There have been few great fighters on the PSP and when the announcement came for a SoulCalibur title on the Sony handheld there was a buzz of excitement around the game. It has arrived and features Kratos from God of War as a playable character. So, is SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny the next great fighter or is it just a broken dream? Well, it is a little of both unfortunately.
First things first, this game is beautiful; I would easily say that the game looks as good as the PlayStation 2 SoulCalibur games. The character models are absolutely amazing and the backgrounds are equally as good. Fine detail is apparent, trees sway, water flows and machinery chugs along. The game truly looks stunning and is one of the best looking on the platform. The frame rate rarely (if ever) stutters and it is all silky smooth and animated exceptionally well. The game truly is a design marvel and looks and plays as well as you could ever hope.
The fighting engine is also expertly implemented. Moves, commands and actions flow perfectly, just as you would expect them to in the SoulCalibur series. The new implementations like Soul Gauge, Soul Crushes and Critical Finishes add a further depth to the fighting that is really interesting. Defending characters lose Soul Gauge points and eventually up to three pieces of their armor. Once it is low enough you can execute a Soul Critical (finishing move) that is very effective and flashy.
There is a huge roster of characters, all unlocked from the start, featuring your favorite returning characters as well as some fresh new faces. Of course the biggest addition is Kratos, everyone’s favorite badass from the God of War series. Unlike Yoda and Darth Vader from SoulCalibur 4, Kratos fits very well in the universe, his moves and era very much matching the SoulCalibur feel. The God of War team worked with the SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny team and the results are obvious. The moves, model and animation are spot on, with the original voice actor even lending his talents to the game.
Article comments