Fate/unlimited codes Preview

PSP fighting fans have got another game to look forward to

Fate/unlimited codes almost went unnoticed at Captivate 09 last month. Capcom's Monaco showcase event featured some big names - Lost Planet 2, Dead Rising 2 to name only a couple. It was perhaps inevitable that an anime-inspired Japanese-developed PSP-exclusive fighting game from Eighting, the developer behind Tastunoko vs Capcom, would get lost in the din.

The fact that the game will be Capcom's first to be distributed exclusively as a PSP download via the PlayStation Store is perhaps more interesting than the game itself. That's probably a bit unfair. But the problem remains - it's hard to get excited about an obscure Japanese fighting game, especially when it's on a platform that us Westerners usually play on our lonesome.

So what is Fate/unlimited codes? (a question long pondered by philosophers, we imagine). It's a fighting game based on the wonderfully-named PC and PS2 visual novel Fate/stay night, which sounds like an invitation to us, but is actually a manga you read on your computer with sound effects. The story revolves around a Japanese high school student named Shiro, who one day discovers that he's got magic powers. He ends up embroiled in an invisible war for the Holy Grail, which, as everyone knows, grants its owner any wish.

The computer graphic novel became so successful in Japan that it spawned a manga series and two anime series. Capcom stepped in, picked up the license, asked Eighting to make a fighting game based on it and published the result in Japanese arcades. Cue screaming otaku and much drama. Fate/unlimited codes is set in a local Japanese town where seven pairs of masters and servants (so much sexual innuendo...) compete for the coveted prize. The game eventually ended up on the PS2, and now on the PSP, albeit with a few bells and whistles.

Combat doesn't appear to be as deep as other Capcom fighters

This being a fighting game, we can forgive the silly story because it's not the point. What is the point is the fighting system. Fate plays like a cross between Soul Calibur and Tekken. It's weapon-based, so there are big swords and long sticks to slice and poke with, and the input commands generally involve double taps on the d-pad and pressing some face buttons. Sorry Street Fighter fans, quarter circles aren't the name of the game with Fate/unlimited codes.

To describe the game as Tekken with swords seems about right. The pace of the game is on the slow side, with blocking-heavy combat and health bars that take an age to deplete. The face buttons are used for light, medium and heavy attacks, and for the Reflect Guard, which allows you to block as you're moving forward. This being a 3D fighting game, you can side step by pressing medium and heavy together, and dodge with the R button.