http://www.tu4ar.com/ there is a countown on that site. thats all i have to say.

for those of you who dont know what tu4ar is, tu4ar = take u 4 a ride = character select music from marvel vs capcom 2.

and screw the 360 version and its bogus d-pad. PS3 all the freaking way.

and bobby still owes me my marvel vs capcom 2 ps2 case as well.

and just in case no one knows what the song sounds like….here you go:

Introduction:

I first got into the Soul Edge/Calibur series during the Dreamcast era. My first character was Lizardman and the reason why I picked him is because I thought he was cool with his sword and shield (stupid/nerdy i know). Soul Calibur II came out a few years later for the PS2, Xbox, and GCN, and while I was already in love with other fighting games like Marvel Vs. Capcom and the Tekken series, I wasn’t really interested in picking up another fighting game that didnt interest me. Well, a few weeks before Soul Calibur II came out, scamco…er, I mean Namco announced that each console version would have a special “guest” character – Heihachi from Tekken for the PS2, Spawn on the Xbox, and Link on the Gamecube…wait a second, WTF? Link from the Legend of Zelda….in a NON zelda/fighting game??? Are you serious???I immediately got hooked. I wanted this game so badly…but there was one reason stopping me from getting it – i didn’t have a gamecube. Luckily, earlier in the year, my brother had bought one when Zelda: The Wind Waker had come out, so that problem was taken care of. When the game came out, we both spent HOURS playing it, as it probably became one of the best fighting games ever made. Then Soul Calibur III was released a bit later…none of my friends bought it or played it. I figured it wasnt even worth looking at so I didnt bother picking it up. Nothing “exciting” or interesting was in the fighting game genre for a long time…until now (man that sounds so cheesy!).

Graphics:

This game has OUTSTANDING visuals. It’s definitely the best looking out of all the fighting games I have played (well, Virtua Fighter 5 and DoA4 come pretty close too). From each lightsaber hilt, to Siegfrieds’ armor, to even clothing on each characters clothes, everything is well drawn and animated. However, there are quite a few jaggies everywhere, and i’m not a fan of the “artwork portraits” of the characters when you pick them on the character selection screen. And 720p only scamco? What the hell is up with that? You could have easily made this game 1080p, as konami did with mgs4, and they had even BETTER graphics.

Sound:

Thankfully, it redeems itself with full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Every single effect, footstep, background noise, stage noise (the star wars stages especially) and whatever else can be heard from all directions and speakers. Excellent job there. The music is pretty good too, but definitely not as good as soul calibur II, but on par with soul calibur III. Thankfully, Scamco is allowing DLC and just a few days ago, it released all the music from soul calibur I to be used as alternate music for the stages. (now hurry the fuck up and release the soul calibur II music!) As for the voice acting…i know Scamco has a history for cheesy dialog, but seriously, this is supposed to be a “next-gen” game, so why not go all out and do a much better job with the voices? Some of the lip-syncing needs work too and boo/hiss on the fact that you cover up some of the characters mouths when they speak to lower the amount of lip-syncing work.

Gameplay:

To me, soul calibur has always been about button mashing and once in a while, you’ll find a move or two that will be unblockable, do lots of damage, or just will plain look cool. of course, if you ever want to be good at it, you should probably learn all the moves of whatever character you want (or create your own!). once in a while, someone (aka podar) will find a cheap move that you can do over and over again for a TON of damage and might even be tough to get out of/unblockable. all the usual tactics are there, guard impact, block, run in all directions, crouching, etc. in this game, you can now break certain pieces of your opponents armor, making them a lot more vulnerable each time. also, they have added something called a “soul gauge” that changes color each time you block a certain amount of times. when that gauge turns red, you lose a piece of your armor and become temporarily stunned. this is a good thing that namco did, because this will definitely stop the “turtling” that noob/cheap players do. i HATE when people just sit there, block, and dont attack. luckily, nameco has added something called a “critical finish”, which is similar to a final smash in smash bros brawl, but WAY harder to pull off, as it requires the opponent to have lost all his armor and have his gauge become red and be stunned. most of the time, you’ll never have a chance to do a critical finish, which blows. also for the star wars characters, they have another gauge called the force gauge, which is there to limit how often/much you can use their special force attacks (which is a good thing!). this is definitely not the most advanced fighting game out there, compared to DoA, virtua fighter, tekken, street fighter, but it is a simple pick up and play for hours without learning the controls and moves game. thats what i love about soul calibur and why i love this type of gameplay.

Presentation:

Now usually, namco would be pretty good with menus, openings, and the like. unfortunately, i have to admit that they really havent done a good job here. the opening isnt as…exciting/thrilling/awesome as they have been in soul edge/soul calibur I/II. the menus are just bland, and they have a bit of lag when going from a menu screen to the next. the announcer could have put a LOT more effort/depth into his lines, but the bottom line is, he isnt that good. even worse, when you load a match up, the announces comes and says a line of dialog pertaining to soul calibur, but sometimes, his line will extend all the way past the stage intro and into the characters dialog! its a minor quirk i know, but again, scamco could have done a better job of cleaning all this up. soul calibur II completely owns soul calibur IV in terms of presentation. sc4 is like…60-70% of what sc2’s presentation is.

Multiplayer:

Again, scamco has dropped the ball here. only standard and special versus are here. there is no team battle, time attack, survival mode, etc. only just 1vs1 battles. W.T.F???? this was present in soul calibur 2 (cant comment on 3, never played it) so why is this NOT here? thank GOD there is online, and you can play your own created characters online too, complete with their abilities/weapons/clothing/everything.

Singleplayer:

Story mode is a joke, with only 5 stages, but some stages have up to 4 opponents to face, one after another. the last boss is ALWAYS the same character, algol. he has double health of what you have, and he is cheap. there are only two difficulty settings, normal and hard. arcade mode is here, but when you play it for the first time, you will want to throw your controller out the window. the AI is incredibly cheap, and if you play as darth vader against the apprentice, vader will get destroyed so easily by him. either the cpu gets tuned up when you fight against the apprentice, or its a extreme difficulty change compared to the other battles you face in arcade. another example of this is when you are playing against astaroth (you are still vader though). astaroth is like…level 9999999999 when you face him. i dont know what the balls namco did, but he is mega cheap, buffed like crazy, and fucking fast as hell. luckily they have added training mode too, otherwise i would have been really mad. as usual, there is a “tower of the lost souls” mode, which places you as whatever character(s) you want (they can be all customized and equipped however you wish though luckily) against opponents who must be defeated in a certain way across a tower of 60 floors, ascending and descending. some of these battles are easy to win, but some are just godawful hard. its as if they want to baby you for a few levels/floors, but then ramp up the difficulty to extreme cheapness in where you cant do anything against the cpu because they are GAY as hell. whatever, this mode could have been much better, but it isnt.

Extras:

if you got the premium edition of either console version of soul calibur IV, you get an unlock code with it, and if you use it, you will unlock every single characters best and joke weapon. the apprentice and darth vader (or yoda if you have the 360 version) are awesome guest characters, although they are cheap. the 5 “hidden” anime characters are just clones of certain soul calibur people, so its kind of pointless for them to be in here. the museum mode, artwork, illustrations, and all that is in here. it also sucks that you have to get TONS of gold to unlock every extra, but then thats how the replay value is there. Again, its definitely not up to par with soul calibur II, as that game had character demonstrations, weapon profiles, etc. the premium version also includes an XL t-shirt, a cool poster with a tournament bracket on the back, a nice artwork and comic book combo, as well as a sharpie!!! to write down the scores/names on the bracket, the case is also a nice tin case with a see-through plastic cover that goes right on top of it. also, wtf is up with the “honors” in this game? thats just a blatant rip-off of achievements from the 360 version. there was no need to put them in the ps3 version. thats why sony added trophies support, but of course, you didnt take advantage of it.

Edit: Since this review is quite a ways old, scamco has released yet more DLC, allowing for Yoda to be purchased on the PS3 and Vader on the 360…for $5 each. wow, i have no words for that.

Conclusion:

If you want a good looking, good sounding, and awesome gameplay in a fighting game, soul calibur 4 is a pretty darn good choice. if you are going to be playing this game by yourself, or if you want a deep technical fighter, you’re better off just renting it (unless you’re like me and love soul calibur in general and cant get enough of it). the fact that the singleplayer in general is sucky/nerfed, the multiplayer modes from sc2 are gone, the presentation is just plain stupid, the extras could have been better, the online disconnects half the time, adding “extra features” that are already on the disc and making you pay for them, makes this game feel rushed and you feeling cheated out of your money. all scamco really did, in my opinion, is take the gameplay, graphics and sound and make them next-gen, and they really did a great job with it, but left everything else to the dogs, and it shows; because when it all comes down to it, all these extras feel like an afterthought. it was added because they needed something to make it compete with the other fighting games out there. namco could have easily done a lot better job with everything else else if they just took their time and polished it up like soul calibur II…but they didnt.

7.5/10.

PS: this game still rocks for multiplayer battles, and dont get me wrong – i dont hate the game, i like it a ton. i just wish they could have made it so much better and made it stand out from the competition, like they did with soul calibur II.

Introduction:

I’ll be honest with you – I’ve always hated Metal Gear Solid from the very beginning. I vividly remember when all my friends were raving about how MGS on the original Playstation was “soooooo much better” than Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the N64. Actually they were raving about how the PS1 > N64, but whatever. If you know my geek/nerd/otaku side, you obviously know that Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time. It is THE definitive game, absolutely nothing comes close to it. Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VIII (8), Smash Bros. Brawl, none of them can ever beat Zelda. It is simply that good…until now.

I can wholeheartedly say, with confidence, that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots is completely superior to Ocarina of Time in every way.

Graphics:

This game pushes the PS3 to its limits…I mean, this ENTIRE game is completely rendered using the in-game engine. That means that there is absolutely no CGI involved – it is all real time 3D. That alone is a remarkable achievement. If you want to get picky, there are a few “bad” textures out of the insanely polished and stunning atmosphere and surroundings, and the framerate isn’t constant at 30fps (which they should have done, in my opinion). Otherwise, this game (so far) is the best looking game on the PS3 and easily one of the best looking games currently to date out of all consoles/PCs.

Old Snake looking badass.

Sound:

Uncompressed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. That alone makes it worth it to even show off what the ps3 can do, and even show off what your surround sound system is capable of. This game sounds amazing, period. Every explosion, footstep, gunshot, you name it, is heard clearly and distinctly throughout all 5 speakers. The voicework is probably the best ive ever heard in any game to date. Top quality actors/actresses make this game sound and play SO much better than it already does. It’s what makes MGS work (part of it at least). The soundtrack is also equally amazing, again done by Harry Gregson-Williams (who did some previous MGS soundtracks as well). If you want to play this game right, get a decent 5.1 system setup. Trust me on that one.

Gameplay:

At first, the controls seem weird, especially if you have played MGS1, 2, or 3 before. The old controls had you pressing multiple buttons just to do one thing (ex: grabbing an enemy required you to press X to crouch, then unequip a weapon, then press square or triangle or circle, whatever it is). Now for MGS4, everything is simplified. One button to do everything. Press X to crouch, but continue to press and hold X to crawl. Just small things like that add up to MUCH better and not fiddly controls. It does take a bit of getting used to though.

Watch where you’re aiming th…what in the…? Why is he floating??

Presentation:

The opening is just awesome. The menus are simple to use/read/navigate, and they look good too. The cut-scenes are some of the best in the industry, easily surpassing some movies. This basically sums up why i love MGS – the cutscenes are what makes the game. The gameplay is phenomenal, but i’m really here for the story and to watch it. Some people will disagree with this, and some people wont, but that won’t deter me in any way. 10/10.

Multi-player:

Think MGS4 but with 15 other people as well. There are plenty of expansion packs to keep the game fresh as well. I haven’t played it extensively so i can’t really give impressions on it though. As for online play though, it’s pretty darn smooth.

Work as team, survive as a team.

Single-player:

What more do you want? It is the terrific MGS gameplay, just with an even further improved MGS3 – Subsistence free-roaming camera and better controls.

Extras:

Kojima has put everything you could imagine in this game. From a 2P digital camera mode, to a completely functioning in-game iPod (that has the full iPod menu with scroll wheel) with hidden songs, to flashbacks where you see old MGS1/MGS2/MGS3 cutscenes and pictures, to MANY weapons with multiple attachments each. There’s even a…heh, i’ll save that for the people who don’t want to get spoiled. Too many extras are in here, and its a damn good thing.

Conclusion:

This is the best game of all time, bar none. While Zelda is in a class of its own (coming from a 2D sprite-based game to a completely 3D world and making everything about Zelda 10000x better), MGS4 just surpasses it. This game has it all; cinema quality voice acting, excellent graphics (1080p ftw), 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound (uncompressed too), TONS of extras, the best story telling ever for a video game, and more. It even has a pretty decent multiplayer to boot, but I dont think it’ll be a Halo 3/COD4/CS:S killer anytime soon. That being said, if you were waiting for a reason to buy a ps3, here it is ladies and gentlemen. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots is it.

Rating: 10/10.

“You cheater! You slept with my girlfriend!” “No…i swear…”