With ‘Soulcalibur V,’ arcade meets Internet

In place of all the characters having a story mode, as had been traditional in fighting games, “Soulcalibur V” features one in-depth story. It revolves around two new characters, Patroklos and Phyrra, the children of Sophitia. It combines a few full-motion cinema sequences with a series of strange pans over still drawings, giving the effect of an episode of “Reading Rainbow.” It looks like something out of the PlayStation One playbook, but the story itself is far longer and more detailed than story modes in previous games. However, if you’re a fan of playing through the game with each character and seeing “their” ending, that’s a thing of the past.

Once you get past all that, though, the game is great to play for its own sake. The graphics are splendid, and backgrounds are richly detailed. The gameplay mechanics are as rock-solid as ever, with a tweak or two: The “soul gauge” is gone, replaced by a “critical gauge,” which works a bit more like the combo meters you see in other fighters. The traditional “guest star” for this installment of the series is Ezio Auditore from the “Assassin’s Creed” games. He combines daggers in close combat with a crossbow for ranged attacks.

Adding to the fun is the expanded character creation mode. You can now edit facial expressions and weapon effects in addition to the standard editing of attire and body type. That new dimension of personalization is important, as the game is more geared toward getting you to play online than ever. There’s even a place to name other players as rivals and chart their statistics in comparison with yours.

Purists may not take kindly to some of the changes that take the game a few steps away from its original arcade predecessors, but once you start playing it, you’ll see it’s actually the old arcade classic fine-tailored for the online console audience.