Review: SoulCalibur Broken Destiny Attacks The PSP

SoulCalibur is one of those fighting franchises that I somehow find myself returning to again and again when I need some solid fighting action.  I was first bitten by the SoulCalibur bug back when the second installment in the series made its way onto the original Xbox, and to be honest I still go back to it every now and again between bouts of SoulCalibur IV online.  Obsessed?  Just a little.  When Ubisoft asked me to take a look at SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny on the PlayStation Portable, I couldn’t possibly say no.  Considering the fact that I have to ride the train to London each week, a portable version of one of my favorite fighting franchises was a godsend.

Right from the beginning, it’s best if you consider Broken Destiny to be essentially a watered down version of SoulCalibur IV (sans Star Wars bonus characters) built for the PSP hardware.  Given that this is the franchise’s first portable outing, it really is quite an impressive achievement visually.  The game has three single-player modes; Quick Match, The Gauntlet and Trials – each of which are suited for differing lengths of play.

First up, we have Quick Match; this mode throws you straight into the action against a random character from your unlocked roster; this includes 28 SoulCalibur characters, as well as a number of created combatants.  With this many characters, it gives a good enough variety in battles that you’ll rarely, if ever run into the same person twice in a row.  Once you’ve selected your character you’ll end up in an Xbox LIVE/PSN-styled “lobby” where you get to choose from a selection of eight generated computer controlled opponents with stats outlining how difficult each opponent is.  Essentially, it’s a great mode if you want quick three round matches against opponents of varying difficulty, but it doesn’t let you directly choose who you’re playing against; the computer picks for you.

The Gauntlet is a mission-based game mode, one which to me just felt like a drawn-out and glorified tutorial mode.  Whichever character you choose is sent off on a small storyline which can only be deemed comical, and definitely not canonical when compared to the previous entries in the series.  Opponents in this mode can only be defeated if you follow the instructions you’re given on screen.  For example, if you can only defeat the enemy by crouch-blocking his attack then attacking him while standing then that’s what you have to do; there’s no room for experimentation or improvisation.  You have to go through four sets of these instructions until you pass the mission and with four missions within each of the thirty-four chapters, you’ll be fighting like a pro in Broken Destiny in no time.

Trials is a game mode which is split up into three parts; Trial Of Attack, Trial of Defense and finally Endless Trial. In Trial Of Attack mode, you have to tackle a five stage marathon against the Broken Destiny roster in order to score points.  The strength of the attacks you perform in these stages determines how high a score you will get.  Trial Of Defense is pretty much the same as Trial Of Attack, except that the AI is a set to a slightly higher level and you score more if you attack straight after guarding, or for using counter moves.  Finally, there’s the Endless Trial, which is more of a survival mode where you’re pitted against opponent after opponent and they keep coming at you until you lose.  The more points you accumulate the better; this is a great mode for you gamers out there who love to try and push themselves a bit further each time, but bear in mind folks – the end will come.

The final mode you have available is Training mode.  Training mode has been pretty much the standard for fighters these days, and as with all fighting games you get the standard training mode package here.  You can practice on a character that doesn’t move, or one that keeps guarding, side stepping, and so on.  One thing I do like about this training mode is the fact that when you select change character, it doesn’t take you back to the selection screen like in other titles.  Instead, it lets you scroll through the names of each character and allows you to change up on the fly.  This cuts back on time spent in menus when one’s supposed to be focusing on training, which I must say is a great thought on behalf of the developers.

Broken Destiny also gives you access to the now-standard SoulCalibur character creator.  If you are at all familiar with the SoulCalibur series’ recent installments, you know that character creation has been pretty much mandatory for the series for the past few years.  Broken Destiny‘s character creation system is rather similar to SoulCalibur IV‘s; the menu layout, and the options to change clothes, hair and accessories are all in the same familiar places.  You have a wide variety of equipment to choose from, and thankfully, the vast majority is unlocked from the get-go.  This means that from day one, you can create the most noble, evil, or just downright weird characters your brain can cno.  Like in SoulCalibur IV, you have access to every major character’s moveset – except, of course, for final boss Algol and Kratos, who are apparently too badass to let other people use their weapons.

Speaking of characters, Broken Destiny adds two new characters to the SoulCalibur roster this time around; thankfully, there’s no tricks involved, everyone’s unlocked from the beginning.  The first of the two is Danpierre, who’s easiest described as an insane French jester using arm-blades.  His moves don’t make much sense, and he relies mainly on tricking his opponents; despite this, in the right hands he can take on even the most seasoned fighters.  The second of the two is, as with every recent SoulCalibur game, a guest character; in this case, it’s Kratos from Sony’s God of War series.  In all fairness, when I heard Kratos was going to be included I literally jumped for joy.  Kratos fights using his chain-mounted Blades of Chaos, performing moves straight out of the God of War games; everything he does is incredibly faithful to the source material in that he’s powerful, but also surprisingly quick, making him a force to be reckoned with.

With all the game modes and new characters out of the way, that leaves only one last part; the gameplay.  The controls surprised me somewhat; the few games that I have played on PSP have felt a bit clunky at times, but Broken Destiny managed to pull off a fighting system that works without too much trouble. The controls are fluid and simple, and thankfully easy to grasp whether you’re a SoulCalibur veteran or a newbie to the series.  Thankfully, movement is mapped to the D-Pad and not the analog nub, which in this case was a good choice.

Graphically, Broken Destiny is incredibly pretty for a PSP game; the graphics are essentially almost the same as the ones in SoulCalibur IV, just toned down to match the capabilities of the hardware.  With no slowdown or screen tearing, Namco really managed to squeeze every penny out of the game’s development.  It’s SoulCalibur but portable, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

All in all, SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny is a great example of a portable translation of a well-known console fighting game.  While it’s lacking a few of the modes from its console big brother, the character creation and fighting engines have been moved over quite effectively.  I didn’t have an opportunity to test the multiplayer aspect of the game out on this playthrough as there is no online mode, sadly the only major point against the title, but I’ll post my thoughts on the mode when I get the opportunity to do so.  In closing, Broken Destiny probably won’t be taking the reins of the series away from the console versions, but it’s a great example of a fighting game you can take with you on the go and play anywhere.  Like on a train.