Oh, I didn’t see you there. What was I doing? Just practicing my poses so I could be a better saint, but trust me, it’ll take a lot more than that to succeed in Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul. You’ll need all the heroism you can summon, and be a master of your Cosmo as well. It might sound fairly odd, but keep your determination.

The graphic style in Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul reminded me of the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series, so fans of cel-shaded graphics style will love the graphic style present in the game. The graphics overall looked really good, and like with the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series, you can really see the characters come to life in the game. I really enjoyed the animations, and there were some really nice anime-style cutscenes to complement the graphics as well. You’ll be seeing a lot of 3D models, so I hope you’re prepared for that.

The soundtrack is pretty solid as well. To the dismay of some fans, you won’t be hearing the tunes you enjoyed from the original anime, but the custom soundtrack for the game isn’t bad by any means. The tracks have a heavy anime feel to them, with many of the tracks reminding me of something I’d hear from Dragon Ball or similar anime. Fans of the anime series will also enjoy listening to the Japanese voice acting present in the game. You can change between Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Neutral Spanish for voice acting. For better or worse, there isn’t an English setting, but you can follow along with the English subtitles. Subtitles can also be displayed in English, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Neutral Spanish.

Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul is a 3D fighting game where two players duke it out on a stage of their choice, engaging in glorious bouts of combat. The catch is that you’ll get to do so as one of your favorite Saints from the Saint Seiya series. Now do you see why I was practicing my poses?

The gameplay of Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul is far from difficult to grasp. Your job is to deplete the opponent’s health bar to zero. The health bars are located in the top of the screen, along with the timer. Your Cosmo and Seventh Sense gauge are located at the bottom of the screen, but more on that later. You move your character around the field with the Left Analog Stick and attack with (Square) and (Triangle). By using (Square) and (Triangle) together, you can use different combos along with the standard ones available. The combos available to each character can be viewed from the combo list on the Pause Menu. While attacking wins the match for you, defending is just as, if not more so, important than attacking. You can guard with the (L1) button, and if you press the (X) button, you can perform a short dash in a direction. Multiple attacks against a guarded opponent will break their guard and leave them vulnerable, but this also applies to you. I honestly felt I was defending more than attacking because of how sluggish the attacks come out. I took far more of a beating trying to deal some damage on my opponent blindly, and it always seemed the A.I.’s attacks would come out faster or be prioritized over my own. I’m probably just bad at the game, though.

Like any fighting game, players have various game modes available to them to have fun with. The first is the Story Mode, called "Legend of Cosmo." This mode allows players unfamiliar with the Saint Seiya series to experience the story, which is split into four arcs. Those arcs are the Chapters Asgard, Sanctuary, Hades, and Poseidon. Players progress along a map where they must defeat various opponents from the series, such as the Gold Saints in Sanctuary, to reach the final objective. Also available is the Tutorial which can be accessed from the Chapter selection screen by pressing the (Triangle) button. Next is the Battle Mode, where players may experience battles with their own settings. In this mode, you’ll find the VS Battle, Survival, Galaxy War, Training, and Tutorial. Galaxy War is basically a tournament mode with one to eight players allowed to compete. If you’re particularly skilled, you may also take your skills to the Online Battle Mode, where you can test your skills against other players around the world. The Battle of Gold Mode is where players take control of the Gold Saints and battle against opponents connected to the Saints. You use a torch to light an area and fight there, achieving victory once you complete battles in the inner, middle, and outer circle of the ring shown. If you get a good score, you’ll turn the flame blue and unlock stronger enemies by completing constellations with all blue flames. The Collection Menu allows players to view their unlocked items, as well as purchase more items, and the Assist Phrase Menu allows players to strengthen their characters with different phrases. The Options Menu is used for adjusting settings, as usual.

There isn’t much to play around with in terms of difficulty in Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul. Most of the difficulty comes from your own skill at the game, with it becoming easier as you become better. You can change the difficulty of the A.I. between Easy, Normal and Hard, but I’m pretty sure this only affects the A.I. in the VS Mode. As far as story A.I., they seemed to be set to Hard or higher because I always get whooped in the first fight, but when I would retry, it seemed easier. Overall, the game did seem a bit more difficult than similar fighting games I’ve played, notably the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series, but I believe that’s because of the sluggish feel of the combat. To me, it felt a bit harder than necessary to find success in fights due to my lack of strategic play, but maybe I’m just missing something.

Let’s talk about Cosmo, and I don’t mean the fairy. Cosmo is a resource in Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul that is represented by a gauge in the bottom of the screen. With enough Cosmo, you have access to some special moves and actions that drain your Cosmo gauge with use. The first is the Photon Beam. By pressing the (Circle) button, you can shoot a blast of Cosmo at your opponent to deal some damage from afar. Not a very practical ability, but the other techniques you can use with Cosmo make the combat much more fun. One of the more useful abilities is the Burst Dash. By pressing (L2) and (X) together, you can expand a portion of your Cosmo to perform a quick dash that momentarily stuns the opponent on hit, allowing you to get a quick combo chain in. You can also perform a backward Burst Dash to gain distance from your opponent. Without proper use of this ability, you’ll likely struggle in many of your fights. Be warned that the Burst Dash can be guarded against. Using the (L2) button, you can also perform Burst Regular and Strong attacks with the (Square) and (Triangle) buttons, respectively. These are fairly quick attacks that deal a decent amount of damage and send your opponent a distance away from you. Finally, the Special Moves can be used by pressing (R2) with either (Square) or (Triangle) to unleash Cosmo-filled attacks. The best part about these attacks is how easily they can be chained into your standard combos, allowing you to get off a quick burst of damage and also gain distance from your opponent. Lastly, you can use your Cosmo to perform a Lightspeed Move. This allows you to reposition on the battlefield when an opponent strikes you by pressing (R1) at the right time. The more you use it, the more Cosmo is consumed, so try to limit your uses of the move. Make sure you keep your Cosmo charged with the (L2) button, as performing multiple Cosmo actions will leave you drained and vulnerable.

Another game-changing mechanic is the Seventh Sense mechanic. Next to your Cosmo gauge is your Seventh Sense gauge, the little semi-circle gauge which fills with yellow. By pressing the (R3) button, players can activate their Seventh Sense Awakening. Awakening gives the player a powerful upgrade in the form of enhanced attacks and easier guard breaks. With a full Seventh Sense gauge or while awakened, players can unleash the Big Bang Attack (Vegeta, is that you?). This powerful special move deals heavy damage, and each character has their own unique Big Bang Attack. There’s a short delay before the activation, so it is possible for the opponent to disrupt you and the attack can also be blocked. Be patient before unleashing your attack to ensure you can make it connect.

Overall, I’d have to recommend Saint Seiya: Soldier’s Soul to fans of the series, but not so much those who aren’t fans. The game is pretty solid, but the combat felt a bit sluggish to me in terms of the attack speed and combos. The slower combat makes the game feel harder than it actually is, but that actually is in favor of the game as well because it rewards strategic plays by players. Fans of the Saint Seiya series will love this game, but if you’re not a die-hard fan, you may want to stick to playing something else for now.