Besides the Soul Gauge, there's another section of the HUD that's new. The Armor Gauge shows how much defense you've got. It's in three pieces, and it ties into the Soul Gauge. As we mentioned before, a critical hit will break your armor; the gauge tells you how much you've got left, and whether you've lost protection on your upper or lower body, as well as any chest armor. It's good to have these visual indications, because you'll need them.
With that, we jumped into a round with Hilde, the heavily armored heroine of the CES trailer. We found her to be just as comfortable to pick up as series stalwart Taki. Because she's armed with both a long staff and a small sword, she's versatile as both a distance-based character through her vertical attacks and a close-quarters brawler with the sword. Whether it was a barrage of long-range blows or a few blunt melee attacks followed by a pattern of kicks, Hilde could be among the best and brightest of SC4's new roster.
The other returning characters all feel quite good to play at this point. Seong Mi-Na's distance-based staff combat is still quite excellent at keeping an in-your-face battler such as Cassandra at bay. Taki, of course, feels great at whipping in and unleashing big combos with a few button taps and remarkable aplomb. The fun that we had with the four characters made up for the relative disappointment that neither Vader nor Yoda were available to play.
Both versions are coming along nicely; there was some minor jagginess on the PS3 game when we went through the character menus, but at this point multiple-console owners are better off picking based on Star Wars bonus character preference and whatever version they'll likely play with friends. The environments are vast and beautiful, and the detail in the characters (unrealistic breast size aside), from wind-swept hair to the minutiae of their costumes, is quite stunning. We expect no less from a franchise of this stature.
We're happy that Soulcalibur IV finally has a release date. The cast is solid so far and the addition of the Soul and Armor Gauges should have a dramatic effect on gameplay. Like Street Fighter IV, this fighter wants to reward players for fighting, rather than defending. We're excited to see how these changes affect our trash-talking come late summer.
