#950 SoulCalibur IV (PS3) Guest Characters (1/3): Darth Vader playthrough.
0A playthrough of the Star Wars guest character Yoda in the Xbox 360 version of Namco’s SoulCalibur IV/ Soul Calibur 4.
“From my point of view, the Jedi are evil” – Darth Vader, shortly after murdering a group of kids.
This is actually my second playthrough of Lord Vader, the first of which I did on my requests channel when I was covering the terrible Masters of the Teras Kasi.
Darth Vader needs no introduction. He’s the single most iconic character of the Star Wars series, to the point where Disney shoved him in a film for all of a few minutes at most and people still went to see it in droves. That said, “that cameo” in Solo made me much happier than I had any right to be, so maybe I shouldn’t talk.
Star Wars had a lot of influences, but Lucas’ homages to the films of Akira Kurosawa are the ones which really stand out to me. Vader is probably the most apparent of these, given that he’s effectively a space shogun, and the right-hand of the emperor. Indeed, the elimination of the Jedi as a plot point in Star Wars seems to be heavily inspired by the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century, and the dying days of the samurai before they were subdued and the emperor of Japan restored to power.
The universe has gone in a different direction since, but Vader works so well as a character because he’s basically a brutal general from a Kurosawa film mixed with a Flash Gordon villain. Indeed, most of the original Star Wars villains work so well because they’re based off of established characters; fan favourite Boba Fett works so well because he’s basically a sci-fi version of the underhanded gunslinger Unosuke from Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. It’s why you get interesting lines in the Original Trilogy such as Obi-Wan referring to the lightsaber as a weapon of “a more-civilised age”, and why there’s such an emphasis on sword-fighting in a space-age film. Of course, using these story-telling standards meant that even a sci-fi epic became an incredibly relatable and well-done film, in contrast to much of the b-movie sci-fi which had plagued theatres up until that point.
Vader was good, anyway, until they forever tarnished his character by turning him into a whiny little bitch in the prequel trilogy. But hell, who needs established character tropes and well-thought out cinematography when you can have the Dark Lord of the Sith himself ramble on about why he doesn’t like sand, and why murdering kids is okay because you thought they were evil. Bravo, Lucas.
Vader’s here because he’s iconic, and also because he plays a big role in the Force Unleashed, a game I’ll talk about more in a couple of episodes. Vader is exclusive to the PS3 version of the game. You used to be able to buy him as DLC for the 360 version of the game…but effectively they lost the license (presumably when Disney bought Lucasfilm), and hence he’s no longer available. Joy.
So, as I mentioned back in the first video, the Star Wars characters all have a special force gauge, utilised in certain moves and combos which refills over time and after getting direct hits on the enemy. It’s strange system to have, although not too surprising after the super meters Namco included for the guest characters in Tekken 7. Because, hey, fuck consistency. It’s a weird but interesting system, that I won’t deny.
Vader has a pretty bad-ass moveset on the whole. Due to him not appearing in the prequel trilogies he doesn’t have the over-choreographed movements of those films, instead staying pretty grounded with a series of slow but deliberate strikes, as well as some badass force powers. He’s easily the most satisfying of the guests to play as, as you would probably hope, simply because his moveset just seems weirdly authentic. It’s almost as if grounded principles as the basis of any franchise is a beneficial thing, or something. How about that. It feels a little limited at times, but Vader’s ability to use some of his trademark abilities, such as his force choke, make it a pretty satisfying moveset all the same. His force choke is quite unique in the fact that it’s actually a chain throw (B+G, A+B). Interesting way to do it, certainly.
His follow-up attacks are probably the best part of his moveset; if the opponent is on the floor, Vader has a number of follow-up options to deal with them. One is a ground-combo (df+K, B) where he stomps them and then stabs them on the ground for some nice, cheap, additional damage. Another is where he can force lift them off of the ground, and then either follow up with a saber stab attack, or fling them into the air to then hit them with his force blast. It’s an extremely satisfying move to pull off, and definitely helps to give his quite modest moveset an interesting touch. On the whole, Vader was just a competent and fun character to play as.
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