game that much better, but it
might stop you from laughing so much. Ohh, and did I mention the graphics
in this game are borderline horrible? Soul Calibur Legends on the Wii looks
like a first generation Playstation 2 game... Ouch! Besides a few cool
"giant" boss fights, there's just nothing visually stimulating about this
game.
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So it can't
be all that bad right? Is the 2 player mode enjoyable at all? The 2 player
mode offers Co-op, Competition, and VS Mode. The game runs at a smooth
60 FPS when playing 1 player mode, BUT... You guessed it, 2 player mode
runs at a shoddy 30 frames per second. The VS mode is hardly entertaining,
since only 7 characters are selectable. And after playing something as
fun as Urban Reign, with 60 + characters
and tons of moves, this "third person" fighting engine is simple lacking
in more ways than one.
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Manufacturer: Namco
Bandai America
Platforms: Nintendo
Wii
Release: November
20th, 2007 (US), December 13, 2007 (JP)
Characters: Taki,
Mitsurugi,
Sophitia,
Astaroth,
Ivy,
Siegfried,
Iska, Floyd
Related Games: Soul Edge, Soul
Calibur, Soul Calibur 2, Soul
Calibur 3, Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition,
Soul Calibur 4
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Closing Comment: Soul Calibur Legends might be entertaining for the "kiddies," or for those who are completely uncoordinated and have no hopes in ever being good at Soul Calibur. But for many fans of the series who have become familiar with the deep gameplay and story of Soul Calibur; unfortunately I will have to advise you to steer clear of this game. This is simply a shoddy action platformer with the Soul Calibur name slapped on it... Don't worry Soul Calibur fans, this isn't the end of Soul Calibur as we know it. Soul Calibur 4 is right around the corner, and should make you forget about this "wannabe" next gen installment to the SC series. ~F. Yagami, Webmaster of TFG
