Soul Calibur Legends will surely irritate long-time fans of the series since this is one game that does everything wrong, reviews Jahanzeb Khan

The Soul Calibur series is not just considered as one of the greatest 3D fighting game series of all time, but it is also regarded as one the finest video game series in the history of gaming. The Soul series made its debut on the PSone under the name of Soul Blade and it was a fantastic weapon-based fighting game that easily surpassed Sega`s Last Bronx (a brilliant game in its own right). The first Soul Calibur game was released on Sega`s Dreamcast console and it made quite an impact with its breathtaking graphics and superb weapon-based fighting system.

Soul Calibur 2 was released simultaneously on Playstation 2(PS2), Gamecube and the Xbox, and each of the three versions came with an exclusive character. Although, Soul Calibur 2 did not make the same impact as the first one did, it was still well-received by fans and critics.

Soul Calibur 3 was released on the PS2 in 2005, and while the core gameplay mechanics remained unchanged, it was easily the most polished and complete experience. The fighting system was perfect and the game was loaded with an overwhelming number of unlockable content (artwork, characters, weapons, stages, shop items, etc.) and also featured some very creative bonus modes. Apart from the main story mode, there was a quest mode that played out like an RTS game, a mission mode comprising some interesting mini games and even a character creator mode. It is certainly no surprise that fans continue to play Soul Calibur 3 since there is so much to do and unlock.

Soul Calibur Legends — a Nintendo Wii exclusive — is the latest entry in this series. Unlike other games in the series, Soul Calibur Legends is not a fighting game; instead it is a third-person adventure game that employs gameplay mechanics of army hack and slash games such as Dynasty Warriors and Drakengard.

But is the game any good? Is it as incredible as other Soul Calibur games? Sadly, the answer is a big NO.

Like all games of the series, the story revolves around the powerful and legendary sword, Soul Edge. The game features a much younger Siegfried who is later on joined by other characters from the series. Siegfried and his companions are caught in a great war between the Roman Empire and Ottoman Empire.

The graphics of this game are horrible poor character models, choppy animations, bland textures, uninspiring design/architecture and messy particle effects are just some of the many reasons why this game is painful to look at. To put it simply, the game looks like a very old PS2 game.

When it comes to actual gameplay it gets worse, much worse. Gone are the complex and deep weapon combat mechanics that made the series so famous. Instead, what you have is a dreadfully boring hack-and-slash adventure game that lacks in gameplay and combat variety.

The game plays differently from any of its previous releases; in fact it plays a lot like Drakengard 2 (a hack-and-slash game with some adventure elements). You will be hacking through hoards of enemies inside bland indoor and outdoor environments along with solving a few stupid puzzles (including traps) and battling some yawn-worthy boss fights. The game allows you to switch between two selected characters at anytime during a mission, and while there are many playable characters, they unfortunately fail to add any variety to the gameplay.

You control the character with the Nunchuk joystick and swing both the Wiimote and Nunchuk to perform attacks and evasions. Depending on how you swing the Wiimote, the character on the screen will perform different sword attacks. For example a forward thrust motion will make the character to act as the same. As good as this may sound, the system is not very responsive and in the end you will end up randomly shaking both controllers because the game does not reward you (or even force you) to be precise or to master moves.

The music is the same orchestrated epic soundtrack featured in all the other games in the series and it is nothing to praise about. The artwork is good, and sadly this is the only nice thing I have to say about for the entire game.

This game will surely infuriate long-time fans of the Soul series since this is a game that does everything wrong. What drove the developers to harm the good reputation of the series by making this worthless game will forever puzzle me. You will wish that this game had never been created because Soul Calibur games have always been amazing, and this one mark against them. Hopefully, the release of Soul Calibur 4 (PS3 and the Xbox 360) will make gamers forget this dreadful experience.

ToPten...

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6. Mario Kart Wii, Wii, Nintendo
7. Ikaruga, Xbox 360, Treasure
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— S.S