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When it comes to fighting games, there are only a select few that have been strong enough to build a franchise around: Street Fighter, Tekken, and of course, SoulCalibur. Namco's weapon-based fighting series has survived for more than a decade due to its fast paced arcade style action, wild characters, and cameos from some pretty big-name guest fighters (Spawn, Link, Darth Vader, and Yoda to name just a few). As popular as the SoulCalibur series is though, surprisingly it's never managed to make its way to portable game systems. Until now.
The SoulCalibur series is taking its show on the hand-held road, debuting on the PSP with SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny. Of course, just because the game's in a bite-sized serving, doesn't mean it's lost any of that great SoulCalibur flavor we've come to know and love. As far as the game's presentation goes, Namco and the Project Soul team seem to have pushed the PSP hardware to its limit. Sure, you're going to lose a touch of the polish seen on the home consoles, but you'd be hard- pressed to see any major differences. The characters and the environments are crisp, sharp, and full of detail. Broken Destiny is, hands down, one of the best looking games to ever come to the PSP. It's hard to believe that something this small is capable of looking this good.
While the game might look and sound great, it won't amount to much if the gameplay isn't solid. Admittedly, I was initially worried about how the controls would feel on the PSP. I mean, could the development team really manage to get that arcade feel right on a portable? A few minutes into the game though, and all those fears went away. Broken Destiny has essentially taken all of the moves and abilities from SoulCalibur IV, and tied them to the PSP controls without a hitch. The fighting is fast and smooth, and will be instantly familiar to anyone who has spent any time with previous SoulCalibur games. Mind you, there have been a couple of minor tweaks to gameplay, including the new Active Purge, which allows the player to sacrifice all of his armor for the rest of the fight in order to avoid getting hit with a game ending Critical Finish. The balance has also been tweaked through a couple of small character move changes, which minimizes the cheap wins that plagued SoulCalibur IV.
Of course, a fighting game is only as good as its characters. Luckily, Broken Destiny is busting at the seams with a roster of fighters, including all 26 of the regular fighters from SoulCalibur IV. And while Star Wars fans might be disappointed that the Force isn't anywhere to be found in this one, to make up for it, Namco tossed a couple of brand new characters into the fray. The first is Dampierre, a quirky con man dressed up in full ringmaster attire, complete with a mustache that would do Dick Dastardly proud. The second addition to the lineup is none other than Sony's God of War himself, Kratos. And anyone who's played any of the God of War games will tell you, Kratos is no stranger to bashing heads with unique and deadly weapons.
As impressive as all of this makes Broken Destiny, the game still has its fair share of faults. You can tell that Broken Destiny was designed with multiplayer in mind, as the single player side of things is a watered-down experience at best. A lot of the fun from the previous SoulCalibur games came from playing through the Quest mode and unlocking new weapons, items, etc. while learning more about the backstory of the SoulCalibur cast.
With Broken Destiny, the unlockables are few and far between, and the "Quest" mode has been replaced with the "Gauntlet" mode, which is basically a long series of tutorial battles tied together with a tongue-in-cheek (and fairly nonsensical) plot. Sure, newcomers might appreciate getting their feet wet with some basic tests, but after a while the whole thing feels repetitive and boring. Quick Match and Trial Modes help to make up for this, with the arcade-style battles fighting game fans are used to, but your best bet is still to find a few friends to battle against in head-to-head Versus.
Despite the weaker single player experience when compared to previous SoulCalibur games, Broken Destiny is still a solid debut for the franchise in the portable marketplace. Visually, the game sets a new standard for what the PSP is capable of. It's an impressive feat to cram so much punch into such a small package, and after playing Broken Destiny, it's going to be hard not to expect the same level of quality from other PSP games in the future.
Fun Factor: Lots of fun for SoulCalibur fans looking to take their fight on the road.
Game Length: While you could spend a few hours trudging through the Gauntlet tutorials, the bulk of the game is set up to jump in and jump out.
Difficulty: Whether you're new to fighting or a hardcore vet, Broken Destiny will fit your style of play.
On the Negative Side: The single player experience feels stripped and watered down.
Bang for Your Buck: If you're going to try and convince people to shell out forty bucks for a PSP fighting port, it damn well better be worth it. Thankfully, Broken Destiny is worth every dime.
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