Gaming Thursday

So, last week was all about my love for cooperation in gaming and here I am about to talk about a game where comptetition is the only thing. Soul Calibur 4 is a fighting game (yes, that is the name of the genre, and it is exactly what it sounds like) and I actually really like it. Outside of Smash Bros., Soul Calibur 2 was the only fighting game that I bought for the last generation of consoles (I got it on Gamecube if you must know), and unless Street Fighter IV makes a massive impression on me, it looks like SC4 may be my only fighting game for this generation too (again, not counting Smash Bros.).

I'm not exactly the best at fighting games, so while I know that there is a ton of combat depth to be found in this game, I currently haven't progressed much past random button mashing yet. But, even with that said, it's still a really fun game to play. To me, the best thing about the Soul Calibur series are the characters. I bought 2 because you can play as Link, and here in 4 the special characters are Yoda (for 360, Vader for PS3) and the Force Apprentice (from the upcoming Force Unleashed Star Wars game). Aside from him being incredibly cheap (he can't be thrown), Yoda is a blast to be. He plays just like the Yoda you see in Episodes 2 and 3, where he bounces around fighting Dooku and Palpatine. The Apprentice is still a little cheap (although not nearly as much as Yoda), but I can't help playing as him because his moveset is so great and he is such a BA. Outside of the special characters, I really like Maxi (with the nunchucks) and the zombie pirate Cervantes (for obvious reasons). The only thing is that I really need to nail down who I want to be so that I can actually get better at being them, rather than just fooling around.

My only real problem with the game lies there... I'm not good at it, and to be good at it will take time and practice. It's the same problem that I mentioned last week about shooters. You've got to put too much time in to be really competitive at any sort of level. That's why I just play against my brother when we don't really have time to do a longer game, but still want to get a couple of matches in. The other problem has nothing to do with the game. It's just that a game like this really needs one of these, and I really can't justify 60 bucks (the same price as the game) for a game stick that I would only use for a couple of games. And yet, every time I see that Arcade Stick... I want it bad, because playing a game like this on a regular controller pad just doesn't cut it and is actually a bit difficult.

I'm just being nitpicky here, the game is really good and it's tons of fun to play.

Oh, and by the way, I really don't like Mario Kart Wii and I regret buying it. It's going to Gamestop soon and I'm going to get some MS points to get Braid and Castle Crashers on Xbox Live Arcade. Speaking of, I got Bionic Commando: Rearmed yesterday, so look out for that next week (unless I get Braid first, because I really liked that demo).