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There are few experiences as crushing as being properly roasted in a fighting game. The coordination goes from your thumbs; the blood drains from your face; all sense of strategy implodes as blow after blow snakes through your defences and punts you helplessly around the stage. At this point your opponent isn't really fighting you so much as their own limitations: you are merely a ship tossed on the ocean of their skill. Soulcalibur 6's new Reversal Edge system is a hard check to all that, a slick, accessible subgame that resets the momentum and gives the out-matched combatant a chance to regroup. For that reason, it is likely to prove as controversial among experienced Caliburners and masters of fighting game psychology as it is welcome among greener players.Broadly, Soulcalibur 6 is "a fusion of the light movement in Soulcalibur 2 and the fighting systems from Soulcalibur 5", in the words of new series producer and former Tekken 7 developer Motohiro Okubo. With just a couple of fighters and Versus stages playable in my PS4 hands-on, and Okubo tight-lipped about other modes, it's hard to get a sense of this, but the reduced line-up - I counted 20 slots on the select screen - and choice of old mainstays Sophitia and Mitsurugi as announcement characters are certainly in keeping with a return to roots.
In the hands, Soulcalibur 6 is as nimble and dazzling as any Soulcalibur before it, a game of rapid, predatory circling, relatively forgiving input buffering and sparky, three-to-five hit exchanges. Mitsurugi is still a quick but rangy samurai with a dependable two-hit spinning uppercut, while sweet, saintly Sophitia remains a vicious close-quarters brawler who's fond of 200 mile-per-hour stabs to the crotch. The Critical Gauge returns from Soulcalibur 5: filled by inflicting and blocking damage, it's used to perform charmingly stupid Critical Edge attacks - highlights include Sophitia delicately shading her face with her shield as her airborne adversary is struck by lightning - Soul Charge self-buffs and Guard Impact parries or counters that stun or knock your opponent flat. The game looks and performs fantastically, marrying a barrage of Unreal Engine 4 effects and techniques with something of the pristine, unfiltered brightness of Project Soul's Dreamcast heyday.
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