Oh, welcome to your own frustration and hell.  The kicker?  You'll keep coming back for more. 

You'll sell your soul for this

Gameplay has drastically changed, in a way, for the latest addition to Soulcalibur.  In previous versions of the game, you have some sort of pattern to follow your enemies by.  What I mean is that eventually the AI gets to a point where it can't give you anymore different strategic methods for you to figure out, it literally hits a wall.  In Soulcalibur IV, this is different for better or worse.  You will learn quickly that no battle, including the first, is easy to see through.  If you don't properly react, and quickly, you will get your ass handed to you.  McGehee had the first crack at the 360 version of this game and that was his first observation, and I concur.  The AI will learn your methods, your patterns and will wait patiently for you to open up and give it the opportunity.  It won't give you signs of attack, won't show you its hand anymore... those days are quite over.  From the first to the last fight, you will have to be on top of your game.   This is great and terrible all at the same time.  It's great because you simply won't have a walkthrough in the game.  You have to earn every step of the way.  For example, if you're on the edge of any level, the computer will do its darnedest to make sure you're going out of the ring.  It makes you more aware of your surroundings and forces you to alter your strategies.  This provides more depth to an already deep game, and you can't fault it for that.  The fault lies in some methods the computer uses to win.  For example, it detects when you're no longer holding the guard button down.  It detects this in the millisecond it takes for you to release the guard button.  This is such an unfair move for the computer to make, and it will frustrate you to no end.  The days of button mashing are clearly an afterthought for this series.  You will have to learn the guard button and gather some impressive timing skills to get through this one. 

Have I scared you yet? Don't worry, it's not as mean as it seems.  No, wait.  Yeah, that's not true, it's scary. 

So, I guess you want to know about the controls.  Well, you've got the same type of controls that we've all come to love since the Dreamcast.  It does everything you want it to do and your characters still have the same button configuration.  So, you won't have to worry too much about how you can transition from III to IV.  It's completely and utterly seamless.  There have been some additional ways to beat opponents though, which make this a bit more three-dimensional.  For example, if you beat at your opponent long enough their armor will give and break.  Once it shatters, your character (or the one you've broken it off of) will be at a slight disadvantage.   That's a nice option when it comes to gameplay and provides and advantage/disadvantage during a fight.  Give them kudos for that one, took someone look enough to bring that to a fighting game. 

Another feature that has been added to the game, which is puzzling, but neat is the Soul Gauge.    As an opponent is constantly attacking, if the player is blocking the attack your Soul Gauge starts to have damage inflicted on it.  It will change from green to red, then to flashing red.  What this indicates is that you can't really block much anymore and you've left yourself completely open/vulnerable.  At this point, your opponent has the opportunity to smash your armor, which again leaves you at a major disadvantage.  You can restore this gauge by attacking your opponent.  Gradually it will restore itself.  So, in other words, the do*chebag player who likes to constantly block and slowdown the game is about to cry.  You must love new developments in old series. 

Speaking of which, there is a critical finish in the game, much like you would find in the Mortal Kombat series.  And to be honest, I have yet to perform one of these, but it sounds positively breathtaking.  Apparently, it's as tough as nails to pull off, but the reward for performing one is that you end the fight immediately.  With those type of odds, how couldn't you want to continually try to make one happen.  I will be practicing so that I can take down the guys/gals online before the public catches wind of the game.  

These elements make the game a bit deeper, which helps out and adds a somewhat unfair advantage to people who can successfully pull this off.   I have to say, I like these things.  The strong shall survive, isn't that pretty much the motto for this game?

To make the gameplay even better, you're provided with several modes of play.  The first, and probably shortest in the long-run, is the single-player mode.  Here's a breakdown of what you'll find in this mode:

- STORY: Here's the part of the mode where most people prefer being.  The last two Soulcaliburs contained this element to them and it kind of puts a bit more beef into the gameplay.  Each character has a story to tell and you get the full   version of it at the beginning of this mode.  It's pretty nifty.  There's a different set of characters to fight in the STORY mode, and it's a bit tougher.  

- TOWER OF LOST SOULS:  Let me just wish you luck.  You have to go through 60 stories of fighting, each level containing unique fighters who try to stop you from going all the way to the top. What's really cool about this is that you get the arse whooping of a lifetime here.  Why is that cool? Makes you work harder, become a better player.  You need that type of attention-to-detail in this fighting game.  The game doesn't hold back either, when you get to Floor 11 you'll be playing by your lonesome and up against four enemies.  Your energy doesn't recharge in this mode until you defeat a set of floors.  If you could picture King of Fighters where you can choose multiple people to fight with you, this is basically the mode.  There are times, like the one mentioned above, where you're fighting multiple enemies and having no backup.  It's a swell feeling. 

- ARCADE:  Just what the name says, it's the arcade mode.  Don't think that you can breeze right through this mode.  It is still as difficult as the rest of the game is.  Eight rounds of frustration, leading eventually to victory.  Remember, guard is your friend. 

As for the other modes, you have a nice Versus mode, which gives you a couple of different opportunities to play against your fellow Soul-mate (yeah, that's right! I couldn't resist a stupid pun).   Now the mode that gave me the most trouble, not due to AI, was the PSN mode.  This allows you to go online, win points and experience by battling people across the country (possibly the world, not sure).  Why is this difficult?  It's not so much the people, but the lag! I've got a pretty speedy connection and the first match I was playing gave me about a half a second lag time.   Not terrible, I've seen worse on the Dreamcast.  The second match was a total disaster, as the lag pretty much put everything in slow motion.  I beat the person, only because I could see them coming a mile away and react to the move they were making.  It was a shameful moment in my online life.  I would like to think this is in the improving phases, but only time will tell.  Most people will just be happy that the online portion of SC is up and going finally.  I, for one, can now beat fellow SC Kentucky folks from the DC HQ now.  I could not be happier, but it needs some major improvement (hopefully that comes quickly). 

Now with Soulcalibur IV,you get an improved feature that brings players a little bit closer to the game... Character Creation (thank you again, Jonas for the correction-- Editor). 

What's great about character creation is that you can create your own fighter from scratch.  If you could picture the character creator in the game Oblivion, then add a bunch of new attributes from costume (head to toe) to what type of mask your character wears, you've got Character Creation right there. Once you've created your character you can then start building his/her strengths and put together a fighting machine to be reckoned with.  You can also use this custom character in Story/Arcade and several other modes.  Imagine building someone up to whoop up on your friends, online.  You can use this character online, as the second person I fought online did.  Their character was Amy and she really knew how to move (nearly destroyed me two quick times).  It's a great feature and gives you an opportunity to create a great character and to grow them (sort of like Sea Monkeys, but with a killer instinct and sharp weapons). 

Outside of creating your own character, the series now sports a leveling option, like I mentioned above, which will improve certain attributes of pre-existing characters.  So you can basically level them up to improve upon their strengths and weaknesses.  It makes a huge difference.  Imagine having a character that can nullify a ring out.  That is a priceless attribute!

She drives fine, but what about the design?

As any fan of the SC series knows, the design of the characters, the cutscenes, everything visual and audible in the SC universe is always top-notch.  If you think Namco can't outdo their talented efforts from last time, think again.  You've never seen such vivid colors, models and movements than you see in SC IV.  From a shallow sea on the deck of ship, to the warped confines of Voldo, you get quite diverse environments which contain their own silly secrets.  For example, in Voldo's place, you can knock walls down and extend the level slightly.  You won't really have time to admire the level design, as you should, but you'll briefly appreciate what Namco did to make the sets of environments in this game gorgeous.  You will find life in the background, endless views and enough reason to see why the PS3 can push some major graphics. 

As for the character models, you won't be disappointed one bit. The skin texture on the characters is smooth, less jaggy then in years past.  The 60 frames per second movement will show you how smooth and positively precise the developers were.  In other words, you will be happy, happy, happy!

With such good graphics though, there comes a price.  In the Arcade mode, you have no loading (basically) between fights.  It's quick, quick, quick!  When you get to Story or the Tower challenge, there could be anywhere from 10 to 40 seconds of loading.  I believe that it's due to the PS3 wanting to load characters into the cache, so there's no delay on fighting, but it's still noticeable.  It's not the worst thing in the world, but for the impatient generation that's now gaming (13-18), you'll be mad.  For the rest of us, if it's faster than loading time on a 486, we're peachy!  Seriously though, there is an option to load some data into the PS3 hard drive, which does speed things up considerably.  PS3 owners will be pleased as punch to have this option available, and laugh at 360 owners at the same time. 

Do you value your life? Is it fun?

Two of the most difficult decisions a reviewer should make is trying to determine if the game is worth the price and if it's fun enough to play over and over again.  

The game is by far worth the price of admission.  It's the deepest Soulcalibur made to date.  You have the online option, the character creation option, the story option, the arcade option, etc.  There are so many options here that you'll be hard pressed to find time to play them all.  So, yes, it's worth the $59.99 you'll want to fork over.  It isn't a rehash of SC II or III.  It's now in a category of its own, a true completion to the series, it has no rivals right now in the fighting world.  I'm a huge SF fan and I know right now that SC IV is still the deepest fighting game, without a doubt. 

As for Fun factor, you can't argue with it.  The game is a blast! If you can curve your frustration a bit, and feel free to scream at the TV once in a while, you'll find a wonderful game underneath.  Plus, it's made for friends.  You can fight your buddy/pal at home or online, that makes it fun.  If they can't fix the lag problem than that may no longer be fun, but right now it's a work in progress and I'm sure someone will fix it (I hope).  

The best of the best of the best, or soul wrenching

You like fighting games? You like deep fighting games? You looking for a deep, deep fighting game that will provide you with the online, offline play like no other fighting games can?  Look no further than Soulcalibur IV.  It, right now, is the best fighting game on the market... to date.  Namco Bandai worked hard on this title, and it certainly shows. 

It's everything you wanted it to be and more.