An updated version, Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul[b], was announced on April 12, 2015[4] and released on September 25 in Japan and Europe and worldwide on October 6 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, with a Windows version launching in November the same year.[5]
Gameplay
Brave Soldiers is a fighting game featuring over 50 characters from the Saint Seiya manga. The super gauge in the game is referred to as the Cosmo Gauge (小宇宙ゲージ, Kosumo Gēji), which characters use to perform their finishing attacks, Burst Dash (バーストダッシュ, Bāsuto Dasshu), Burst Attack (バースト攻撃, Bāsuto Kōgeki), Seven Senses Awakening (セブンセンシズ覚醒, Sebun Senshizu Kakusei), and their special Big Bang Attacks (ビッグバンアタック, Bigu Ban Atakku). A character's strength can be increased through the use of an Orb (オーブ, Ōbu). The Saint Chronicle (セイントクロニクル, Seinto Kuronikuru) game mode has the player progress through battles based on the three main arcs of the original manga: the Sanctuary arc, the Poseidon arc, and the Hades arc. Also in the game is the Galaxian Wars (ギャラクシアンウォーズ, Gyarakushian Wōzu) mode, a tournament mode.
Playable characters
Many of the playable characters have multiple forms that are separate playable characters, each with unique move sets and Big Bang Attacks. The God Warriors and Polaris Hilda are added in Soldiers' Soul.
The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[6] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40.[10]
Grant E. Gaines of Hardcore Gamer said that "while the single player offers a decent experience, the dumb AI and simple mechanics will limit your fun."[20] Adam Ma of Gaming Union praised the game for its emulation of the anime series. However, he also highlighted that this same quality was also its main weakness: "Brave Soldiers is not a game designed to be balanced, but rather a game designed to emulate the show with the greatest accuracy possible."[21]
Soldiers' Soul received mixed reviews from critics, albeit more positive than its predecessor. It has an aggregated score of 59/100 on Metacritic.[7] Popular Japanese video game magazine Famitsu gave the game an overall score of 30/40.[11]
Eurogamer Italy gave the game a score of 7/10, stating that "Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul is the classic more of the same, with a bunch of new characters and items added to the contents of the previous game. The combat system is fun and entertaining, but the lack of any kind of balance between the fighters can ruin the overall experience."[9]
IGN Spain also gave it a 7/10, saying that "Dimps hasn't delivered once again. They could have made much more out of the universe of Saint Seiya."[16]
PlayStation Universe gave a lower score of 5.5/10, describing the game as "A simplistic yet visually attractive take on anime that’s been around longer than most of the people reading this, Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul is a decent prospect for newcomers to the role-playing genre but ultimately holds far less appeal for long-time scrapping veterans who want a little more depth from their digital brawlers."[19]
