SOULCALIBUR Unbreakable Soul Review

By , on May 13, 2014
Last modified 9 years, 10 months ago


SOULCALIBUR Unbreakable Soul
Download on the AppStore
2 out of 5

PROS

  • Some decent CCG elements

CONS

  • Dull combat
  • Energy system is too restrictive to play
  • This is not the Soulcalibur you are looking for

VERDICT

Soulcalibur Unbreakable Soul’s dull battle system and restrictive energy system spoils its reasonable CCG foundations, and does the franchise a disservice.


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Soulcalibur Unbreakable Soul is an odd instalment in the Soulcalibur franchise. This mobile, free-to-play game abandons the weapons-based arcade combat for which the series is famous, and instead focuses on the stories of its colourful cast to form the foundation for a collectible card game.

In Unbreakable Soul’s defence, the CCG elements have been fairly well though out. You have a deck that can hold three fighter cards, each of which is assigned three weapon card. Each character can utilise multiple fighting styles from the series. If a fighter has learnt a specific move set then simply giving them the appropriate weapon will unlock that style. This can lead to some fun combinations as you give stocky fighters like Knightmare a delicate weapon like as Voldo’s blades, and watch them spin agilely around the arena.

While battles still take place in familiar 3D arenas at the top of the screen, you'll be focusing of the cards beneath. Tapping a card sends it to your character’s move queue, prompting them to dutifully unleash the chosen slash and kick in order. The challenge, such as it is, is in matching cards of the same colour together to create combos. The big problem is that, frankly, it's dull system that leaves you tapping monotonously away at your device, fixated on a tiny area at the base of the screen, rather than the fight.

Cards can be earned through play, or through purchasing gems in-app. It is not necessary to immediately invest cash, as new cards appear at a decent rate. Push a little deeper, though, and things do start to get more pricy, with the best weapons walled behind exorbitent gem fees.

The real nail in the coffin of Unbreakable Soul’s free-to-play model is its energy system. Within four stages we found single battles consuming more than half of our energy, leaving us forever waiting on cooldown timers. 

With constant lockouts and expensive upgrades, Soulcalibur Unbreakable Soul is a nasty interpretation of the franchise. Whoever designed this carrot-and-stick business model spent so much time fashioning the stick, they forgot about the carrot.

Screenshots

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