Review: Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny

I can quite clearly recall the last time I was this amazed by a Soul Calibur game, and that was when the first Soul Calibur was released on the Dreamcast, back in ’99, which was an unbelievable visual upgrade from the arcade version. Well, I felt a slight twinge of similar amazed excitement when I played Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny on the PSP — not because the game was a huge visual improvement over other versions, which would be impossible, but because I couldn’t believe how closely this PSP port resembles its high-powered PS3 cousin.

Without closer inspection, it’s quite easy to believe that you’re seeing Soul Calibur IV on a smaller screen. But if you want to whip out the magnifying glass and nitpick, then you’ll notice that the character models are less complex, the textures are not quite as sharp, and some other PS3 bling has been omitted or faked — but if such things bother you, you really shouldn’t even own a PSP. These gorgeous visuals are accompanied by the beautiful audio from the PS3 version too, with crisp, clear sound effects — especially the clang of steel on steel and all of the character’s dialogue. Nothing has been sacrificed.

Stunning presentation aside, how does it play? “Fantastically” would be my answer, and this is coming from a hardcore fighting fan who demands perfection. The game runs at a blazing framerate and the controls are tight and responsive. The entire crew from Soul Calibur IV (minus the Star Wars characters) are in there with all their moves intact, and they’re joined by two new characters: Dampierre and Kratos. Dampierre is the most interesting, and fights with two hidden daggers strapped to his wrists. He’s funny but difficult to use effectively unless you’re good at follow-ups and able to watch his selection of random moves and react accordingly. Kratos is a monster, which is only fitting, and he can chain together some crazy special moves from the God of War series to drain his opponent’s energy without them being able to do anything about it.

If you fancy doing so, you can customise each of the characters in the game with different outfits and weapons, or create your own character from the ground up. There have been some complaints about the lack of a lengthy campaign mode in the PSP version of the game, but I have a hard time seeing that as a bad thing — maybe I’m just too focused on the core game. Considering that portable games are usually made to require less of a time investment, it was probably a conscious design decision. If it’s important to you, there is a short campaign mode of sorts called The Gauntlet, and some Trials with special conditions that players must meet in order to unlock new outfit pieces.

With Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny and Tekken 6, the PSP has been pretty-well provided for in the versus fighting genre this festive season. Now it’s just down to personal taste as to which one you’ll buy. I’d suggest both.