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 Soul
Calibur: Broken Destiny (PSP)
Namco has finally brought its long-running
fighting series to the PSP with the release of Soul Calibur: Broken
Destiny and the results are generally impressive. Most of the series'
visual flourish and smooth animation has been successfully translated to
the handheld as has its deep gameplay, extensive moves lists and balanced
combat. Extras consist of a lengthy quest mode and an extensive series of
challenging Trial mini-games. These deliver quite a bit of challenge,
while an extensive selection of characters brings plent of variety. Its
smooth gameplay mechanics have been translated nicely to the handheld,
making this an excellent purchase for PSP owners. |
Soul Calibur's long and storied history
began a dozen years ago on the Playstation and increased with the release
of the Dreamcast edition almost exactly a decade ago. It's only fitting
that the series has finally appeared on the PSP since the handheld seems
to be enjoying a resurgence lately. This release is a highly polished and
deeply satisfying experience that should please fans of the series with
its impressive distillation of the long-running franchise. Everything
players have come to expect from the franchise is here - the dramatic
battles, epic scenery and silky smooth gameplay - making this one of the
best PSP releases to date in terms of production values and mechanics.
Players begin with a selection of 20 different characters mostly
comprising old favorites including Ivy, Cassandra and Sophitia, Lizardman,
Misturugi, and Voldo to name a few. As usual, theres a guest fighter and
this time its Kratos from the God of War series. He looks typically mean
and tough and throws his trademark blades around, which can cause a
devastating amount of damage. Unlike many of the other guests, he seems to
fit right into the medieval atmosphere and style of the game, which makes
him a good fit for the series. Each character comes complete with their
signature moves and many tactics, such as throwing, evading, and parrying
are here as well. The weapons-based combat remains as exciting and
evocative as ever, though there are still too many of those annoying
ring-outs that detract from the overall flow of battle. SC veterans should
have little trouble jumping in, and for those new to the series, Namco has
helpfully included onscreen moves lists to help you along the way. For
those who want to polish their skills before they enter the ring, a
practice mode has been included. However, most will want to play against
someone almost immediately and for that, there's quick match mode.
However, there's a twist this time. Instead of fighting a preset roster of
characters as you do in most fighting games, you can select from a menu of
opponents, all of whom are ranked by number of wins and losses. This
eliminates some of the predictability and gives you some say in who you'll
fight next. This means you'll never go up the rankings the same way twice,
but you can still earn points and trophies by defeating opponents. While
the game doesn't include a full online internet mode, players can still
battle friends nearby using ad-hoc mode, which delivers solid gameplay
with little lag or distortion.
Two of Broken Destiny's most interesting
single player modes are the Trial mode and The Gauntlet. The trial mode
allows you to take on an endless series of opponents in matches designed
to test your endurance. This is basically a score attack mode where you
gain points with each attack - as you connect, the score multiplier
increases, and falls as you take damage. This makes for a more strategic
gameplay experience that motivates you to keep mistakes to a minimum. As
you make your way through the ranks, your opponents become more skilled at
blocking your attacks and countering your moves, so you have to stay on
guard throughout. The other major mode in this edition of Soul Calibur is
called the Gauntlet. In this mode, you take a single player on a series of
rigidly defined tasks that seem simple on the surface, but challenge you
to perform specific moves. For example, you'll have to dodge an opponents
attack or parry their thrusts without taking damage. You'll need very fast
reaction time and quick reflexes in many cases. Adding to the challenge is
the fact that you have only a few seconds to perform this move and have to
execute it flawlessly. You can repeat these mini-games as many times as
you like, which is good, but you have no room for error. This leads to
many frustrating attempts at completing these missions but once you know
what you need to do, and anticipate your opponents' action, they become
much easier and more straightforward. As you work your way through the
Gauntlet's many challenges, you'll earn additional unlockable content and
learn the backstory for the character you have chose. While neither mode
constitutes a full game in itself, these single player types give the game
plenty of depth and allow you to master the game's many strategies and
techniques without risking too much progress in the single player mode. As
an added motivation, completing these modes allows you to unlock
additional content, mostly pieces of clothing you can add to your
customized characters.
 One
of the most exciting aspects of Broken Destiny is the fact that it allows
you to create and use your own fighters. This means not only can you bring
your personality to the ring in the moves you use, but in your appearance
as well. Starting the creation menu up gives you a preset character that
you can change and edit them to your liking. In terms of moves and
weapons, you can use any of the existing characters' styles as a baseline,
then customize the weapons and moves slightly. You can also change their
costumes, facial features, voice, hair and stances. Once this is complete,
you can name them, create their portrait and finally go into battle. It's
a fairly simple and somewhat intuitive process, since navigating the menus
and changing things only requires a few clicks on the menu. The characters
you create can range from cool to ridiculous and you can also earn
additional items to further customize your characters as you play through
the game. In addition, you can battle other players' characters as well in
ad-hoc mode, which is a cool feature. While its presentation and visuals
mirror the console counterparts, things have been scaled down slightly on
the PSP. Animation is smooth and silky and most of the arena backdrops
look sharp, especially some of the levels that use lighting and reflection
techniques. The epic soundtrack features the typically classical music
accompaniment which adds to Soul Calibur's smooth presentation. Most
importantly, the controls are superb with smooth reaction and movement
achieved using either the analog stick or digital pad. Most moves are
mapped to the face buttons, while the charging section uses the upper
shift button. This works to create a smooth interface that makes the game
a silky smooth joy to play, effectively bringing the intense fighting of
the console games to the handheld. Overall, this is an attractive package
throughout and its production values are superb by PSP standards.
You can fault Soul Calibur: Broken
Destiny for not having quite the same polish and depth as its console
cousins, but you'd be missing out on what is an excellent portable gaming
experience. Whether you play on the small screen or hook your PSP up to a
monitor, the game looks fantastic. It plays very similarly to the previous
games and its intuitive, responsive controls, deep moves list and
appealing characters make for an instantly engaging title. Its
single-player modes offer some very intense fighting mechanics, but there
are a few extra modes such as the Gauntlet and Trial sections that add
more depth to the experience. The only disappointment is the lack of an
online mode, but the ad-hoc gameplay offers good enough performance and
isn't really that big of a deal on handheld. With its polished visuals and
solid gampeplay mechanics, Soul Calibur has most of the elements that make
console fighters so appealing, yet reduced in scale effectively to make
this one of the year's most impressive PSP releases.
- Michael Palisano
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