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PreviousSoulCalibur: Broken Destiny Review
PSP Review by Matt Edwards
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It's been a good year for the 2D fighter crowd, not least because Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue have shown how dragon-punch and charge motions still have what it takes to thrill and enthral. Step back a year and the console scene was again being dominated by the 3D behemoths. From January to December we saw the cleanest fatalities ever in Marvel vs. DC Universe as well as a revamped Super Smash Bros. on the Wii. But the fighter highlight of 2008 was arguably SoulCalibur IV - heralding the return of demonic swords and cheap bojutsu.
SoulCalibur IV wasn't a massive evolution as Namco kept the stage of history very similar to its previous outing. The move to the next-generation nonetheless looked and played superbly. We can't imagine most people's first thoughts of SoulCalibur IV were "Hmmm… Shame it's not portable," but as it did with Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Namco has brought SoulCalibur to the PSP in the form of Broken Destiny. Some might see the inclusion of the word "broken" in the title as a bad omen, but we're happy to say that SoulCalibur has lost little in translation.
A noticeable downgrade in the quality of the visuals was inevitable. In spite of this, Namco has done a very impressive job of replicating the SoulCalibur IV visuals onto the smaller screen. Indeed, although comparing both games side by side highlights a chasm of aesthetical difference - Siegfried's armour is certainly less shiny and more angular in Broken Destiny -character animation is equally fluid on either platform. Also, most of SoulCalibur IV's stages have found their way into Broken Destiny. Namco has renamed a few, presumably so they'll seem newer, but SoulCalibur vets will find themselves in mostly familiar surroundings.
Many will be pleased to hear that Namco has completely dropped the Star Wars trio. SoulCalibur IV's other 24 main characters all return in Broken Destiny, complete with virtually identical command lists. So if you know how to play Kilik, Taki or Cervantes in IV, then you know how to play them in Broken Destiny.
The enemy AI in Broken Destiny is a step up from SoulCalibur IV. At the higher end you’ll be punished for any mistake, no matter how slight.
But that's not to say changes haven't been made. Certain characters have had their recovery times and hit boxes tweaked to make the game more balanced, and a few names also have a new move or two. But for those who couldn't write an essay on how Sophitia is different to Cassandra, the changes will mostly go unnoticed.
What won't go unnoticed is the Ghost of Sparta. With Soul Calibur IV not only did Yoda and Vader fail to fit in with the tone, the fact that they played a tad cheaply didn't help. But with Kratos it's different. For a start, he's a bloodthirsty Spartan steeped in Greek mythology who wields a pair of flaming swords… Which are chained to his arms. You almost wonder why this character isn't already in SoulCalibur.
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Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
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Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
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spidermanalf
17/09/09 @ 07:06
0
Might have to dust off my psp for this! But will wait 6 months when its a 5er in the bargain bins!
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SeesThroughAll
17/09/09 @ 07:38
0
I got this and rather like it. But the lack of a proper story mode really annoys me.
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SeesThroughAll
17/09/09 @ 07:53
+3
we saw the cleanest fatalities ever in Marvel vs. DC Universe
I think you meant MK vs. DC Universe, right? An actual Marvel vs. DC Universe is the comic book fan's dream come true :) |
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-4
What is it with devs? First GT now this with no decent single player structure. Christ I might as well make a custom eboot of soul edge from a disk off Ebay.
I was so excited when all these new PSP games were announced I thought it was a turn around for the neglected machine now they are turning into bargain bin grabs. Guess I still need CF after all sony... |
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+1
@bad09
it's portable games. they're supposed to be for pickup and play sessions on the go, so i see why devs wouldn't bother with sustained career modes. in this case i don't quite get why they didn't just include the Tower Of Souls option from SCIV, that was rather brilliant and it was already made and available |
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dominalien
17/09/09 @ 08:05
+4
What is it with devs? First GT now this with no decent single player structure.
They all clearly read the comments on EG, where people who don't have PSPs and will never buy them complain that its games aren't bite sized, 5-minute entertainment. Clearly, the solution to this problem is removing any sort of progressive story/career mode. |
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-1
@ JahB
It's not portable games it's portable PLAYSTATION games! The biggest sell for me originally for PSP is that is was a playstation - in your pocket! It's sad when a 13 year old PS1 game has a deeper game structure than your recent release. Still I suppose it looks pretty and that's all people really want now sadly.. |
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0
Would like to get this.
But since I'm (still) planning to get a PSPGo I'm reluctant to get it on UMD; and so far no word on whether this comes out on the store any time soon. Or maybe I should just stick to my 2000 model and forget about the Go. Is that what you want Sony? The (PSP) store is *still* a disaster zone all that's missing is a couple of tumbleweeds. And I really believed it when Sony announced that from now on all titles are released on UMD/PSN at the same time. Perhaps from 1st of Oct onwards??? EDIT by the way the same applies to Guitar Hero - yes there's DLC but not the original game! Djeezuz Krist
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/09/09 @ 09:42
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SeesThroughAll
17/09/09 @ 08:41
0
I'm optimistic that there will be more content available starting the 1st October, yes. But I'm not expecting too much as far as quality is concerned.
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dominalien
17/09/09 @ 08:42
+2
8/10
Seems to be the story of PSP's life. Good games, but never awe-inspiring. It's as if it's unable to break past the "PS2 gfx on a small screen - thus less impressive" stereotype. Of course, the fact that devs seem to think it IS a PS2 and make games which rely on gfx most doesn't help matters one bit. Quite telling when you look at Metacritic and see 6 DS games of 90 or more and just one PSP game (but a bloody good one at least). The formula would seem to be: "make a 9/10 game and THEN add the gfx". Not an easy thing, it seems :-) |
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NegativeZero
17/09/09 @ 08:42
+3
I still maintain that the peak of this series was the original Soul Calibur, and it's gone slowly downhill in both aesthetics and gameplay with every iteration. Don't think I'll bother with this if it's basically Lo-fi SC4.
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Matt_Edwards
17/09/09 @ 10:11
+1
@ SeesThroughAll & bluem4gic
"Marvel vs. DC Universe" haha, oh that's embarrassing... :S |
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0
There is a lot to keep you going in this game. I've been playing it all night and am now knackered. I can't see that it has any less sustainability that Soul Calibur 4 to be honest. ALL fighters suffer in that respect. Street Fighter 4 wasn't exactly brimming with stuff to do on your own either. It didn't make it any less fun, and it doesn't with this game either.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 17/09/09 @ 11:25
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neonemesis
17/09/09 @ 10:28
0
I've had the game for nearly a week now and it's brilliant, only let down - as the review states - by the lack of modes. Custom characters are still fun to make but there's something missing when there aren't really any worthwhile modes to use them in. Soul Calibur III is still my favourite but I love this one too.
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+1
"Am I alone in not really enjoying having my ass handed to me over the internet by some gloating 10 year old? Online for fighters is not great IMO. Nothing beats having your opponent in the same room. Then there's the lag..."
Well since a few mates of mine have PSPs too I'd like it for the chance to fight them. Of course it'd be better to have them in the room but that doesn't happen too often. Or fight anything rather than dull CPU opponents really. |
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SeesThroughAll
18/09/09 @ 00:16
0
Try fighting those bots playing as Algol with 400 victories and 0 losses, then tell me if it was dull.
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Maledictus010
21/09/09 @ 08:39
+1
It's worth mentioning (since the review doesn't) that all weapon and item stats have been removed for BD. This makes collecting and tweaking the characters rather meaningless, and takes the fun out of this fighter for me. I very much liked the idea that you could give yourself a little edge by setting up your character the right way. Also, comparing the character edit mode in this game to the one in SCIV is ludicrous. BD has only a fraction of the possibilities. I don't care about reasons for this, but don't say things like "BD is SCIV in your pocket" because it isn't. Not even close. Final nail in the coffin is the lack of a difficulty setting. Disappointing release. Pretty graphics, less game.
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Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
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