If you’ve had a chance to see, or play, Namco Bandai’s Soul Calibur IV, you’ll have noticed that something is awry. After scanning through the list of playable characters such as Siegfried or Yoshimitsu you’ll see the top list of characters is, wait, what, really? Star Wars characters?! That’s indeed right. If you purchase the Xbox 360 version of the game you get to play as Master Yoda, or Darth Vader if you choose the PS3 version. An empty box on the character selection screen, however, hints that through downloadable content players will soon be able to have the torch bearers of both the light and dark sides. Additionally, both platforms will have access to the playable character The Apprentice, the protagonist from LucasArts’ upcoming The Force Unleashed title (one I’m really looking forward to). I just don’t really understand this Star Wars presence in Soul Calibur, it really just seems like too blatant a bait for easily amused arcade fighter gamers.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Star Wars is amazing, and I’m honestly holding back my time honored indifference for the Soul Calibur series (just never been a good fit with me personally). What this seems like is the product of a messy one night stand, not a classy marriage between two franchises. And as we know, the day after a one night stand has the potential to very, very awkward, nearly as awkward as trying to throw the constantly jumpy Yoda to the ground as one of the Soul Calibur’s traditionally bulky characters. Instead of giving the go ahead for this obvious marketing stunt to sell more copies of a Namco Bandai title that, without these Star Wars characters, would have sold copies only to their typical fan base, LucasArts should have gone it alone. Do you remember Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi? For all the game’s flaws, it had the right idea of what a Star Wars fighter should be. What Star Wars fans want to do is fight bad ass light saber duels, not jump around dodging sword attacks. If LucasArts doesn’t step up and make a fighting game for the next-gen systems, then at least embrace a full crossover game the likes of the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (I’d love to hear some ideas of good crossover franchises to pit Star Wars against from you guys). Give us something good with multiple characters and some depth of story, not some marketing scheme to sell more units. We’re not idiots.

Posted by Daniel on 08/11 at 07:43 AM
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