Soul Calibur 5 - Algol & Edge Master Confirmed

Soul Calibur V     General: Soul Calibur V is set 17 years after Soul Calibur IV, taking the Siegfried's ending from SC IV and expanding on it. Siegfried, now 39 years old, no longer wields the Soul Calibur sword. The main character of SC5's story is Patroklos, the son of Sophitia. Patroklos is inspired by Sophitia's fighting style, but is sharper, more agile, and has many new moves. The soul swords have also been transformed into short swords, which will be covered in the story. SC5 is described as a "generational shift", complete with new characters but manySC4 veterans will return. Since Soul Calibur 2, the series has become known for including guest characters such as Link, Spawn, Heihachi, Darth Vader and Yoda.SC5's highly anticipated guest character will be none other than Ezio Auditore from the Assassin's Creed series.  Zwei looks to bring the badass factor... and he uses a freakin' stand like Jotaro. The developers describe Soul Calibur 5's gameplay style is said to be "lighter, sharper, and more elegant". The pace of the game has been "improved" and combos will be easier to perform. The Soul Gauge has been added, which looks like a colored gem and is located beside the characters' Health Gauge and allows players to store up to 2 bars. The gem will change color when the player guards and is attacked. The color gradually changes from blue to green and eventually to red and then flashing red. The player's own Soul Gauge will regenerate if the he or she makes an attack and hits the opponent, guarding or otherwise, gradually changing from blue to flashing white. Additionally, performing a Guard Impact will actually damage the attacking player's Soul Gauge, and can even result in a Soul Crush. Namco stated that they developed the Soul Gauge to decrease the benefits from constant guarding, thus giving the game a faster pace and making for more offensive battles. If the character manages to empty the opponent's Soul Gauge, he or she will get a short chance to perform a powerful Critical Finish move, which will defeat the opponent instantly. Each character has his or her own personal Critical Finish move. Regardless of whether or not one performs the Critical Finish, Equipment Destruction occurs upon the area that the crushing attack landed. The Soul Gauge itself also becomes cracked, depleting much more rapidly in subsequent rounds. A small portion of the Soul Gauge can also be used to perform Brave Edge, a powered up version of a standard attack. By pressing A+B+K after the input of certain character-specific moves, players can enhance the moves with additional attacks. Each use drains half of the Soul Gauge. The properties vary depending on the move, such as: increased damage, adds additional attacks, gives advantage on block, changes hit property, etc. In addition to the new offensive gameplay mechanics, there are 3 defensive systems featured in Soul Calibur 5. Quick Move can be performed by tapping the same direction twice, and is said to be a faster version of the 8-way Run. It's similar to Evasion from Soul Calibur 2 but doesn't have invincible frames. It's said to be easy to perform and can even be used by beginners.   Looks like Soul Calibur IV you say? ...is that really a bad thing? :) A staple of the series since the first Soul Calibur, Guard Impacts have returned inSoul Calibur 5. Pushing forward and block will result in a "counter", while pushing back will execute a "parry". Both variations will cause the opponent to suffer a significant loss in Soul Gauge, while the defender sustains no damage. However, it appears that Guard Impacting will now cost 1/4 of a bar (and I personally don't like the idea of that one bit).  Guard Impacting is one of Soul Calibur's most fun and skill-demanding gameplay mechanics, and I'm hoping that the GI will stay effective in tournament play... even though it will cost 1/4 of a bar from the Soul Gauge. Just Guard is the last defensive element of Soul Calibur 5. In execution it is similar to just-frame moves, implying that the guard input must be given just as the opponent's attack is about to the hit the player. If successful, Just Guard is indicated by a blue color effect and gives the player a frame-wise advantage, especially against powerful moves with a huge pushback. It is also supposed to make attack strings more interruptible. Soul Calibur 5's online mode will see an overall improvement over SC4's and will contain new features as well. Create-a-character Mode will also return and will also be improved, although no details have been given yet. Soul Calibur V will be released on North America on January 31st, 2012 and February 3rd, 2012 in Europe. A collector's edition has also been revealed which features an exclusive book box case, artbook, soundtrack, "making of" DVD, and Character Creation Mode DLC.  Click Here for more screens!

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