'Fate' impressive and approachable

• By JOSHUA WASCOM
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Sep 21, 2009

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“Fate/Unlimited Codes” has a strange name and an even stranger storyline, but its gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has ever played a 3-D fighter. Fortunately, it features enough refinements and additions to the genre to be more than just another “Soulcalibur” clone.

First and foremost, “Fate” gets the basics right. The controls are extremely responsive and fully customizable. The various characters’ move-sets are similar enough that familiarity with one equals familiarity with all, but still very well differentiated through fine details. The graphics look great for a mobile game, but the action is still perfectly fluid.

The most impressive thing about “Fate” is how infrequently that “for a mobile game” phrase needs to be applied. Despite the relative limitations of the PSP compared to the current generation of consoles and the usually more limited scope of download-only games, “Fate” stands up well to the current crop of fighters.

It actually manages to surpass them in some ways, particularly in terms of friendliness to those who aren’t entirely steeped in the rapid combo, button-mashing tradition. A very comprehensive tutorial mode guides you through the commands common to all fighters, as well as those unique to “Fate.” The Mission mode is another welcome addition to the basic fighter formula, giving you a series of generally quick fights with very specific goals. These missions do a great job of both reinforcing the tutorials lessons and providing progressively harder challenges specific to each character.

The characters have a somewhat generic look overall, and the glimpses of their stories -- told through otherworldly narration in between fights in Arcade mode -- range from incomprehensible to slightly disturbing. They each have distinctive characteristics in battle, though, and that’s what really matters.

“Fate/Unlimited Codes” isn’t an amazing game -- it sticks too closely to the standard formula for that. It is, however, a good example of the genre, and a surprisingly approachable game in a genre not known for being newbie-friendly. Between the strong basic gameplay, the extra game modes to unlock and the multiplayer capabilities, “Fate” will be a solid purchase for any PSP owner with even a passing interest in fighting games.