ith Soul Calibur III only seeing a PS2 release, and just recently landing in arcades, Soul Calibur is heading to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next year. With online play, new characters, an all-new spelling (no, we don’t get it either), in Soulcalibur IV – “The Nightmare Will Not End.” Today we got to finally see the game in action and get some new details about the game directly from the Project Soul development team.

Soulcalibur IV’s story revolves around both the Soulcalibur and Souledge growing in strength until a climax seeing a battle of the two legendary swords. Outside of that, the team is keeping quiet. Not to say that Soulcalibur has a deep story to begin with, but from what we know, the team is aiming to deepen the relationship between each of the characters with Soulcalibur IV.

So far the character select screen shows a 4x8 grid, with one slot occupied by a ! and another a ? noting random character choices. While the team is keeping new character information to a minimum, today they revealed a new harlot that will be kicking your ass – Hilda. Much different than the other female characters in the series, Hilda is fully incased in armor and carries not one, but two weapons – a spear for longer ranged attacks and a short sword when she wants to get up close and personal. Players can alternate between her different weapons, and currently A controls her short sword and B handles the spear. According to the team, Hilda is an intermediate to advanced character who has more complex fighting patterns, so newbies may want to warm up before giving her a go.

Current known modes are a single-player mode, network mode and character creation. Yes, for the first time Soulcalibur will have online fights. However, the team is keeping tight-lipped about much of the game, and many facets are still being worked out, such as how the single player campaign will work. There will be a quest mode, however, if the quest mode will be where items are unlocked is still being determined. We only were privy to the 1-on-1 battles, and for now KOs, Ring Outs, Time Ups, Perfects, Draws and Totals are tracked.

Soulcalibur IV will add a few new elements to the mix including destructible environments and environmental hazards. Also, the team is considering having destructible armor for Hilda, so we’re guessing that could go the same for all of the characters who have armor.  Also, much like Soul Calibur III, there could be context-sensitive moments during cutscenes to keep players on their toes. Finally, there could be exclusive characters for each of the platforms Soulcalibur IV is being released for, however, much of the game is still being determined. Sorry Link, it looks like you’ll be sitting out this round.

That being said, in action, Soulcalibur IV looks exceptional even in its early state. Arenas shown were highly details, ranging from woodland fortresses with marshes and falls in the background, to castle halls featuring armored soldiers and lush stained glass, and a rooftop garden seeing guards on horses running in the background. Soul Calibur II and III looked phenonmenal as it is, with the blooms, reflections on armor and shields, to sunrays cast Soulcalibur IV truly raises the bar. That being, said with all of the effort placed in the environment, the characters still have a bit to work out, especially elements like straps, scarves and hair clipping right through armor and body parts. You’d at least figure that would come first on the development side, but at least the team has plenty of time for polishing physical elements.

Even with the game being shrouded in secrecy, from what we’ve seen so far, Soulcalibur 4 could have the ingredients players expected from Soul Calibur III. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our hands on it despite our whimpers and whines. We’ve got a one-on-one interview with the team tomorrow, so expect even more juicy details about this title to surface as the Tokyo Game Show events continue.