When Namco Bandai decided to bring Soulcalibur to the current generation of consoles, they apparently decided it needed a few small tweaks and improvements, because it seems that's all they did. Unfortunately, the end result of those tweaks is somewhat debatable. It is a game that tries to be more about the fighting and less about the story, but along the way, Soulcalibur IV somehow feels like a step backwards overall, even though it makes huge leaps forward in some areas.

For the most part, Soulcalibur IV introduces the same old game play, but with a few new twists. Critical finishes, soul crushes and equipment destruction are all welcome, as they take away the old turtling problem that previous Soulcalibur titles had. However, the ability to switch weapons now has to be handled in character customization, not on the actual character select screens, which is a step back. Also a step back are some of the tweaks that have been done to the move lists, marking the second consecutive time this has happened in the series. For example, many of the combo chains I had for my main character, Voldo, are completely gone. The moves are still there; a lot are just mapped out differently, forcing me to re-learn half of them. It's a pain in the ass, but Namco seems to have made up for it by providing a few new moves that can be used to link combos together.

Controls on the 360 are just as fluid as they were in previous incarnations of the franchise on older consoles. Controls can be remapped to your satisfaction, but the default set-up feels fine as is. However, with that said, using the left analog stick can at times be a pain in the butt, as it doesn't always seem to read your input correctly. On a few occasions, this has resulted in me doing moves I otherwise did not want to do. Therefore, if you shelled out big bucks for an arcade-style controller, I'd recommend using it.

In bringing Soulcalibur to a new generation of consoles, the franchise has gotten a noticeable graphical upgrade. Stages look more detailed and realistic, as do the game's characters. However, most characters have gone through re-designs, some of which are less than favorable. This is the case, for example, with Tira, who has gone from looking like the crazed psychopath she is to looking rather bland and boring. The game's soundtrack is as good as ever, and the voice cast is pretty much the same. Yes, that even means some of the more annoying voices are still present this time around.

As for a story: there is one, but it is bare bones. In fact, it feels like there isn't even one at all in comparison to the previous Soulcalibur games. The only new character introduced of any storyline importance is Algol, and he's not likely to appear in future Soulcalibur stories.