The preeminent weapons-based fighter returns as Soul Calibur IV, replete with the expected melodramatic underpinnings, hopelessly garish costumes, impossibly huge swords, staffs and axes, flagrant flamboyance, and defiantly cheeseball, soul crushing mythology.

While some happily suspend disbelief enough to relish the hokum of it all, normal people might find the latest Soul Calibur game to be a little on the ADHD side as visually detailed, fluidly animated, high definition fighters prance and flit around with amazing martial artistry, all for naught when actually colliding with a combatant, in which case whoever made graceful contact first sends the other into a sudden, flittery fit of contrary animation, breaking from graceful in favor of over-the-top flash and fantastical fatality.

Kookier still, Soul Calibur IV also features a playable character from LucasArts upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game, Darth Vader's nameless apprentice. The Xbox 360 version of the game also features Yoda as playable fighter while the PlayStation3 version has Darth Vader on the roster. To see patented LucasArts characters in a Namco Bandai game is a hard-to-swallow non sequitur. A great marketing alliance, no doubt, but it's even more bizarre to have said Star Wars characters take a beating. Yes, everyone is magically powered, excessively armed and up for a go at all comers, but to have anyone take down Yoda just seems wrong, even if the little green Grover is out of his element. Sure is fun, though.

While the single player mode serves as a terrific, cathartic, expansive and immersive distraction after a hard days work, Soul Calibur IV really kicks as a two player game; terrific button-mashing nonsense for roommates settling a score or for spouses relieving some tension after the kids are tucked away for the night.

More than that, however, Soul Calibur IV won't leave ardent fans of acute brutality wanting. With some 30-odd fighters, each boasting innumerable moves and counters, blocks and throws and a glut of combinations thereof and a whole lot of customization and upgrade options makes for the ultimate in weapons-based pummelling.

Take all that online for your ubiquitous two-player match-ups (ranked and unranked) plus stat tracking and all that Achiever stuff and you've got the most complete, most competent Soul Calibur game yet.

Soul Calibur IV TIP: To unlock Darth Vader's Apprentice in, you need to complete the Arcade mode as Yoda in the Xbox 360 version, or as Darth in the PlayStation3 version.