The awful Gauntlet mode and a lack of options fail to prevent Broken Destiny from being a great portable fighter.
Why? The lack of modes and options is apparent from the main menu screen. The first thing you'll wonder is 'where the hell is the Arcade Mode?' and justifiably so. There isn't one. That's right. No arcade mode. So what's in it's place you ask? Well.. there is a 'Trial of Attack' consisting of 5 rounds and rewarding you the more you attack, the 'Trial of Defense' of around 10 rounds (you can probably guess what that is) and the 'Endless Trial', a kind of survival mode against original characters generated by the game's Creation Mode. These aren't too bad , but the standard Arcade, Time Trial and Survival Modes would have made for a more enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Then there is the Gauntlet Mode. Why, Namco, why? Who the hell came up with this and what were they smoking? It's basically a glorified training mode that consists mostly of stages 2 seconds long, for e.g. 'Dodge the opponents swing and attack back'. As soon as you do, it's over. 'Success or Failure' are the only to words you'll here from here on in, mostly the latter. There is very little variation and certainly no fun to be had here. The worst part is that this mode is accompanied by laughable storylines, completely irrelevent to any goings on in the Soul Calibur universe that we fans have ever heard of. Please explain?
The lack of appealing modes and options is a real shame, as everything else is up to the amazingly high standards that Namco have set themselves with previous series entries. Make no mistake, this is the best looking and sounding Soul Calibur title ever, with the obvious exception of Soul Calibur 4. Every background is eye candy, every character is rendered in superb detail. It's just gorgeous to behold in your sweaty palms. The sound is no less brilliant. There isn't a weak music track to be found, and the voice acting is spot on as always. Hats off to the artistic designers and and composers once more.
And once again, it plays like a dream. You'll be pulling off combos you didn't know existed, and despite the substantially tougher difficulty level than previous entries, the gameplay is rewarding for both the newcomer and the veteran alike. Controls, as always, are spot on.
There are new characters to be found in this edition, the most noteworthy of which is Kratos from God of War. He is an incredibly strong foe, perhaps too strong. He also has a tendency to continually whip you while you're on the ground, sometimes ending the battle before you can get back on your feet. He's good to use, and tough to face, as would be expected of a God. His stage and music (oh, the music) are straight out of GOW and fans will not be disappointed. There are several other new characters too, all of which are quite good to use, the most entertaining of which is the Frenchman Dampierre, some of whose moves have to be seen to be believed, while others while have you laughing and shaking your head. Well done to the developers for continually coming up with new and interesting characters with each entry, all of which play well.
VISUALS: 9.5
SOUND: 10
GAMEPLAY: 9
LASTABILITY: 6.5
OVERALL: 8
If any other game gave me such a lack of interesting modes and options I'd be moving on to another game before you could say 'Siegfried', but Broken Destiny looks, sounds and plays as well as any hand held brawler to date.