Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny Review (PSP) - PAGE 1

Soul Calibur returns to gamers in a debut appearance on the PSP, bringing with it multiplayer matches, single player features and impressive visuals. Broken Destiny breaks off from the traditional model of gameplay with quick matches and a lobby; we'll get into the meat of these and others below.

The Gauntlet mode is quick to show it doesn’t follow the original story line, presenting a series of challenges for the player to carry out, learning basic moves and combinations as they progress. Quick match, meanwhile, delivers randomly created opponents to pick from with different skill levels based on their fighting history, much like in an online environment. The game offers a decent amount of variety and every now and again a stock character from the game may appear, but the key to finding those characters is still difficult. For me the game felt short for replay interest; quick match doesn’t fill the void of story mode and instead feels like a sparring feature to make players without WiFi feel they’re part of the action.

On top of these modes gamers get a custom player creation area, filled with selections from head to toe; these characters will be available in all the other gameplay modes including ad-hoc versus play. The experience is unique with many clothing choices to be had; users can dress in serious battle gear or dress up like one of the Village People if they wish.

The visuals of the game are impressive and this is one of the highlights; the characters come alive in remarkable detail given the hardware of the PSP in this generation, and the game delivers high frame rates while offering high polygon counts and great textures. Overall it plays well, blending style into each gesture making each character pop on the screen as they perform move after move.