Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Mixed Plate

Media Credit: Courtesy of Namco The flawed hero Siegried, left, faces the villainous Cervantes, right, in Soul Calibur Legends.

Soul Calibur Legends expresses the downfall of the Nintendo Wii: waving sticks for a couple of hours isn't very fun. When the Wii debuted, Wii Sports, included in the package, entered our hearts with charm and diversity that had us playing for hours, simulating sporting events that we might as well play in real life. The sensor-based, wireless controls introduced an innovative, addictive type of play that fascinated people around the world.

Soul Calibur Legends, from the Soul series set during the European Renaissance, was an ill-fated attempt to blend motion-based combat (waving and poking your Wiimote at the screen) with third-person action (moving the joystick on your Wii Nunchuck). These two things can't work together. With a first-person perspective, the motion-based combat might be more appropriate, since the sensor on the Wiimote is based primarily on reacting with what's in front of you.

Switching targets doesn't help, and you'll be forced to power through enemies by shaking your Wiimote violently in any direction. The seven playable characters have basically the same move-set, only varying in combos. One of your triggers lets you perform advanced techniques that deal more damage. I was mainly disappointed with the individual character combat: Ivy's sword, which extends into a whip, should've enhanced the combat, especially with the amount of Wii games that use the cast-off "fishing" system.

The story is more offensive than the gameplay. You control a band of warriors from the core series (plus Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia) who fight the demonic forces of the Ottoman Empire. You heard it: Muslims are Demons here, which is worse than the recent controversy of Resident Evil 5, where a white character guns through legions of violent black people. Why worse? Because it's intentional. The Ottoman Sultan is a hundred-foot-tall, discolored behemoth that the heroes (Aryan and Japanese) must defeat. Now I know why Middle-Eastern characters are absent from this saga about knights and ninjas.

Graphics can't even save this one: the cut-scenes don't tread beyond the capacity of the Gamecube. For once, a single entry has made me question my appreciation of an entire franchise and a game system.

Soul Calibur Legends is a video game I would like to pass off as a bad dream - a bad dream that cost me $9 to rent and 10 hours of my life.

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