Sony PSP Review: Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny

Soul Calibur, from Namco Bandai, has long been the dominion of button mashing console players, while its older brother Tekken has found a home on both consoles as well as the PSP. Now, Soul Calibur has made the jump to portable. Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, a scaled down version of Soul Calibur IV, joins Tekken on the PSP. Most hardcore followers of the Soul Calibur franchise will wonder how the detailed character models and lush environments on the console could survive the port. Luckily, Namco Bandai has taken the time to ensure that both graphics and gameplay have made the transition in tact.

Broken Destiny is more or less Soul Calibur IV without the bells and whistles. For starters, you won’t find Yoda or Darth Vader in this translation. Some may be happy to see the Jedi family get the boot from Soul Calibur, but I actually enjoyed playing with both characters. Sue me – I’m a Star Wars fanatic. Instead of traveling to the Dagobah system, Broken Destiny taps into the God of War franchise fan favorite, Kratos. The character actually fits in more with the characters of Soul Calibur, although there isn’t really an Arcade story mode in this game to make use of it.

There are two things I’d look for from a portable fighting game. Actually, make that any fighting game. I want to play human fighters and I want an Arcade mode that I can play through when a human fighter isn’t available. Broken Destiny does a great job of delivering Ad-hoc multiplayer matches to gamers without any lag. So, if you’ve got a friend with Soul Calibur you can hop right in and test out your skills. However, if you’re looking for online play, you won’t find any here.

Instead of your typical Arcade mode, where you fight through all the characters in the game on the way to some major boss, you’ll find a Gauntlet mode. This mode is overwhelmingly ridiculous. Gauntlet mode actually starts off with the message that the story is based on “obscure fables and does not accurately represent Soul Calibur history.” Then why even put it in the game? It’s as though they were nervous about releasing Soul Calibur on the PSP, so they developed a crutch to ward off any backlash. Just so you get a taste of how wacky this mode is, here’s a little spoiler: throughout Gauntlet mode, Nightmare actually cries. A lot! What’s that about?

Overall, Gauntlet mode amounts to a series of quick tutorials. You’ll be given a challenge at the beginning of every round and have to accomplish it to move on. Most of the time you’ll start off with a severely crippled power meter. Like most tutorials, the mode isn’t about winning but about performing whatever move, block or combo the game dictates. Gauntlet mode can actually be pretty long and will entertain seasoned gamers, but it just doesn’t hold a candle to a good old-fashioned Arcade mode.

Broken Destiny incorporates all of the latest upgrades from Soul Calibur IV, like the Soul Gauge. If your opponent likes to block a lot, you can wear down their armor, break it and perform a Critical Finish. With the smooth animations and detailed graphics in tact on the PSP, these features continue to look amazing. The music continues to be epic and fits well with the trailer-voice narration.

You won’t find as many unlockables in Broken Destiny as in Soul Calibur IV. There are tons of different wardrobe items to use in the Character Creation mode. You can mix and match weapons with almost every character, except Kratos. So, if you want to run around in a Santa suit for the holiday you can. The only difference is that various weapons and outfits have no actual bearing on the game. Soul Calibur gurus will recall that in console releases, the different weapons had plus and minus attributes. For instance, a short sword may be light and fast, but not be nearly as strong as the bulkier two-handed sword.

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny proves that the soul can still burn on a portable system, primarily the PSP. The graphics and gameplay are as brilliant and epic as ever. I only wish that an Arcade mode were incorporated. Fighting games can easily get monotonous, if small things like an online mode or a good single player mode are neglected.