Soulcalibur IV

Soulcalibur IV is a fighting game by Namco. This installment is unique to the series, as Namco and LucasArts came to an agreement to include Darth Vader (exclusive to PlayStation 3) and Yoda (Xbox 360) as playable fighters. Galen Marek, the secret apprentice of Darth Vader from The Force Unleashed, was also made an unlockable character under the name "The Apprentice" in both console versions; however, his extended ending is available only on the PlayStation 3.

On October 23rd, 2008 Yoda and Vader were both made downloadable content for the systems they were not natively on. Vader costing 400 MS points and Yoda costing $4.99. These changes allowed Vader to be in the second to last battle of Yoda's story mode, and Yoda in Vader's. It also extended the ending of The Apprentice's story mode on the 360 version to that of the PS3 version.

An Infinities comic titled Star Wars: Visions of the Blade was later published on StarWars.com to provide a possible explanation as to how Darth Vader, Yoda, and The Apprentice (named Starkiller in the comic) ended up in the Soulcalibur IV universe.

Gameplay
Players control one of many selectable characters at a time to battle others. Modes featured include standard Story, Arcade, and Training modes, as well as a create-a-character feature and the new Tower of Lost Souls mode, which offers players the chance to participate in special battles to gain rewards.

Unique to the Star Wars characters are Force abilities. Each of the three characters has a special Force Meter, which drains and recharges based on the players' use of Force attacks, as well as different sets of abilities from the others. Darth Vader has been given Force push and choke; Yoda uses the Force to propel himself higher into the air than most characters to unleash more complex aerial combos; and The Apprentice utilizes various dark side attacks, such as Force lightning.

Reception
Since its release, reviews of SoulCalibur IV have been mostly positive.

Certain criticisms were aimed towards the addition of the several aspects of the Star Wars franchise, some commenting on their 'unnatural' presence and that Yoda and The Apprentice were "broken" and "absurd," respectively.

The online multiplayer mode, on both platforms, has also been subject to criticism. Poor network programming causes the auto-match feature to assign players to already full rooms or on-going matches, resulting in errors. Some say the best way around the error is to hold matches of their own and wait for an opponent to come along manually, which usually takes no more than a minute.

Star Wars gameplay
In addition, several extra Star Wars characters, such as Darth Malak, Darth Maul, Darth Bane, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, Darth Caedus, and Darth Zannah, can be created with a reasonable decree of accuracy in character creation.