Yes, mine. I opted to reply to the call for contributors only ‘cos I find that I like writing, almost as much as I like gaming, and I’d like to write about games more than just reviews, you know? So SheBee gave the go ahead, gave me some ideas, and I started. My first article became so big that I had to abandon it, verbal diarrhoea is not the best way to start for a first article on a new online mag. So, off you go, go enjoy the new kid on the block that is NerdMag, and don’t forget to read, and comment on all the cool content there, especially my article.

And to Sheena, good luck with the venture, you’re doing something lots of people dream about but never actually execute, so that makes you one step ahead of a lot of people. All the best. And thanks for the opportunity to smear my content on your project.

I finished the game, and will definitely play it again on the Hard difficulty when I have some more free time and not review other games…

SoulCalibur IV is at its heart a 2D/3D fighting game, with tons of characters to choose from, each with their own unique fighting styles and weapons.  This has not changed from the very first SoulCalibur game.  Not all of the 30-plus characters are available at the onset of the game, including our lightsaber-wielding Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars fame (For the XBox 360, Darth Vader comes with the PlayStation 3 version of the game).  Unlocking the other characters happens by defeating them during the course of the single player game.

The single player game is based on a rather weak story, but let’s face it, the story is really not that important.  What’s important is the insanely creative, detailed combat moves for each of the characters, and the vast amounts of combinations of thumb-stick moves and button presses that unleashes these moves.  I’m sure that certain of these moves are only possible if you have a third hand helping out.  But for those of you wanting a story, you get a unique plot for each of the characters that play through the single-player game.

Watch the official trailer:

Visually, the game is stunningly beautiful.  The sheer attention to detail in creating each of the characters is phenominal.  Add to this the fact that you can play dress-up in the character creator mode where a large number of customisations can take place to create a unique character, and you get a game that is extremely visually appealing.  It’s just a pity that most of this detail gets lost during gameplay, as while playing you are so focussed on pressing the right buttons and dodging your opponents’ attacks that there is not time to take in the beauty, except perhaps for the stunning backgrounds.

For newcomers to the SoulCalibur franchise, the sheer number of moves available to each of the characters may be daunting, and may be tempted to do just some button bashing to get by.  I assure you, button bashing may work for the first, perhaps the second stage, but not again.  It is worth learning 4 or 5 moves for a few favourite characters at first, and then move on to the five million other moves available.  (Yes, I’m a newcomer to the series…)

Something new to the series is the online play.  Smooth, lagless online play makes this mode probably the place where most hardcore players will find themselves spending the most.  Both ranked and unranked games area available, with some special extras in Special Mode when playing online.  The one big pity about the game is that there is no tag-team mode, mysteriously ommitted from both online and offline modes.

If online is not an option, or if XBox Live Gold account is not available, players will likely find themselves playing the Tower of Lost Souls mode.  This mode lets players go up the tower, one floor at a time, fighting groups of enemies, without having your health replenished between fights.  This may seem an impossible task, and, guess what, it is.  For the most part.

Yoda gameplay video:

SoulCalibur IV, even though it can be seen as merely another weapon-based fighting game, there are many different modes, online and offline, a story for each character, ad the Tower of Lost Souls mode especially, that keeps the game entertaining, and making players want more by learning new moves to advance even further.  The added bonus of being able to unlock and play as Yoda just adds to the fun.

SoulCalibur IV gets a slice-and-dice 8.5 out of 10.

This game was sponsored by www.leno.co.za

This review also published on IOLTechnology.co.za

The game attempts to be an Action Adventure RPG, but meh, ultimately it didn’t grab me enough to recommend it though. But still, go read my review m’kay? kthxbye.

I don’t think my review actually does the game justice, check the video reviews on youtube etc. to get the full effect of what this game actually does and has. And when you buy the game, look me up on XBox Live and we can play a round. (My gamertag is DeepwaterNewt)

After many forums reads and even logging a support ticket with Microsoft (who still haven’t replied to my mail), I finally came across a forum post that explained how to fix it.

Here’s the really simple, step by step solution:

• Switch off the Xbox 360
• Unplug your network cable
• Switch on the Xbox 360
• Once at the Dashboard, go to the System blade on the right, and select the “Memory” option
• Select the harddrive option
• Select “Games” on the list
• Scroll down to almost at the bottom, looking for an entry called “Unknown Game”
• Press the Y button and select “Delete”
• Confirm the delete action
• Switch off the Xbox 360
• Plug the network cable back in
• Switch on the Xbox 360

All should be fine from here on out.
The problem seems to occur due to some fault while an XBLA game or demo is downloading, and doesn’t finish downloading for some reason. When the console tries to synchronise data between the console and Xbox Live, and try to finish downloading any unfinished downloads, the console freezes when trying to access the “Unknown Game”.

The game I was downloading in the background was the new XBLA title “War World“, not sure if that had anything to do with the console freezing in the first place. It *did* stop and start downloading several times while I was playing.

Original forum post here.

I must say I enjoyed playing the game, and lots of people will find many, many hours of fun in playing alien-dressup and building/vehicle-building. Personally, I haven’t played it in over a week, will probably not go back to it either. But that’s just me.

I really liked playing this game, and will most-definitely be playing it more. It took me back to the simplicity of the earlier Civilization games, but also the complexity of the later ones. Fun-filled strategy, in true Sid Meier style. Go read.