Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

The Soulcalibur series was a big hit when it hit the Dreamcast. Some might even consider it a system seller. Since then a version it has appeared on every home console except for the Wii. The portables have been left out in the cold though. That is until Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny for the PSP. Is this version worthy of the Soulcalibur name?

In fact, when you first look at the game you'll be shocked at how good Broken Destiny looks on the PSP. Soulcalibur has always been a great looking game for each console it's graced, but it’s especially shocking how good it looks on the PSP. It doesn't look quite as good as its big brother consoles, but the animations and particle effects are all top notch for the portable system. How Namco Bandai squeezed all of this onto a single UMD drive is something that other developers could use for developing on the PSP.

One other technological marvel of Broken Destiny is the fact that you can install a portion of the game to your memory stick.  While the load times aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, when you install to the memory stick the loads are near instataneous.  While it seems like the PSP is moving more towards downloadable games, it would be nice to see more UMD titles to support this kind of feature.

If you have played Soulcaibur IV, then Broken Destiny should be familiar territory. Some of the familiar faces from previous Soulcalibur games are instantly recognizable like Voldo, Nightmare, Mitsurugi, Taki, Siegfried, and Cervantes. Some characters are weak but fast, while others are slow but strong. Some characters specialize in long range weapons and others have short ones. What you won't find are the Star Wars characters injected into the Soulcalibur universe. While it was an interesting experiment, it wasn't the best fit.

That doesn't mean that Broken Destiny doesn't have any new characters. Kratos is the newest member to the Soulcalibur universe, and he fits in real nicely. The twin blades fit in this setting better than the sci-fi light sabers.  The movements of the twin blades are unique because of the attached chains.  This extends the attack range Kratos has, making him do well in both close and long-range combat.

If you don’t care for any of the characters that come out of the gate, then you can create your own character.  A large number of options are available in the creation tool, but it isn’t as robust as the one found in Soulcalibur 4.  Sixteen slots are available for you to save your custom creations to.  You can’t put on custom character clothes on the original characters, but you can alter their colors.  You can modify the position equipped items, but you won’t be able to change the physicality of the characters as much as you could in Soulcalibur 4.  That being said, this is a nice addition for a portable title like this, and there are enough options that allow plenty of character customizability.

Playing Broken Destiny doesn’t differ from other Soulcalibur titles.  Two characters are placed in an arena and the object is to either beat down their health gauge until it is empty or knock the opponent out of the ring.  The game is also button-masher friendly so that gamers new to fighting games have a chance to get through the battles.  Leaning how to guard and dodge attacks is integral to the strategy of Broken Destiny.  Dodging and guarding can leave your opponent open for a heavy counterattack, making it important to look for these opportunities.  While the timing doesn’t require the split-second accuracy of Virtua Fighter 5, you need to actively be aware of these situations.

Some nuances from Soulcalibur 4 have been included in Broken Destiny.  The Soul Gauge dwindles down if you guard too much, causing a piece of armor to break and make that area vulnerable.  Get the Soul Gauge down even further and you can execute a Critical Finish.  The Critical Finish isn’t new to the fighting genre, but it’s good to finally see this addition.

Several standard modes are available.  The Quick Match lets you go up against a CPU controlled character.  Versus lets you play against someone else over ad hoc local multiplayer.  Training lets you practice performing moves against a CPU player.

Broken Destiny contains two modes that set it apart from other fighting games.  The Gauntlet has a light storytelling element to mesh together a tutorial for all of the moves in the game.  If you don’t complete the objective a little suggestion is given to you.  The objectives within the Gauntlet only take a couple of seconds to complete most of the time, but after a while some of the objectives you are required to perform get tedious and don’t feel like you are getting any kind of reward for completing each one.  The dialogue takes a humorous turn which is uncharacteristic for a Soulcalibur game.

The Trial mode has you trying to get the highest score through three different scoring methods.  The Trial of Attack rewards you by increasing your score for chaining attacks together.  The Trial of Defense gives you more points when you guard attacks and counterattacks.  The Endless Trial is similar to a survival mode where you continue to fight until you lose, gaining extra points for chaining attacks and successful guarding.

The biggest issue that I have with Broken Destiny is that there isn’t a true Arcade mode.  While Trials lets you go through several fighters in battle, you don’t have a ladder.  Also, when you lose a match, you have to start at the beginning.  No rematches here.  You also don’t get the same sense of accomplishment like you do when you beat the final boss.  It doesn’t seem like it’d be something difficult to include.

The previous Soulcalibur titles were known for the large amount of unlockable content.  When you start Broken Destiny, every character is available to you.  You do get some equipment for the character creation while going through certain parts of the game, but the unlocked honors you acquire feel like nothing more than a merit badge.

Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny shows a great fighting engine for a portable system.  Kratos is a great addition to the Soulcalibur univers.  A great deal of promise is shown throughout the game as well.  If you can get past the lack of and arcade mode and unsatisfying unlockables, this game is great for taking along to pass the time.

Gaming Trend Score

85

1. Graphics: 90
2. Audio: 84
3. Controls: 88
4. Gameplay: 86
5. Value/Replay: 76
6. OVERALL:85