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This thread has been linked to the game 'BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger'.
BlazBlue : Calamity Trigger is a 2D fighting game from Japanese developer Arc System Works who are best known for the Guilty Gear series. I’ll be honest I’ve never played a Guilty Gear game and after playing BlazBlue I’m beginning to think that something in gaming life may have just past me by. I have always enjoyed playing the likes of Streetfighter and Mortal Kombat as well as Namco’s Tekken and Soul Calibur games but somehow the Guilty Gear series seemed to slip under my radar.
BlazBlue features 12 characters each with their own unique ‘drive’. Drive is like a special power. For example with the use for her ‘Silpheed’ drive vampire goth girl Rachel can summon the power of the wind and using her umbrella fly from one side of the gaming area to the other like a bloodsucking version of Mary Poppins. She can also use this power to force opponents back as well as perform hovering attacks. Another example is Jin, his drive is ‘Frost Bite’. With this he can create various kinds of ice projectiles or even freeze opponents completely. This allows him to launch a series of attacks as his opponent is momentarily incapacitated.
Technically BlazBlue is extremely impressive. Its colourful anime style graphics are quite simply stunning. Its 2D sprites look almost cartoon quality, while the 3D animated backdrops give this old school game a very current gen look and feel. The animation of the characters is excellent, with no graphical glitches of any kind. Especially when you see this game running in high definition it is very hard not to be impressed by it. On the audio side BlazBlue has one of the very best video game soundtracks I can recall in recent years. From its unbelievably catchy theme to the rock opera style sound of it’s of in game background music, everything found here is just superb. The voice over’s can be a tad annoying at times but even these are not so bad. This is one of the most polished video games I have played in quite some time.
There is a decent amount of game options to be found here from the standard Arcade, Versus, Score Attack and Training modes to a surprisingly in depth Story mode and an excellent online mode. There is a different Story mode to play through for each character. Complete all of these and you can unlock 2 further story modes (for the boss characters Hakumen and V-13) as well as the hidden ‘true’ ending. If you have a taste for Japanese anime then I suspect you should have a lot of fun working through this, if not then you can skip through the text and just enjoy the fight scenes. At certain points in each player’s Story Mode you are given choices and depending on which choice you make alters the path your character takes. If you really wanted to complete 100% of each characters story then be prepared to put some serious hours in. I found the games Story Mode to be a fun diversion from the main game, especially as it is not overly difficult. But even if the Story Mode might not seem to make all that much sense at times it’s still worth playing through, although once completed I doubt many will return to it. Online the game works superbly, before each match is played your connection is synchronised to your opponents. You can choose which type of match you wish to play (Ranked or Player) as well as the skill level, locality and connection quality of your opponent. As you progress through the ranks you earn a rating which is displayed on your online gamer card. Be warned though, Europeans have been very late in getting BlazBlue (it came out last summer in the US) so there are a lot of very experienced and unbelievably good players out there. You can of course set up a room specifically for lower level players if you do not wish to play opponents who have quite obviously spent most of the last 9 months mastering this game. On the positive side, play against an opponent with similar skill level and a decent internet connection and you can enjoy the best online fighting experience yet. On the negative side most people seem to play with the same few characters. I have always felt that a feature which enforced character rotation would be a good idea when playing fighting games online. Add to all this a Gallery where you can view artwork unlocked from the game and a Replay Theatre which allows you to keep recordings of your online matches. There really is a wealth of features to be found here and these should keep most gamers busy for quite a while.
Fighting games are all about gameplay and this is one area in which BlazBlue really excels. It is very easy to pick up and play and is incredibly beginner friendly, yet mastering it will require supreme skill and patience. The basic controls are just 4 buttons : weak, medium and strong attack as well as the afore mentioned ‘Drive’ attack. The key to doing well in this game is in putting together combo’s. Simply pressing light, medium and strong attack in quick succession will create a basic combo while engaging your characters drive will unleash their inner power. Not only that but once your heat gauge has filled to the required amount you can use your ‘Easy Special’ feature. ‘Easy Special’ is where you can quite simply flick the right analogue stick (presuming you are playing on a standard controller) in the desired direction and you can pull off some pretty insane moves right from the start. As well as standard blocking you also have a barrier function. This is shown as a small yellow bar displayed right under your health bar and when engaged you can shield yourself from most attacks. But if it runs out your health bar will flash orange stating ‘Danger’, this leaves you massively susceptible to attacks. There is also a unique feature called ‘Barrier Burst’ but this is only to be used when things are going really badly. Performing a ‘Barrier Burst’ will blast your opponent away allowing you time to recover from an attack. But using it will completely drain your barrier bar and leave you in a ‘Danger’ state for the rest of the match. There is another unique function called ‘Rapid Cancel’, this allows a player to basically break mid combo and either retreat or start a completely new combo. These mentioned features are not really used until you start to get the hang of the game. The balance between beginner friendly and hardcore beat em up has been created quite superbly in BlazBlue, leaving a gaming experience that can be really enjoyed regardless of your skill level.
BlazBlue’s characters can also pull of some great (if a little over the top) finishing moves. Finishing off an opponent using one of your characters special moves will earn you a ‘Distortion Finish’. Once you have completed the Arcade Mode with a character you unlock their ‘Astral Finish’. Astral Finishes can only be done in the final round of the match when your Heat Gauge is full and your opponent has less than 20% of their health remaining. These work in very similar fashion to the ‘Fatality’ finishes in the Mortal Kombat games and Soul Calibur IV’s ‘Critical Finish’. These are nothing new but there is still nothing quite as satisfying as ending a match using one, especially if you playing against one of your friends on the same console.
BlazBlue comes equipped with 12 characters all of which are available to select right from the start.12 characters is not a great amount in my opinion, especially when compared to some other similar games. What I would say in BlazBlue’s defence is that absolutely no 2 characters are even slightly alike to play. Seriously, after thinking I was getting reasonably good with one character I tried switching to another and playing the game in a similar fashion. I can honestly say that this tactic was not a success. For example Streetfighter IV’s Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Akuma all have extremely similar moves. The same applies in Soul Calibur IV where Siegfried and Knightmare or Kilik and Seong Mi-na have more than a few passing similarities. In BlazBlue though there is no such scenario, each player is a world apart from another. Is it better to have 50 characters where many are pretty much clones of others or 12 completely unique ones where none are even remotely similar? That said I reckon a few more would not have gone amiss, say 15 or 16 different characters would have been fantastic. I would like to say that this minor gripe made me love the game a little bit less but to be honest it did not, nor did the fact that there was no Team Battle Mode (always one of my favourites for when your mates come round). There has obviously been an incredible amount of thought which has gone into every aspect of the design and creation of this video game and it really does show.
The controls have been designed to be as user friendly as possible with the D-Pad being used for standard movement and the 4 buttons used for the games 4 different types of attack. The right analogue stick is used if you wish to play with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Standard movements such as jumps, double jumps, dashes etc. are all done very easily using the standard console gamepad. Most casual gamers will be fine playing the game in this way, especially when playing the game with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Hardcore fighting game fans will no doubt wish to play the game using one of their own controllers. Again these work great with BlazBlue, even though they do not have a right stick to engage ’Easy Specials’. This will not be a great concern to hardcore beat em up fans as ‘Easy Specials’ are generally not permitted in online play. However, there is an option to set up a room which specifically allows them if required. You can always remap the button configuration and set any spare buttons to engage any of the 4 ‘Easy Specials’ which are available for each character. I have played the game using the standard Xbox 360 controller (notorious for being terrible for fighting games),a Madcatz Streetfighter IV fightpad as well a Madcatz Streetfighter IV Tournament Stick. This game can be played fine with all 3 of these options. The arcade quality Tournament Stick is unsurprisingly the best of the 3 but I would class it as a definite luxury rather than a necessity for playing BlazBlue.
As well as the standard version of BlazBlue there has also been a Limited Edition version released. The Limited Edition comes with a 100 page artwork book as well as an excellent and very helpful tutorial DVD. The Limited Edition is already in very short supply with the GAME group actually selling out of their allocation before the game had even been released. Unless you are a huge fan of Japanese anime I would not say the Limited Edition is worth paying over the odds for. The artwork book will be of limited appeal to most, while the tutorial DVD can easily be found on You Tube.
I would say you will know within 10 minutes of playing this game whether or not it is for you. It’s over the top anime style characters could be described as being an acquired taste while some of their special moves and dialogue would probably be best described as downright bonkers !. Fantastic as BlazBlue is, it maybe considered just a little too bizarre for some gamers? Last year it was looking as though European gamers may not even get to play BlazBlue. PS3 owners always had the option to import a copy from the US but the Xbox 360 version was region locked and would not play on PAL machines. Thankfully BlazBlue has finally made it’s somewhat belated appearance over on these shores and it would be a great shame if it was to disappear without a trace. As beneath its gorgeous graphics and fantastic soundtrack there lies a game which can hold it’s own against anything that Capcom or Namco have ever produced.
Even if you only have a passing interest in fighting games I can really recommend checking out this superb title.
[B]9/10[B]
BlazBlue features 12 characters each with their own unique ‘drive’. Drive is like a special power. For example with the use for her ‘Silpheed’ drive vampire goth girl Rachel can summon the power of the wind and using her umbrella fly from one side of the gaming area to the other like a bloodsucking version of Mary Poppins. She can also use this power to force opponents back as well as perform hovering attacks. Another example is Jin, his drive is ‘Frost Bite’. With this he can create various kinds of ice projectiles or even freeze opponents completely. This allows him to launch a series of attacks as his opponent is momentarily incapacitated.
Technically BlazBlue is extremely impressive. Its colourful anime style graphics are quite simply stunning. Its 2D sprites look almost cartoon quality, while the 3D animated backdrops give this old school game a very current gen look and feel. The animation of the characters is excellent, with no graphical glitches of any kind. Especially when you see this game running in high definition it is very hard not to be impressed by it. On the audio side BlazBlue has one of the very best video game soundtracks I can recall in recent years. From its unbelievably catchy theme to the rock opera style sound of it’s of in game background music, everything found here is just superb. The voice over’s can be a tad annoying at times but even these are not so bad. This is one of the most polished video games I have played in quite some time.
There is a decent amount of game options to be found here from the standard Arcade, Versus, Score Attack and Training modes to a surprisingly in depth Story mode and an excellent online mode. There is a different Story mode to play through for each character. Complete all of these and you can unlock 2 further story modes (for the boss characters Hakumen and V-13) as well as the hidden ‘true’ ending. If you have a taste for Japanese anime then I suspect you should have a lot of fun working through this, if not then you can skip through the text and just enjoy the fight scenes. At certain points in each player’s Story Mode you are given choices and depending on which choice you make alters the path your character takes. If you really wanted to complete 100% of each characters story then be prepared to put some serious hours in. I found the games Story Mode to be a fun diversion from the main game, especially as it is not overly difficult. But even if the Story Mode might not seem to make all that much sense at times it’s still worth playing through, although once completed I doubt many will return to it. Online the game works superbly, before each match is played your connection is synchronised to your opponents. You can choose which type of match you wish to play (Ranked or Player) as well as the skill level, locality and connection quality of your opponent. As you progress through the ranks you earn a rating which is displayed on your online gamer card. Be warned though, Europeans have been very late in getting BlazBlue (it came out last summer in the US) so there are a lot of very experienced and unbelievably good players out there. You can of course set up a room specifically for lower level players if you do not wish to play opponents who have quite obviously spent most of the last 9 months mastering this game. On the positive side, play against an opponent with similar skill level and a decent internet connection and you can enjoy the best online fighting experience yet. On the negative side most people seem to play with the same few characters. I have always felt that a feature which enforced character rotation would be a good idea when playing fighting games online. Add to all this a Gallery where you can view artwork unlocked from the game and a Replay Theatre which allows you to keep recordings of your online matches. There really is a wealth of features to be found here and these should keep most gamers busy for quite a while.
Fighting games are all about gameplay and this is one area in which BlazBlue really excels. It is very easy to pick up and play and is incredibly beginner friendly, yet mastering it will require supreme skill and patience. The basic controls are just 4 buttons : weak, medium and strong attack as well as the afore mentioned ‘Drive’ attack. The key to doing well in this game is in putting together combo’s. Simply pressing light, medium and strong attack in quick succession will create a basic combo while engaging your characters drive will unleash their inner power. Not only that but once your heat gauge has filled to the required amount you can use your ‘Easy Special’ feature. ‘Easy Special’ is where you can quite simply flick the right analogue stick (presuming you are playing on a standard controller) in the desired direction and you can pull off some pretty insane moves right from the start. As well as standard blocking you also have a barrier function. This is shown as a small yellow bar displayed right under your health bar and when engaged you can shield yourself from most attacks. But if it runs out your health bar will flash orange stating ‘Danger’, this leaves you massively susceptible to attacks. There is also a unique feature called ‘Barrier Burst’ but this is only to be used when things are going really badly. Performing a ‘Barrier Burst’ will blast your opponent away allowing you time to recover from an attack. But using it will completely drain your barrier bar and leave you in a ‘Danger’ state for the rest of the match. There is another unique function called ‘Rapid Cancel’, this allows a player to basically break mid combo and either retreat or start a completely new combo. These mentioned features are not really used until you start to get the hang of the game. The balance between beginner friendly and hardcore beat em up has been created quite superbly in BlazBlue, leaving a gaming experience that can be really enjoyed regardless of your skill level.
BlazBlue’s characters can also pull of some great (if a little over the top) finishing moves. Finishing off an opponent using one of your characters special moves will earn you a ‘Distortion Finish’. Once you have completed the Arcade Mode with a character you unlock their ‘Astral Finish’. Astral Finishes can only be done in the final round of the match when your Heat Gauge is full and your opponent has less than 20% of their health remaining. These work in very similar fashion to the ‘Fatality’ finishes in the Mortal Kombat games and Soul Calibur IV’s ‘Critical Finish’. These are nothing new but there is still nothing quite as satisfying as ending a match using one, especially if you playing against one of your friends on the same console.
BlazBlue comes equipped with 12 characters all of which are available to select right from the start.12 characters is not a great amount in my opinion, especially when compared to some other similar games. What I would say in BlazBlue’s defence is that absolutely no 2 characters are even slightly alike to play. Seriously, after thinking I was getting reasonably good with one character I tried switching to another and playing the game in a similar fashion. I can honestly say that this tactic was not a success. For example Streetfighter IV’s Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Akuma all have extremely similar moves. The same applies in Soul Calibur IV where Siegfried and Knightmare or Kilik and Seong Mi-na have more than a few passing similarities. In BlazBlue though there is no such scenario, each player is a world apart from another. Is it better to have 50 characters where many are pretty much clones of others or 12 completely unique ones where none are even remotely similar? That said I reckon a few more would not have gone amiss, say 15 or 16 different characters would have been fantastic. I would like to say that this minor gripe made me love the game a little bit less but to be honest it did not, nor did the fact that there was no Team Battle Mode (always one of my favourites for when your mates come round). There has obviously been an incredible amount of thought which has gone into every aspect of the design and creation of this video game and it really does show.
The controls have been designed to be as user friendly as possible with the D-Pad being used for standard movement and the 4 buttons used for the games 4 different types of attack. The right analogue stick is used if you wish to play with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Standard movements such as jumps, double jumps, dashes etc. are all done very easily using the standard console gamepad. Most casual gamers will be fine playing the game in this way, especially when playing the game with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Hardcore fighting game fans will no doubt wish to play the game using one of their own controllers. Again these work great with BlazBlue, even though they do not have a right stick to engage ’Easy Specials’. This will not be a great concern to hardcore beat em up fans as ‘Easy Specials’ are generally not permitted in online play. However, there is an option to set up a room which specifically allows them if required. You can always remap the button configuration and set any spare buttons to engage any of the 4 ‘Easy Specials’ which are available for each character. I have played the game using the standard Xbox 360 controller (notorious for being terrible for fighting games),a Madcatz Streetfighter IV fightpad as well a Madcatz Streetfighter IV Tournament Stick. This game can be played fine with all 3 of these options. The arcade quality Tournament Stick is unsurprisingly the best of the 3 but I would class it as a definite luxury rather than a necessity for playing BlazBlue.
As well as the standard version of BlazBlue there has also been a Limited Edition version released. The Limited Edition comes with a 100 page artwork book as well as an excellent and very helpful tutorial DVD. The Limited Edition is already in very short supply with the GAME group actually selling out of their allocation before the game had even been released. Unless you are a huge fan of Japanese anime I would not say the Limited Edition is worth paying over the odds for. The artwork book will be of limited appeal to most, while the tutorial DVD can easily be found on You Tube.
I would say you will know within 10 minutes of playing this game whether or not it is for you. It’s over the top anime style characters could be described as being an acquired taste while some of their special moves and dialogue would probably be best described as downright bonkers !. Fantastic as BlazBlue is, it maybe considered just a little too bizarre for some gamers? Last year it was looking as though European gamers may not even get to play BlazBlue. PS3 owners always had the option to import a copy from the US but the Xbox 360 version was region locked and would not play on PAL machines. Thankfully BlazBlue has finally made it’s somewhat belated appearance over on these shores and it would be a great shame if it was to disappear without a trace. As beneath its gorgeous graphics and fantastic soundtrack there lies a game which can hold it’s own against anything that Capcom or Namco have ever produced.
Even if you only have a passing interest in fighting games I can really recommend checking out this superb title.
[B]9/10[B]
BlazBlue : Calamity Trigger is a 2D fighting game from Japanese developer Arc System Works who are best known for the Guilty Gear series. I’ll be honest I’ve never played a Guilty Gear game and after playing BlazBlue I’m beginning to think that something in gaming life may have just past me by. I have always enjoyed playing the likes of Streetfighter and Mortal Kombat as well as Namco’s Tekken and Soul Calibur games but somehow the Guilty Gear series seemed to slip under my radar.
BlazBlue features 12 characters each with their own unique ‘drive’. Drive is like a special power. For example with the use for her ‘Silpheed’ drive vampire goth girl Rachel can summon the power of the wind and using her umbrella fly from one side of the gaming area to the other like a bloodsucking version of Mary Poppins. She can also use this power to force opponents back as well as perform hovering attacks. Another example is Jin, his drive is ‘Frost Bite’. With this he can create various kinds of ice projectiles or even freeze opponents completely. This allows him to launch a series of attacks as his opponent is momentarily incapacitated.
Technically BlazBlue is extremely impressive. Its colourful anime style graphics are quite simply stunning. Its 2D sprites look almost cartoon quality, while the 3D animated backdrops give this old school game a very current gen look and feel. The animation of the characters is excellent, with no graphical glitches of any kind. Especially when you see this game running in high definition it is very hard not to be impressed by it. On the audio side BlazBlue has one of the very best video game soundtracks I can recall in recent years. From its unbelievably catchy theme to the rock opera style sound of it’s of in game background music, everything found here is just superb. The voice over’s can be a tad annoying at times but even these are not so bad. This is one of the most polished video games I have played in quite some time.
There is a decent amount of game options to be found here from the standard Arcade, Versus, Score Attack and Training modes to a surprisingly in depth Story mode and an excellent online mode. There is a different Story mode to play through for each character. Complete all of these and you can unlock 2 further story modes (for the boss characters Hakumen and V-13) as well as the hidden ‘true’ ending. If you have a taste for Japanese anime then I suspect you should have a lot of fun working through this, if not then you can skip through the text and just enjoy the fight scenes. At certain points in each player’s Story Mode you are given choices and depending on which choice you make alters the path your character takes. If you really wanted to complete 100% of each characters story then be prepared to put some serious hours in. I found the games Story Mode to be a fun diversion from the main game, especially as it is not overly difficult. But even if the Story Mode might not seem to make all that much sense at times it’s still worth playing through, although once completed I doubt many will return to it. Online the game works superbly, before each match is played your connection is synchronised to your opponents. You can choose which type of match you wish to play (Ranked or Player) as well as the skill level, locality and connection quality of your opponent. As you progress through the ranks you earn a rating which is displayed on your online gamer card. Be warned though, Europeans have been very late in getting BlazBlue (it came out last summer in the US) so there are a lot of very experienced and unbelievably good players out there. You can of course set up a room specifically for lower level players if you do not wish to play opponents who have quite obviously spent most of the last 9 months mastering this game. On the positive side, play against an opponent with similar skill level and a decent internet connection and you can enjoy the best online fighting experience yet. On the negative side most people seem to play with the same few characters. I have always felt that a feature which enforced character rotation would be a good idea when playing fighting games online. Add to all this a Gallery where you can view artwork unlocked from the game and a Replay Theatre which allows you to keep recordings of your online matches. There really is a wealth of features to be found here and these should keep most gamers busy for quite a while.
Fighting games are all about gameplay and this is one area in which BlazBlue really excels. It is very easy to pick up and play and is incredibly beginner friendly, yet mastering it will require supreme skill and patience. The basic controls are just 4 buttons : weak, medium and strong attack as well as the afore mentioned ‘Drive’ attack. The key to doing well in this game is in putting together combo’s. Simply pressing light, medium and strong attack in quick succession will create a basic combo while engaging your characters drive will unleash their inner power. Not only that but once your heat gauge has filled to the required amount you can use your ‘Easy Special’ feature. ‘Easy Special’ is where you can quite simply flick the right analogue stick (presuming you are playing on a standard controller) in the desired direction and you can pull off some pretty insane moves right from the start. As well as standard blocking you also have a barrier function. This is shown as a small yellow bar displayed right under your health bar and when engaged you can shield yourself from most attacks. But if it runs out your health bar will flash orange stating ‘Danger’, this leaves you massively susceptible to attacks. There is also a unique feature called ‘Barrier Burst’ but this is only to be used when things are going really badly. Performing a ‘Barrier Burst’ will blast your opponent away allowing you time to recover from an attack. But using it will completely drain your barrier bar and leave you in a ‘Danger’ state for the rest of the match. There is another unique function called ‘Rapid Cancel’, this allows a player to basically break mid combo and either retreat or start a completely new combo. These mentioned features are not really used until you start to get the hang of the game. The balance between beginner friendly and hardcore beat em up has been created quite superbly in BlazBlue, leaving a gaming experience that can be really enjoyed regardless of your skill level.
BlazBlue’s characters can also pull of some great (if a little over the top) finishing moves. Finishing off an opponent using one of your characters special moves will earn you a ‘Distortion Finish’. Once you have completed the Arcade Mode with a character you unlock their ‘Astral Finish’. Astral Finishes can only be done in the final round of the match when your Heat Gauge is full and your opponent has less than 20% of their health remaining. These work in very similar fashion to the ‘Fatality’ finishes in the Mortal Kombat games and Soul Calibur IV’s ‘Critical Finish’. These are nothing new but there is still nothing quite as satisfying as ending a match using one, especially if you playing against one of your friends on the same console.
BlazBlue comes equipped with 12 characters all of which are available to select right from the start.12 characters is not a great amount in my opinion, especially when compared to some other similar games. What I would say in BlazBlue’s defence is that absolutely no 2 characters are even slightly alike to play. Seriously, after thinking I was getting reasonably good with one character I tried switching to another and playing the game in a similar fashion. I can honestly say that this tactic was not a success. For example Streetfighter IV’s Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Akuma all have extremely similar moves. The same applies in Soul Calibur IV where Siegfried and Knightmare or Kilik and Seong Mi-na have more than a few passing similarities. In BlazBlue though there is no such scenario, each player is a world apart from another. Is it better to have 50 characters where many are pretty much clones of others or 12 completely unique ones where none are even remotely similar? That said I reckon a few more would not have gone amiss, say 15 or 16 different characters would have been fantastic. I would like to say that this minor gripe made me love the game a little bit less but to be honest it did not, nor did the fact that there was no Team Battle Mode (always one of my favourites for when your mates come round). There has obviously been an incredible amount of thought which has gone into every aspect of the design and creation of this video game and it really does show.
The controls have been designed to be as user friendly as possible with the D-Pad being used for standard movement and the 4 buttons used for the games 4 different types of attack. The right analogue stick is used if you wish to play with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Standard movements such as jumps, double jumps, dashes etc. are all done very easily using the standard console gamepad. Most casual gamers will be fine playing the game in this way, especially when playing the game with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Hardcore fighting game fans will no doubt wish to play the game using one of their own controllers. Again these work great with BlazBlue, even though they do not have a right stick to engage ’Easy Specials’. This will not be a great concern to hardcore beat em up fans as ‘Easy Specials’ are generally not permitted in online play. However, there is an option to set up a room which specifically allows them if required. You can always remap the button configuration and set any spare buttons to engage any of the 4 ‘Easy Specials’ which are available for each character. I have played the game using the standard Xbox 360 controller (notorious for being terrible for fighting games),a Madcatz Streetfighter IV fightpad as well a Madcatz Streetfighter IV Tournament Stick. This game can be played fine with all 3 of these options. The arcade quality Tournament Stick is unsurprisingly the best of the 3 but I would class it as a definite luxury rather than a necessity for playing BlazBlue.
As well as the standard version of BlazBlue there has also been a Limited Edition version released. The Limited Edition comes with a 100 page artwork book as well as an excellent and very helpful tutorial DVD. The Limited Edition is already in very short supply with the GAME group actually selling out of their allocation before the game had even been released. Unless you are a huge fan of Japanese anime I would not say the Limited Edition is worth paying over the odds for. The artwork book will be of limited appeal to most, while the tutorial DVD can easily be found on You Tube.
I would say you will know within 10 minutes of playing this game whether or not it is for you. It’s over the top anime style characters could be described as being an acquired taste while some of their special moves and dialogue would probably be best described as downright bonkers !. Fantastic as BlazBlue is, it maybe considered just a little too bizarre for some gamers? Last year it was looking as though European gamers may not even get to play BlazBlue. PS3 owners always had the option to import a copy from the US but the Xbox 360 version was region locked and would not play on PAL machines. Thankfully BlazBlue has finally made it’s somewhat belated appearance over on these shores and it would be a great shame if it was to disappear without a trace. As beneath its gorgeous graphics and fantastic soundtrack there lies a game which can hold it’s own against anything that Capcom or Namco have ever produced.
Even if you only have a passing interest in fighting games I can really recommend checking out this superb title.
[B]9/10[B]
BlazBlue features 12 characters each with their own unique ‘drive’. Drive is like a special power. For example with the use for her ‘Silpheed’ drive vampire goth girl Rachel can summon the power of the wind and using her umbrella fly from one side of the gaming area to the other like a bloodsucking version of Mary Poppins. She can also use this power to force opponents back as well as perform hovering attacks. Another example is Jin, his drive is ‘Frost Bite’. With this he can create various kinds of ice projectiles or even freeze opponents completely. This allows him to launch a series of attacks as his opponent is momentarily incapacitated.
Technically BlazBlue is extremely impressive. Its colourful anime style graphics are quite simply stunning. Its 2D sprites look almost cartoon quality, while the 3D animated backdrops give this old school game a very current gen look and feel. The animation of the characters is excellent, with no graphical glitches of any kind. Especially when you see this game running in high definition it is very hard not to be impressed by it. On the audio side BlazBlue has one of the very best video game soundtracks I can recall in recent years. From its unbelievably catchy theme to the rock opera style sound of it’s of in game background music, everything found here is just superb. The voice over’s can be a tad annoying at times but even these are not so bad. This is one of the most polished video games I have played in quite some time.
There is a decent amount of game options to be found here from the standard Arcade, Versus, Score Attack and Training modes to a surprisingly in depth Story mode and an excellent online mode. There is a different Story mode to play through for each character. Complete all of these and you can unlock 2 further story modes (for the boss characters Hakumen and V-13) as well as the hidden ‘true’ ending. If you have a taste for Japanese anime then I suspect you should have a lot of fun working through this, if not then you can skip through the text and just enjoy the fight scenes. At certain points in each player’s Story Mode you are given choices and depending on which choice you make alters the path your character takes. If you really wanted to complete 100% of each characters story then be prepared to put some serious hours in. I found the games Story Mode to be a fun diversion from the main game, especially as it is not overly difficult. But even if the Story Mode might not seem to make all that much sense at times it’s still worth playing through, although once completed I doubt many will return to it. Online the game works superbly, before each match is played your connection is synchronised to your opponents. You can choose which type of match you wish to play (Ranked or Player) as well as the skill level, locality and connection quality of your opponent. As you progress through the ranks you earn a rating which is displayed on your online gamer card. Be warned though, Europeans have been very late in getting BlazBlue (it came out last summer in the US) so there are a lot of very experienced and unbelievably good players out there. You can of course set up a room specifically for lower level players if you do not wish to play opponents who have quite obviously spent most of the last 9 months mastering this game. On the positive side, play against an opponent with similar skill level and a decent internet connection and you can enjoy the best online fighting experience yet. On the negative side most people seem to play with the same few characters. I have always felt that a feature which enforced character rotation would be a good idea when playing fighting games online. Add to all this a Gallery where you can view artwork unlocked from the game and a Replay Theatre which allows you to keep recordings of your online matches. There really is a wealth of features to be found here and these should keep most gamers busy for quite a while.
Fighting games are all about gameplay and this is one area in which BlazBlue really excels. It is very easy to pick up and play and is incredibly beginner friendly, yet mastering it will require supreme skill and patience. The basic controls are just 4 buttons : weak, medium and strong attack as well as the afore mentioned ‘Drive’ attack. The key to doing well in this game is in putting together combo’s. Simply pressing light, medium and strong attack in quick succession will create a basic combo while engaging your characters drive will unleash their inner power. Not only that but once your heat gauge has filled to the required amount you can use your ‘Easy Special’ feature. ‘Easy Special’ is where you can quite simply flick the right analogue stick (presuming you are playing on a standard controller) in the desired direction and you can pull off some pretty insane moves right from the start. As well as standard blocking you also have a barrier function. This is shown as a small yellow bar displayed right under your health bar and when engaged you can shield yourself from most attacks. But if it runs out your health bar will flash orange stating ‘Danger’, this leaves you massively susceptible to attacks. There is also a unique feature called ‘Barrier Burst’ but this is only to be used when things are going really badly. Performing a ‘Barrier Burst’ will blast your opponent away allowing you time to recover from an attack. But using it will completely drain your barrier bar and leave you in a ‘Danger’ state for the rest of the match. There is another unique function called ‘Rapid Cancel’, this allows a player to basically break mid combo and either retreat or start a completely new combo. These mentioned features are not really used until you start to get the hang of the game. The balance between beginner friendly and hardcore beat em up has been created quite superbly in BlazBlue, leaving a gaming experience that can be really enjoyed regardless of your skill level.
BlazBlue’s characters can also pull of some great (if a little over the top) finishing moves. Finishing off an opponent using one of your characters special moves will earn you a ‘Distortion Finish’. Once you have completed the Arcade Mode with a character you unlock their ‘Astral Finish’. Astral Finishes can only be done in the final round of the match when your Heat Gauge is full and your opponent has less than 20% of their health remaining. These work in very similar fashion to the ‘Fatality’ finishes in the Mortal Kombat games and Soul Calibur IV’s ‘Critical Finish’. These are nothing new but there is still nothing quite as satisfying as ending a match using one, especially if you playing against one of your friends on the same console.
BlazBlue comes equipped with 12 characters all of which are available to select right from the start.12 characters is not a great amount in my opinion, especially when compared to some other similar games. What I would say in BlazBlue’s defence is that absolutely no 2 characters are even slightly alike to play. Seriously, after thinking I was getting reasonably good with one character I tried switching to another and playing the game in a similar fashion. I can honestly say that this tactic was not a success. For example Streetfighter IV’s Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Akuma all have extremely similar moves. The same applies in Soul Calibur IV where Siegfried and Knightmare or Kilik and Seong Mi-na have more than a few passing similarities. In BlazBlue though there is no such scenario, each player is a world apart from another. Is it better to have 50 characters where many are pretty much clones of others or 12 completely unique ones where none are even remotely similar? That said I reckon a few more would not have gone amiss, say 15 or 16 different characters would have been fantastic. I would like to say that this minor gripe made me love the game a little bit less but to be honest it did not, nor did the fact that there was no Team Battle Mode (always one of my favourites for when your mates come round). There has obviously been an incredible amount of thought which has gone into every aspect of the design and creation of this video game and it really does show.
The controls have been designed to be as user friendly as possible with the D-Pad being used for standard movement and the 4 buttons used for the games 4 different types of attack. The right analogue stick is used if you wish to play with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Standard movements such as jumps, double jumps, dashes etc. are all done very easily using the standard console gamepad. Most casual gamers will be fine playing the game in this way, especially when playing the game with the ‘Easy Specials’ feature enabled. Hardcore fighting game fans will no doubt wish to play the game using one of their own controllers. Again these work great with BlazBlue, even though they do not have a right stick to engage ’Easy Specials’. This will not be a great concern to hardcore beat em up fans as ‘Easy Specials’ are generally not permitted in online play. However, there is an option to set up a room which specifically allows them if required. You can always remap the button configuration and set any spare buttons to engage any of the 4 ‘Easy Specials’ which are available for each character. I have played the game using the standard Xbox 360 controller (notorious for being terrible for fighting games),a Madcatz Streetfighter IV fightpad as well a Madcatz Streetfighter IV Tournament Stick. This game can be played fine with all 3 of these options. The arcade quality Tournament Stick is unsurprisingly the best of the 3 but I would class it as a definite luxury rather than a necessity for playing BlazBlue.
As well as the standard version of BlazBlue there has also been a Limited Edition version released. The Limited Edition comes with a 100 page artwork book as well as an excellent and very helpful tutorial DVD. The Limited Edition is already in very short supply with the GAME group actually selling out of their allocation before the game had even been released. Unless you are a huge fan of Japanese anime I would not say the Limited Edition is worth paying over the odds for. The artwork book will be of limited appeal to most, while the tutorial DVD can easily be found on You Tube.
I would say you will know within 10 minutes of playing this game whether or not it is for you. It’s over the top anime style characters could be described as being an acquired taste while some of their special moves and dialogue would probably be best described as downright bonkers !. Fantastic as BlazBlue is, it maybe considered just a little too bizarre for some gamers? Last year it was looking as though European gamers may not even get to play BlazBlue. PS3 owners always had the option to import a copy from the US but the Xbox 360 version was region locked and would not play on PAL machines. Thankfully BlazBlue has finally made it’s somewhat belated appearance over on these shores and it would be a great shame if it was to disappear without a trace. As beneath its gorgeous graphics and fantastic soundtrack there lies a game which can hold it’s own against anything that Capcom or Namco have ever produced.
Even if you only have a passing interest in fighting games I can really recommend checking out this superb title.
[B]9/10[B]
Great review, Pete.
It sounds completely mad and I'd certainly like to have a go but still not sure it's something for me. The Anime style and mad plot would actually encourage me to buy it though!
It sounds completely mad and I'd certainly like to have a go but still not sure it's something for me. The Anime style and mad plot would actually encourage me to buy it though!
Cheers pb,
Spent ages trying to cover every aspect of the game in the review and it wasn't until I posted it that I realised I had actually wrote a mini novel !
I would really recommend giving BlazBlue a try,it;s worth a rent at the very least.It's bonkers yet brilliant and has a certain style and charm rarely seen in video games these days.Although what is essentially a 2D fighter might not seem like being something you might want to stick on the top of your must have list,it throws more than enough new ideas into the mix to make it worthy of consideration.After all in what other game would you get the characters saying things like 'Here I Come Boobie Lady !'.
Spent ages trying to cover every aspect of the game in the review and it wasn't until I posted it that I realised I had actually wrote a mini novel !
I would really recommend giving BlazBlue a try,it;s worth a rent at the very least.It's bonkers yet brilliant and has a certain style and charm rarely seen in video games these days.Although what is essentially a 2D fighter might not seem like being something you might want to stick on the top of your must have list,it throws more than enough new ideas into the mix to make it worthy of consideration.After all in what other game would you get the characters saying things like 'Here I Come Boobie Lady !'.
Just posted a couple of links for this over in the Games Bargain thread if anyone was after a copy.It's £22.99 on PS3 and £21.86 on Xbox 360.