It's a pain to me to see the lowest point of the Soul Calibur saga, that once I loved and enjoyed.
To me, Soul Calibur franchise was the best fighting game ever. I loved the background story, the customization, the variety of characters, their motivations, the game-play, and the graphics.
I remember the hours spent on the main single player mode in 2, the masterpiece of the 3rd.... I'll never forget the Chronicles of the Sword. I enjoyed the character editor, in the fourth the special abilities given by objects were really funny and the single player....well, after the 3rd nothing can be compared, but was not bad at all. The others mode in all the previous installments to give a funny variety to the game, never boring or not well integrated.
Then, I've played a lot of SC5.... I missed guard impacts, but well, we can always adapt. The graphics are awesome, and the game-play, even if changed, is ok to me... Well, there are always some overpowered characters, but nothing can be perfect.
What I really missed was the atmosphere that the old Soul Caliburs gave to me.... The main campaing can be beaten with ease in 2 hours with a boring background. You can unlock the 6 extra characters (3 of them are mimics) in very little time. The rest of them, with new entries, appears from nowhere and are just copies of the old ones. You must grind levels to unlock more objects for customization, and they don't have nothing special apart from an aesthetic point of views. The arcade mode it's a rush through 6 enemies. The legendary souls mode is pointless, since it gives only an achievement and it's just good to make you angry against an AI almost unbeatable. Oh, and apart form the story mode and the legendary soul, there is nothing more for single player. I don't even consider a "mode" the quick battle, that put against a random opponent with the fighting style of one of the characters.
Why there is not a single player mode worth of playing? Where are the amazing stories of all characters? The gallery? The tons of unlockables? The style that was unique to Soul Calibur? I make all of this question because paying 60 dollars or euros to have just an online game is a robbery. I was glad of giving them for SC4, at least it had a good balance between online and offline contents.
The new way of Project Soul same to be this one: a fighting game like all the others, with no real story, new characters (I call them new, but are just new in the aspect. The set of moves are really similar to the old ones of the series), and all focused on the online game.
In conclusion: if you liked the old Soul Caliburs, or focus on single-player, or like to unlock extras, or like a lot of modes in a fighting game, then this is the worst in the series ever. If you are new, and seek for an avarage fighting game, with avarage graphics, avarage but varied characters, and like to play online, then this is just ok.
My hope is that Project Soul goes back to the origin of this game (like Capcom did with the latest Resident Evil). In this new way, the old, captivating style of Soul Calibur is already dead.