Andrew Giese reports:
''This July 29th Project Soul and Namco Bandai are shipping Soul Calibur IV, the latest installment in the bar-setting fighting series that has garnered wide critical acclaim and insane fandom since immigrating to the western world in 1996. This most recent entry builds on previous successes while still adding fresh features to keep players immersed.
The first noticeable difference between Soul Calibur IV and its predecessors is the shiny 720p graphics. When players aren't aggressively beating on each other using the wide assortment of weapons the characters wield, they can stop for a minute and admire soft-lighting, fantastic shadowing, startlingly real reflections, and cloth deformation. No pixel has been left uncared for and the engine won't so much as sniffle when rendering each liquid-smooth animation.
Soul Calibur II included Link from Nintendo's top-selling Zelda series, and Soul Calibur IV continues the trend of cameos. This time around Star Wars fans will be catered to with the inclusion of Darth Vader on the PlayStation 3 platform and Yoda on the Xbox 360. Old favorites will be returning, like the horrific Nightmare and the lovely Ivy. As always, players are fighting to obtain the legendary Soul Edge and Soul Calibur swords. Each character has their unique motivations for joining the fight, which will span a variety of unique stages from a Star Wars-themed Star Destroyer Docking Bay to a 16th century Castle Throne Room.''
