Taking a massive and intricate fighter like
Soul Calibur IV and cramming it onto the PSP may seem like tall order, but the design team at Namco achieved it flawlessly. Not only did they deliver on all 25 characters from last year's game (with Critical Finishes intact,) they still managed to add in two new characters special to
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny: newcomer Dampierre and revered Sony mascot, Kratos.
I'm sure that most people reading this just want to know how the new guys play, and both are a ton of fun. Although the angry god-killer Kratos is going to be doing his own thing soon, he fits right into the Soul Calibur universe and would make a great permanent addition to the roster. He has a clever mix of ranged and close attacks with his Blades of Chaos and Zeus's sword makes an appearance for special attacks. I applaud the team for choosing such an excellent fit with Kratos. He just makes more sense as a guest fighter than Darth Vader or Yoda.
Dampierre also makes his debut this time around. A mustachioed French thief, Dampierre takes some adjustment at first to understand his sillier fighting style, but after that you will be slaying fools with his patented spanking attack.
Yes. He spanks his enemies into submission... like a real man.
On top of two great new fighters, everything else is mostly the same as before. A custom character creator is available to the aesthetically inclined. But the real improvements come with the approach to a more bite-sized gameplay experience. Dropping a lengthy, story-driven Arcade Mode, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny focuses on shorter bursts of action in very clever ways.
The Gauntlet is a new mode where you work your way through a side story of the Soul Calibur universe while completing very short exercises. Usually no longer than five seconds, these quick exercises essentially teach you how to play Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. The matches cover everything from 8-way-running to guard impacts and guaranteed hits. As you successfully complete the mission, it keeps up the pace by swiftly moving on to the next. After every failed attempt, it offers useful tips to refine the timing and strategies to make you a pro in no time. For any newcomer to the series, this is by far the easiest version to pick up and play.
For a seasoned veteran, though, there is an ad-hoc Versus Mode, Training, and a new Quick Match mode that lets you choose the skill level of your opponent as if you were waiting in an online lobby.
The Tower of Trials returns with some refinement. No longer relegated to a lonely tower, the Trials Mode lets you pick from three different disciplines: attack, defense, and endurance. Like the old Tower of Trials mode, you play until you die. But each option focuses on different types of skills to improve your game.
