Dante Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 (edited) Soulcalibur goes portable and we get our first look at the latest addition to Namco's popular fighting franchise. It has been 10 years since the original Soulcalibur graced the Dreamcast, and now the flashy weapon-based fighting game has moved over to the PlayStation Portable for the first time. Namco Bandai came by to give us a first look at Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, made specifically for the PSP with many of Soulcalibur IV's features, plus enhancements and new characters. Your favorite Jedi masters, Yoda and Darth Vader, aren't going to make an appearance in this portable version, but we do know that the core cast of Soulcalibur will be included, along with a new member named Dampierre. Details were not given beyond a name, so we're supposed to come up with our own impressions by the character art below. Screenshots Director Noriyuki Hiyama from Namco gave us a quick overview of the game and highlighted some of the changes. Our demo consisted of a couple of matches, and we couldn't see much beyond a few initial menus. The character menu looked like it had enough slots for roughly 30 characters, but the final count hasn't been determined yet, since the developers are still working on the roster--there will definitely be more than 20, though. Taki, Mitsurugi, Tira, Astaroth, Ivy, Cassandra, Voldo, Siegfried, and Hilde were our only options for now, so we decided to pit the lethal whip-wielding Ivy against the burly katana-swinging Mitsurugi. As soon as we entered the match, it was like watching SCIV except on a smaller screen. The characters move with the same finesse and grace as they do in the console version, and the detailed visuals and over-the-top, epic-sounding music that SC has always been known for are included here. At this stage in development, the graphics and visual effects are quite impressive on Sony's handheld. Broken Destiny isn't a port, though; the Project Soul team has built this version specifically to target beginners and novice players with SCIV's content but has added improvements. There will be arcade, versus, and survival modes, as well as a character creation mode, but the only details disclosed at this point are that there will be new parts to play with in the creation mode and that the other modes have been "evolved." What we do know is that a new single-player mode is being implemented to bring new players up to speed and show them the intricacies of the game--almost like an enhanced tutorial system. It is designed to help improve your fighting skills, so newcomers who might be intimidated by the series can find a way to ease into an intense fighting regimen. There are more than 80 exercise missions for you to hone your fighting skills in. One of the features that Hiyama pointed out was that new lighting effects have been added so that the stages will have different times of day. You could be slicing your way to victory with a glorious sunset at your back instead of winning in broad daylight all the time. Key components of SCIV, like critical finish, soul crush, and armor destruction, are also included but have been improved. Our demo was limited in terms of finding out all the juicy details about the new additions, but we were told that the music was being rearranged so that it could complement the new stages. There will be ad hoc so players can beat each other senseless in a local match, but we will have to wait to see whether Wi-Fi is a possibility as well. We were impressed with our brief look at Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny and will update you as soon as more information becomes available. The game is currently set to be released exclusively on the PSP this summer. GameSpot. Edited April 29, 2009 by Dante
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 (edited) Wow @ the graphics! How is this possible? Really looking forward to this. Edited April 29, 2009 by Choze
Daft Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Fuck me. If Sony announce a new PSP device I'll be all over that and this.
khilafah Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 no joke guys. Graphically it looks better than Wii games.
Hero-of-Time Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 no joke guys. Graphically it looks better than Wii games. Thats what I thought when looking at this. The Wii got some shoddy Soul Calibur spinoff game that was terrible and the PSP got this Sony weren't kidding when they said 2009 will be the comeback year of the PSP.
Guest Jordan Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Hmm... This'll either play really, really good (SC1 or SC2) or really, really bad (SC4). SC4 felt so, ridged in comparison to the first two, that felt super fluid. We shall see. I've always wanted a hand held Soul Calibur game, so its cool in that regard
killer kirby Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Sony weren't kidding when they said 2009 will be the comeback year of the PSP. Funny thing...I really don't give a shit about this and Tekken 6. After the bore fest of Soul Calibur 4 and Tekken 5, I have no interest. PSP is a good thing this year because of one game....Persona, all other games on the system can go get fucked
Ganepark32 Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Looks good. Seems that developers are now being allowed full access to the hardware on the PSP (the full 333Mhz and not the 222Mhz that was the norm because of the battery life problems). Definitely looks better than the Wii's Soul Calibur and quite a lot of Wii titles. Wouldn't say that this is a reason for the PSP to come back big in 2009 as it won't be much of a system seller but who knows. But this announcement has got me wondering whatever happened to Soul Calibur on the DS. It was mentioned in magazines years ago and then there was supposed to be an announcement. Guess it got canned.
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 (edited) SC4 was pretty weak for the series, slowest gameplay of the series and worst for modes. The single player was really atrocious. Graphics were good in places, horrid others. Too much reused SC3 content(stages, music etc. but id id sell only 30k) Didnt live up to SC3 as a game besides better balancing. This joins SC2 as a disappointment. Oddly SC has not fared well multiplatform. Still very highly recommended and its cheap. Its a fun game and compared to games like SF series its not that bad, as standards for SC are much higher than a street fighter. SC4 is still a fresher game than SF4 and quite fun to play. They can do alot of right with the PSP game though. So lets see. Edited April 29, 2009 by Choze
Daft Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 SC4 was pretty weak for the series, slowest gameplay of the series and worst for modes. The single player was really atrocious. Graphics were good in places, horrid others. Too much reused SC3 content(stages, music etc. but id id sell only 30k) Didnt live up to SC3 as a game besides better balancing. This joins SC2 as a disappointment. Oddly SC has not fared well multiplatform. Still very highly recommended and its cheap. Its a fun game and compared to games like SF series its not that bad, as standards for SC are much higher than a street fighter. SC4 is still a fresher game than SF4 and quite fun to play. They can do alot of right with the PSP game though. So lets see. SC3 isn't a game, it's an affront to God.
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 SC3 isn't a game, it's an affront to God. Because it didnt come on Gamecube. I remember the bitterness.
Daft Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Because it didnt come on Gamecube. I remember the bitterness. I never played my GameCube. Last generation I didn't really play games that much, thought the GameCube was a bit crap. I probably played SCIII more than any GameCube game after Luigi's Mansion, Rogue Squadron and SCII (which I had on the Xbox as well). SCIII is just an incredibly bad game. The most unbalanced of the lot with the most horrendous AI I have ever encountered.
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 I never played my GameCube. Last generation I didn't really play games that much, thought the GameCube was a bit crap. I probably played SCIII more than any GameCube game after Luigi's Mansion, Rogue Squadron and SCII (which I had on the Xbox as well). SCIII is just an incredibly bad game. The most unbalanced of the lot with the most horrendous AI I have ever encountered. AI is bad in every fighting game. SC4 is even worse. Yeah the unablances were annoying but the game content wise was superb and fun. I playe dit alot longer than SC4.
Daft Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 AI is bad in every fighting game. SC4 is even worse. Yeah the unablances were annoying but the game content wise was superb and fun. I playe dit alot longer than SC4. Any kind of credibility you had has just went screaming, on fire, out the window. The AI in SCIII was an atrocity. The content was good but Jesus the rest was awful. These arguments are all redundant though, Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast was flawless. The pinnacle of the series.
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Any kind of credibility you had has just went screaming, on fire, out the window. The AI in SCIII was an atrocity. The content was good but Jesus the rest was awful. These arguments are all redundant though, Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast was flawless. The pinnacle of the series. SC3 at least was doable. SC4 was impossible. Yeah Sc1 is the best.
Daft Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 SCIV isn't that bad. SCIII cheats. The GameCube version was the best version of II, but just I is easily the best. Anyways, this looks awesome. Hope it plays awesome too.
Choze Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 SCIV isn't that bad. SCIII cheats. Maybe but Sc4 is worse in that regard as at least SC3 was easy(i did 100%). Cheap bloody AI.
McPhee Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Soul Calibur IV is hard?!?!!? New to me... Looking forward to this. Getting more and more tempted to grab a PSP, fantastic little device!
Ryan Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 You may want to wait for E3, the way these newspapers are spinning..
Shino Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Wow @ the graphics! How is this possible? Lol, because its a portable ps2? It must have been a pretty good money hat.
Choze Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Soul Calibur IV is hard?!?!!? New to me... Looking forward to this. Getting more and more tempted to grab a PSP, fantastic little device! Have you played the tower mode?
Jimbob Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Have you played the tower mode? Please, don't remind me of this. Havn't done the tower on my version, but i did at my mates. SCII was the best of the series. It had perfected the AI, it moved fluidly and all that. SCIV is a good addition to the series, but the tower is rock hard in places. Right then, back onto the PSP version. Graphically it looks impossible to put onto it, but Sony may be right for this year being the PSP year. Hopefully it will play as good as I and II did.
Choze Posted May 1, 2009 Posted May 1, 2009 2 was alot slower than SC1. I preffered one. SC 3 could have ben much better had they not messed up the game modes. The character create was good but unlocking got silly. Single player was a mess. They need to go back to Soul Blade and Soul Calibur basics.
McPhee Posted May 1, 2009 Posted May 1, 2009 Have you played the tower mode? Yup, i love it! Can get hard as nails though, but that's the point in it's existence!
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