There's a line in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny that accurately describes the overall experience. In the single-player Gauntlet Mode, this text appears: "Warning: This story is based on obscure fables and does not accurately represent the Soulcalibur history!"

That's true. Usually, in Soulcalibur games, there is a Story mode that sets up the motivations driving each fighter, and an Arcade mode that puts you in match after match until you fight a boss to end the whole thing. These modes give you a sense of grounding in the characters -- of taking them on a journey. None of that appears in Broken Destiny.

Kratos unleashes the attack dubbed Crotch From Above.

But you're still getting what you expect out of a Soulcalibur game: one of the best fighting engines around and an international cast of medieval-weapon wielders. The complex system of moves, counters, armor breaks and Critical Finishes comes to the PSP fully intact, as do online play, a plethora of weapons and very robust character creation. Broken Destiny also keeps up Namco's reputation for pumping out some of the most dazzling efforts on the PSP, in terms of speed and graphical sizzle.

What is really different here is the game's attitude. Though persistently confusing, the Soulcalibur mythos has always been meant as an epic sweep. Arthurian motifs! Wandering Chinese warrior legends! Feudal samurai bushido! Greco-Roman adventure! If your culture's got a martial mythology, then we'll try to fit 'em in! There is an ambition that's endearing in a middle-school kind of way.

Broken Destiny is more of an experiment. Unlike in the console versions, all characters are unlocked from the start, and there is no Story Mode to speak of, not even a paper-thin plot to propel each warrior through the matches. If you're playing as Siegfried in Broken Destiny, don't expect any new info on the German knight's quest to redeem his patricide and past sins. You're not playing as Maxi; you're borrowing Maxi's form to play with.

Master thief Dampierre has a pensive moment as he wonders what trinket he'll steal next.

Whereas the Team Soul development studio contorted itself vigorously to explain the appearance of Lord Vader and Yoda in Soulcalibur IV, it is doing no such thing with Kratos. There's an assumption that you know about Kratos from Sony's blockbuster God of War series. In the event that you don't, he's still a surly shouter armed with twin chained blades and a wicked mad-on for the Gods of Olympus. Team Soul has done its homework, though, and made Kratos a formidable foe. Used properly, he'll unleash Icarus wings, lightning attacks and familiar combos from his own series to send opponents straight to Hades. He hasn't been nerfed at all.

If anybody gets a story spotlight in Broken Destiny, it's the other new combatant, Dampierre, a con man/thief with a massive waxed mustache. The foppish dandy wields two daggers concealed in his sleeves and fights with a mincing style, referring to himself as Le Bello. He's a cowardly rogue in the vein of Captain Jack Sparrow; he can fight but doesn't seem to want to. He's the polar opposite of Kratos, a finely-aged cheeseball.

Broken Destiny is really Dampierre's tale. Every new honor you earn in the Trials mode or Gauntlet mode adds another piece of Dampierre's backstory into the game. As an experience, piecing together a story like this feels disjointed, like trying to fit pieces of broken glass back into a mirror frame. Dampierre is a charming enough character, but you don't have reason to care about his story.

The Gauntlet mode, which puts you on a quest searching for ingredients to cure an ailing king, marks the game's closest attempt at sustained narrative. It's built of two- and three-second rounds in which you need to execute specific commands or strategies. These instances are over quickly, and there is a lot of text that attempts to create a role-playing vibe, but the whole thing feels like a glorified, tongue-in-cheek training mode.

Nightmare's evil combat prowess is fueled by the worst case of acid reflux the Dark Ages have ever seen.

The fighting genre's not necessarily one that needs to experiment with storytelling. Plot is never the main motivator; competition is. You're really playing to earn a high score or to emerge victorious, not to find out who Dampierre's going to pull a fast one on next.

Broken Destiny is an odd entry in the Soulcalibur franchise. While there is no propulsive single-player mode to suck players in, as in other versions, the fighting is just as good as ever. The action is easy to pick up, and the multilayered fighting engine lets players of varying skills thrash their way through fights yet always feel evenly matched.

The attempts to build some sort of meta-narrative around the fighting do come off as clumsy, but I'm giving Team Soul the benefit of the doubt for experimenting a little bit. Years from now, when players look back at the annals of Soulcalibur history, Broken Destiny may be regarded as an apocryphal tale. But the gods smiled on it anyway.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.