They say you only have one chance to make strong first impression, and same goes for games. Now I am not saying that the game will suck, but it didn’t come out of the gate strong enough to get my hopes up (even though Naughty Dog is working on it). And I put the blame on its debut trailer.

A recent industry trend is to show CG trailers to debut a game, and usually that draws more attention than regular standard gameplay trailers, something that I have always been puzzled by. CG trailers look awesome but that’s it, you can’t play the CG cut scenes and in the end you should only care about the product that your going to play, not what you can watch.

Whenever Rockstar releases a trailer, I always get goosebumps after watching the incredibly well cut composition of gameplay footage and soundtrack that shows a true work of art of a good video editor. Call me a video nerd or whatever, but there’s nothing like watching a trailer over and over trying to put together bits and pieces of a game’s story, the levels, the atmosphere, and gameplay from a piece of media that vaguely shows few minutes of a game.

That’s what trailers should accomplish; it should make you think, make you wonder, it should have you going to your friends and asking them if they watched the trailer and discussing different things you observed. A good trailer does much more than show a game, it gets you hyped.

Whenever I watch a CG trailer I don’t know what the game looks like, where the levels look like, or what genre the game even is. I will be fascinated by the well done rendering of polygons, but after I close the video it won’t stick to my head like a good gameplay trailer does. Some of them are quite misleading too, like the Brink debut trailer and Dead Island debut trailer. It frustrates me and makes me wonder why some companies spend so much time and effort in those trailers (all though the easy answer is money).

The Resident Evil 6 debut trailer did that for me. It got me so hyped for the game that I went back and finally finished Resident Evil 4. It did everything that trailer should do and more, and its more than I can say about most trailers I get in my mailbox on the daily basis.

Now I am not saying that all CG trailers are bad, some of them are just as good as gameplay trailers (Bioshock Infinite and Blizzard’s trailers comes to mind) and certain genres definitely need CG trailers as oppose to gameplay trailers. And I definitely am not saying that all gameplay trailers are good (most of them are pretty bad). But companies should definitely focus their energy in making trailers that encompasses what I will be playing and not what few talented artists can create.

Soul Calibur V is a fast paced and fluid 3D fighter. It’s basically a game of trading hits with an in depth defensive fighting system that’s easy to get into, but difficult to master. Parry’s have been removed from the game, while guard impacts maintained their original purpose and replaced the parry system.

Offensively the game has remained quite similar to its past incarnations. The game allows you to play with any character however you really want to, beginning with small combos branching out into cross formation combos along with cross ups, juggling, and a variety of other fighting schemes. Technicals have become more responsive allowing you to break said combos and counter act with a massive array of moves or combos of your own. Lastly, one large change to the game is the removal of Critical Finishes and the addition of Critical Edges, the games iteration of a “super” or combo finisher.

The roster is comprised of both fresh and familiar faces along with a guest appearance by Ezio Auditore from the Assassins Creed series. Several of the new characters are replacements of old characters by being their offspring or apprentices. For example, Sophitia’s two children Pyrrha and Patroklos are similar in play style to their mother but differentiate when their light and dark counterparts are unlocked. Although the roster is fairly balanced the variety begins to wane once the unlockable characters come into play. Three of the hidden characters are edgemasters, or a character that uses all the weapons, and the others are alternate versions of characters you begin the game with.

Single player modes are the meat and potatoes of the Soul Calibur series and to see this game lacking in single player depth brings a tear to my eye. The Tower of Souls was removed for its lackluster successor quick battle mode which should have been sat on all together. Quick battle is a game mode where you fight random created characters to unlock titles to your profile.

The original highly acclaimed story mode underwent some serious changes. The story mode (titled Story 1607) is brilliant but the execution will turn off most players instantly. Its story book style should have easily been replaced by cut scenes and the fights in the story could have been done better by BlazBlue styled dialogue exchanges. The fact that you only play as a select few characters, let alone hear from the rest, is a huge downer being that the series has such a prolific story and expansive universe.

Several of the replacement characters don’t have enough depth to fill the shoes of their masters not to mention the games complete absence of any side story at all! The best part of Soul Caliburs slim helping of single player content is the incredibly challenging and ruthless Legendary Souls game mode in which you climb an arcade styled ladder composed of the series most talented fighters. It Begins with Kilik and only gets tougher from there.

Online multiplayer, while never really being a staple in the Soul Calibur series, really shines the most in the latest installment. It has your standard ranked and player matches, but the pride and joy is in the Global Colosseo. The Colosseo is more like a server than a lobby, where random fights and tournaments take place. Players can then chat or text message challenges and congratulations to the fighting community they are a part of. From my experience there has been an insignificant amount of lag to the point where I barely even noticed I was playing online.

Soul Calibur V is a gorgeous game. With some of the prettiest stages I’ve ever seen, incredible character detail, and menus that are as crystallized as ever the game is extremely pleasing to the eye. The weapons are all incredibly detailed and look wonderful. The little details are what get to me the most; such as seeing the soul edge wander and blink in the midst of battle. While it may not be that much more visually stunning than its predecessor, the game truly stands out visually.

The sound in Soul Calibur V is a mixed bag. Repetitive dialogue cripples the soundtrack that would otherwise steal the show. Music is an incredibly important part of games and this iteration in the series nails it perfectly. Nearly every stage’s music truly captures the feel of the environment you’re playing in. From the skillfully composed tracks of past stages to the awe inspiring music in Venice rooftops, the music helps marry those two worlds along with the reoccurring themes of light and dark for their respective stages. The weapon sound effects are also brilliant, whether it’s the slap of Xibas bo on armor or swords clanging it all sounds wonderful.

As an esteemed fan of the series I’m proud to say Project Soul has still got it going on in the gameplay department, but the lack of back story, unlockables (other than day one DLC…), and game modes tosses a great deal of pressure on character creation and the online play. It’s not like Project Soul to get lazy, since this series is all they work on, but alas they did. This game gives me hope for the direction the series is headed, even if it cost one entry in this splendid franchise.

So how does Capcom sell this? By attaching a Resident Evil 6 demo to the game. Those who purchase the game will get to play RE6 as soon as July 3 (on Xbox 360), September 4th (PS3). One can only imagine which version is going to sell better…

Not a bad deal but my question is, what is the point of the PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle then? It comes with a 4GB memory card, Little Deviants, and a protective case for an extra $50. It seems that Sony managed to screw up even when they are trying to do something good.

Source: Playstation Blog

The following list are the things that makes our blood boil whenever we turn on our systems and have to face what is on the screen and that includes industry BS.

Co-Written and Edited by Bryant Pereira

I do like for this rumor to be true, let us cross fingers and prey.

Source: Inside Mobile Apps