There comes a point in every fighting game franchise's life in which it needs an action game spin off. You've got Death by Degrees for Tekken, Virtua Fighter Quest for, well, Virtua Fighter, and Mythologies/Special Forces/Shaolin Monks for Mortal Kombat and Guilty Gear 2 for Guilty Gear, and then there's Legends for SoulCalibur.
The story... is not worth it, on many fronts. First and foremost, even though it claims to tell the story between Soul Edge and SoulCalibur, the game is actually non-canon. An even if the developers didn't claim so, the fact that it contradicts many things from the numbered iterations would make any point you had in favor of this... loose retelling, void. Basically, it's a superfluous entry into the series that doesn't add anything to the franchise. But let's say you don't care, after all, what matters is that a game is fun to play, not that it has a good story(Unless it's an RPG or a visual novel, that is), is the story in this game worth getting into? No, it is not. The script is very poorly written, there's so much foreshadowing that it's impossible not to predict what's gonna happen. And you don't even get to feel smart about figuring it out, since the game is basically screaming the plot twists at the top of its lungs! It's also one of those Japanese games that want you to feel empathy and sorry for the villain... but you just can't help but laugh at how poorly written he is.
This is a third person hack and slash, with the occasional puzzle every now and then, but it's solved by slashing stuff with your blades. You are allowed to take two characters into each stage, each with their own life bar and special gauge. You can swap characters at almost any time, which can be a life saver. First strike: The only way to attack is with motion controls, which means that precision is thrown out the window. And you will need precision if you want to make combos, as there's five different types of attacks: Upwards slice, downwards slice, left and right slashes and thrusting. You can adjust the sensitivity, and what attack you'd rather the sensor favor, which is a nice gesture, but you'll never get to a point where you can trust the game to read all of your moves correctly. And the saddest part about it? There is some depth to the combo system, you can juggle enemies, there's even some attack strings that change if you wait a little before your next input, but relying on motion controls means you won't get the most of it. Dodging is also tied to motion controls, the nunchuck more precisely. At the end of day, I opted to forgo dodging and rely on avoiding attacks by moving around or just blocking what can be blocked. It's a better alternative than hoping it reads your nunchuck input right in the heat of battle.
Strike numero dos: The targeting system is flawed. Firstly, every time you kill an enemy and the reticule moves to another enemy, it takes a while for the camera to catch up to it. Even worse, you switch between enemies by tapping A... but sometimes you need to get closer to an enemy, even if it's inside your view, so that he becomes targetable. Strike three:The level design is atrocious. Levels are made up of tunnels that lead into bigger arenas, of which you can't exit until you slay every monster inside. Sure, the decor or the surroundings might look different, but it's the same design all the way through to the end. Every now and then there'll be simple death traps, but the game loves to place rolling boulders next to corners, so that it's impossible for you to see them coming until it's to late, since the camera is so bad. Very cheap.
I may be out of strikes, but the game isn't out of flaws! There's only 8 different stages(tilesets, if you will), and you play them multiple times. The enemies may change, but the areas are the same, the puzzles are the same, although slightly altered every time you go through them. And then you reach chapter 5, which is halfway through the game, and you are to visit every single stage for the umpteenth time. And it gets better, you have to fight every single boss up to that point again, even better, they recycle their cutscenes. I'm not kidding. Some bosses are fought over 8 times, they may change their colors, but not their patterns.
The game offers 7 different characters, while the back claims 'Play as your favorite characters', so, hopefully Siegfried, Taki, Sophitia, Astaroth, Mitsurugi or Ivy are among your favorites. The seventh character is the guest, Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia, I love Lloyd, so I approve of his inclusion... even if he uses Raphael's weapons. Ah, weapons! Each character gets 4 weapons, which you unlock by playing through the game, and, as far as I could tell, they are just cosmetic. Some of the latter weapons confer extra special attacks to the characters, but as far as damage and attacks go, they are the same. You can also strengthen your weapons by finding fire swords throughout each level, but the enhancements are negligible until you max them at level 3, in which you'll notice a slight damage increase. For what it's worth, all seven characters play differently, their speed and attacks are different, as well as the properties of most of their moves.
After you are done with the game, you'll unlock New Game+, which allows you to retain your weapons and their levels. It took me about 6 hours to finish it, which is fair for this type of game, but I've heard of people taking up to 7-10 hours to finish it. Then there's a 2 player mode, 'Party mode', that has about 15 different 'quests'. Five of them are simple versus arenas, five of them are small co-operative stages, and the other 5 are 'collect more items'/'slay more enemies' competitions. It's a neat addition, although the frame rate takes a hit, but it's still playable. The game is definitely barebones. The length could've been just right, but most of the game is spent replaying the same stages, defeating the same bosses and enemies, so just 6 hours doesn't cut it in this case.
Visuals have their ups and downs. The character models are top notch, playable characters and bosses all look great, enemies look pretty decent as well. The stages look good, but the poor level design makes them look dull and lifeless. I think if the assets would've been given a better architecture, the stages could've looked better. The music is phenomenal, which is a no brainer when you take into account that it's all lifted from the main games, as well as a remixed song from Tales of Symphonia. Voice acting, what little there is, is pretty good as well, but the script is so bad that it's hard to care.
SoulCalibur Legends is as by the numbers as it gets, but it's also plagued with terrible level design, repeated stages and bosses and motion controls. And the kicker? The game is not canon as far as the developers go, so the game adds nothing to the franchise. Which is a shame, as the combat can be fun every now and then.
4.5/10
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