The B Sharp
[08] Mercenary
Well, January 19th is here and with it comes the original Soul Calibur for the iOS. It comes at a pretty hefty price of $11.99 (and that's with the game on sale). Luckily, I had an iTunes gift card left over from Christmas and made the plunge. The result? Eh...
Let's get the superficial stuff out of the way. The game looks quite good on my iPhone. Models are clean and sharp, and while the game doesn't run at 60fps it still looks pretty in motion. I've noticed slowdown in some stages (most prevalent on Mitsurugi's stage), but it doesn't hurt gameplay much.
There isn't much to say on the sound department. It looks like all the music and sound effects are there, and as was the case with the original there is only one language option.
Now for the presentation of the game. The menu is setup nearly identical to the Dreamcast's setup. To choose from option to option you slide and you have to hit small text on the screen. It's not terrible, but I wish NamcoBandai would have increased the size just a little bit.
Characters are unlocked by repeated play throughs, just like the DC, and the game has some of the extras from the the DC: Exhibition and Battle Theater. Sadly, the awesome gallery with oodles and oodles of sweet art is gone.
Let's cut to the chase, though... How does the game play? The good news is that it feels like Soul Calibur. Despite the occassional slowdown, I was able to play the game and perform most combos with no problem. Normally, I loathe touchscreen controls for games not designed for them. However, the controls were very responsive and felt better to me than they do in Street Fighter 4 for iOS. There is one major (and I emphasize major) problem, though. Simultaneous button presses are very difficult to perform, for me at least. To even perform a simple throw, I had to dedicate two fingers to the task. NamcoBandai seemed to have realized the issue and you can put a macro key in the options mode. Unfortunately, most likely due to limited screen real estate, you can only have one macro button set.
How's the multiplayer? Guess what... there isn't any! Yup, no local multiplayer, no online multiplayer. Nothing. No multiplayer in this fighting game whatsoever.
My verdict: I'm glad I didn't actually spend money, while at the same time regretting the purchase. Mediocre controls and no multiplayer kill most of the value. Considering that Mission Mode from the Dreamcast was also axed, there is little incentive to play single player unless Arcade mode and Survival mode are your things.
... all that for $11.99 (for a limited time!)
-----------------
I would like to say that NamcoBandai does plan on adding additional game modes, but as the game is right now... pass.
Let's get the superficial stuff out of the way. The game looks quite good on my iPhone. Models are clean and sharp, and while the game doesn't run at 60fps it still looks pretty in motion. I've noticed slowdown in some stages (most prevalent on Mitsurugi's stage), but it doesn't hurt gameplay much.
There isn't much to say on the sound department. It looks like all the music and sound effects are there, and as was the case with the original there is only one language option.
Now for the presentation of the game. The menu is setup nearly identical to the Dreamcast's setup. To choose from option to option you slide and you have to hit small text on the screen. It's not terrible, but I wish NamcoBandai would have increased the size just a little bit.
Characters are unlocked by repeated play throughs, just like the DC, and the game has some of the extras from the the DC: Exhibition and Battle Theater. Sadly, the awesome gallery with oodles and oodles of sweet art is gone.
Let's cut to the chase, though... How does the game play? The good news is that it feels like Soul Calibur. Despite the occassional slowdown, I was able to play the game and perform most combos with no problem. Normally, I loathe touchscreen controls for games not designed for them. However, the controls were very responsive and felt better to me than they do in Street Fighter 4 for iOS. There is one major (and I emphasize major) problem, though. Simultaneous button presses are very difficult to perform, for me at least. To even perform a simple throw, I had to dedicate two fingers to the task. NamcoBandai seemed to have realized the issue and you can put a macro key in the options mode. Unfortunately, most likely due to limited screen real estate, you can only have one macro button set.
How's the multiplayer? Guess what... there isn't any! Yup, no local multiplayer, no online multiplayer. Nothing. No multiplayer in this fighting game whatsoever.
My verdict: I'm glad I didn't actually spend money, while at the same time regretting the purchase. Mediocre controls and no multiplayer kill most of the value. Considering that Mission Mode from the Dreamcast was also axed, there is little incentive to play single player unless Arcade mode and Survival mode are your things.
... all that for $11.99 (for a limited time!)
-----------------
I would like to say that NamcoBandai does plan on adding additional game modes, but as the game is right now... pass.