Secret Apprentice for Soulcalibur IV

By Robert Purchese Published 6 June, 2008

Vader's student for both 360 and PS3.

Namco Bandai has decided to include the Secret Apprentice from The Force Unleashed in its upcoming fighter Soulcalibur IV.

That means you will be able to clash lightsabers with either mentor Darth Vader (exclusive to PS3) or light side leader Yoda (exclusive to Xbox 360) on the Imperial Battlecruiser stage accompanied by the John Williams Star Wars theme.

Not that you would want to fight Yoda, mind you; we had a chance to play as and against him at the recent UbiDays event, and soon learned he was too small to either grab or hit with high attacks.

Apparently his weakness is his short reach, but he, like Vader, has a Force meter to produce fancy jumps with - in the hands of an expert he can stay air-bound for quite some time.

Vader fought a little more traditionally, which is presumably the way his apprentice will. And both will sport red lightsabers, which is very much the in-colour this season.

The demo we played had characters Hilde with her spear and short-sword, Siegfried with his enormous blade, and Mitsurugi with his samurai powers - plus the two Star Wars additions.

Soulcalibur IV is absolutely gorgeous and behaves as gracefully as previous games in the series, albeit with the fresh Critical Finisher and destructible armour features to make things a little less defensive.

Critical Finishers can be activated after you pummel a defending enemy enough to turn their Soul Gauge black. It only changes for the briefest of moments, but if you can press all four face buttons in a particular order in that time, you unleash a killing move, regardless of how much health your enemy has.

Vader throws his opponents up in the air and then launches his lightsaber after them to spin around and generally chops them up. His was among the weakest of the bunch we saw.

Soulcalibur IV is due out for Xbox 360 and PS3 on 31st July, catch the latest trailer, featuring the Secret Apprentice reveal, over on EGTV.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (36) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 4 years ago

    Is there nowhere to hide from Lucasarts hype for their silly super force game?

    Just release it LA and move on, you're getting boring

    Can't wait for SC4 though and the original on live!

  • Xerx3s #2 4 years ago

    'Just release it LA and move on, you're getting boring '

    They already became that when they decided to chuck quality out the window and become a incremental starwars generator.

  • ParanoidZombie #3 4 years ago

    Where is jar jar binks?

  • bad09 #4 4 years ago

    Very true Xerx3s but some of those SW games were great, I'm eagerly waiting for the BF3 announcement, and another Jedi Knight or Tie Fighter/x-wing would be fantastic!

  • Scimarad #5 4 years ago

    I remember either Gamespot or IGN were doing a feature on the two SW characters and they happened to mention there were a few framerate issues on the PS3 version. Presumambly (having played both versions) you should be able to say if this is true or not...

    It would definitely figure into which version I buy.
    Edited by 1 at 06/06/08 @ 09:28

  • menage #6 4 years ago

    @Scimarad

    Live already figured that one out for me. i don't really giv a crap about the SW chara's. Misplaced bullshit. I'd rather have a some extra big boobed giirls.

  • BathiBoi #7 4 years ago

    i want vader on the 360

  • bad09 #8 4 years ago

    @ menage

    Live is the deciding factor for me to, but I am looking forward to fighting with the little green one :)

  • penhalion #9 4 years ago

    I would love them to use the tech from apprentice to make Jedi Academy 2. I liked the mission structure of that one. The thought of being an old style Jedi Knight appeals to me. Going around the galaxy either taking part on negotiations (we all know a Jedi ultimately ends up negotiating with a light saber) or rescues from dangerous planets etc. etc.

    Effectively I want a sandbox style jedi game.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #10 4 years ago

    some of those SW games were great

    Yes, but generally they were the ones from before Episode 1 came out. Up until that point only Maters of teras kasei (or whatever it was called) was truly awful, most other Star wars games, from the vector arcade games to the SNES platformers to X-Wing and later Rogue Squadron were between decent and cracking.

    As soon as The Phantom menace and the likes of Super Bombad Racing came out, everything went to shit.

    Except KOTOR, which had the good sense to stay away from Lucas's assasination of his own franchise.

  • Canyarion #11 4 years ago

    " It only changes for the briefest of moments, but if you can press all four face buttons in a particular order in that time, you unleash a killing move, regardless of how much health your enemy has.

    Vader throws his opponents up in the air and then launches his lightsaber after them to spin around and generally chops them up. His was among the weakest of the bunch we saw."

    How can Vader's Critical Finisher be weaker than the others, if they all kill the enemy?

  • Fayt #12 4 years ago

    They're cramming a lot of content into this, so I'm just hoping that they've still concentrated on the one area that really matters (the gameplay you dummies;) If they have, then very good news indeed for having a beautiful, enjoyable and amazingly substantial game.
    Edited by 1 at 06/06/08 @ 09:50

  • bad09 #13 4 years ago

    @ Mentalist(air)

    Not everything was crap after Ep1. Racer was excellent, Phantom Menace (PC), BF, Ep3. There were a few good ones.

    I actually liked Masters of The Teras Kasi (still give it a go now an again, although it's not aged well at all). It's got a lot wrong but it is enjoyable (I know I'm in a VERY small minority!).

    Maybe if Namco and LA got together and made a proper SW beat 'em up......

    / kneels and prays for a new SW beat 'em up
    Edited by 1 at 06/06/08 @ 10:00

  • muscleblade #14 4 years ago

    There is no question about it. Im buying SC4, the original SC and SWTFU.

  • septimus #15 4 years ago

    Has to be PS3 version for me. Yoda is to shit a character to use. Vadar ftw.

  • GordonCaladan #16 4 years ago

    I really hope there's an option to switch off the Star Wars content. As much as I love Star Wars, I don't want it in my Soul Calibur.

  • quantumsheep #17 4 years ago

    Getting both versions :)

  • Gnort #18 4 years ago

    Good heavens, it's supposed to be Soul Calibur, not Namco vs Lucasarts: Match of the Millenium or something.

    I'm still going to buy SC4 the moment it comes out, but it will be despite all this Star Wars guff, not because of it.

  • monkie_king #19 4 years ago

    They should have put Old Ben Kenobi in, instead of Yoda, complete with Alex Guinness voice samples, and a special move that involves pivoting on the spot really slowly.

  • bad09 #20 4 years ago

    Bob Hoskins?

    Namco make this happen NOW!!!

  • RazorObsession #21 4 years ago

    i really wanted to play as vader on 360, as he's a more iconic, cooler character than that muppet reject, but in terms of gameplay, I'm guessing that another big slow strong longsword character to add to the collection of big slow strong longsword fighters already abundant in the roster doesn't really add much to the strategy of things. a little midget will at least mix things up a bit.

    opposite console characters available at a much later date as DLC FTW!

  • Gnort #22 4 years ago

    @farticusmaximus

    Soul Calibur isn't Super Smash Brothers, and the visual and narrative coherency of the game is damaged by all these Star Wars cameos. I know nobody plays fighting games for the plot, but no matter how it plays, you have to admit that Mickey Mouse vs Bob Hoskins just wouldn't be Soul Calibur. If they just arbitrarily decided to include Halo's plasma rifle in Call of Duty, wouldn't you find that similarly jarring?

  • bad09 #23 4 years ago

    I'm still for bob hoskins in SC, his weapon would be a vodka bottle and when he won a round he'd scowl and say "soul edge? soul calibur? I've shit 'em!" then he'd stab Charlie from Casualty in the throat :)

  • GooseUK #24 4 years ago

    Wow this is fantastic news, something i am certain will be a valued addition to the game and not just another cross-game promotion that is entirely over looked in the final product!

  • menage #25 4 years ago

    Spawn vs Necrid?

    Those were retarded as well.

    I just don't see Vader living in the same time era as Voldo. And he's to busy building deathstars to care about a fucking sword.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #26 4 years ago

    How the fuck can you miserable morons complain that your are getting extra characters, regardless of where they come from?

    Because it ruins the suspension of disbelief, instantly destroying the game's atmosphere.

    I just hope the star wars nonsense won't intrude on the singleplayer story mode.

  • Artemus #27 4 years ago

    So is Yoda going to be as annoying (and gamebreaking) as Gon in Tekken 3?

  • bad09 #28 4 years ago

    I loved Gon! I must get hold of Tekken 3 again great game!

  • Rirekon #29 4 years ago

    "Soul Calibur isn't Super Smash Brothers, and the visual and narrative coherency of the game"
    "it ruins the suspension of disbelief, instantly destroying the game's atmosphere."

    I cannot believe I've just seen these comments about an all-star beat-em-up game... seriously! Soul Calibur's "story" is as vapid as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, it exists purely as an excuse and is irrelevant as soon as you hit Start.

    I'm just looking forward to smashing Yoda's stupid green head in with Nunchaku :-P

  • menage #30 4 years ago

    @farticus

    Yes it does, I don't need your pity and I guess your just jealous of my stick, cause you don't seem to care what they do , if it has moving pictures it's fine by you.

  • menage #31 4 years ago

    @farticus.

    See, that at least is a decent answer. Far better than that stick comment. Although it's a pretty nice stick.

    I don't really mind btw. I'm just sick of them trying to sell the whole game on these characters while the SC has plenty of cool ones on it's own. Go make a SW beat em up and be done with it then.

    (And one reason why Leia isn't here, she had a A-Cup).

  • GordonCaladan #32 4 years ago

    /thrashes Yoda to death with his stick.

  • menage #33 4 years ago

    Mom busting in:p

  • statusjones #34 4 years ago

    was i the only one who, when reading the headline, wondered why on earth the beeb and alan sugar were getting involved?

    hmm... i guess so

  • SeesThroughAll #35 4 years ago

    If ever there was a time it would make sense to allow cross-platform online, this is it!

    Keep Vader and Yoda exclusive to each console, but allow them to fight each other online!

  • Scimarad #36 4 years ago

    The stories, and I use that term loosely, in fighting games are so utterly ridiculous and minimal that I really don't see why it's a problem that they put non-SC characters in.