My second review, and written a little hastily during a break from the game.
BlazBlue: The Calamity Trigger
Overview:
BlazBlue is the latest game from Arc Games, the same people that brought us Guilty Gear. In fact, BlazBlue is considered the spiritual successor to the popular Guilty Gear series. The question then becomes; does BlazBlue live up to its elders?
BlazBlue is a 2D fighting game that features fast paced action and flashy visuals. It features an assortment of characters across a wide array of levels.
Story:
Yes, there is a story, and it is surprisingly fleshed out. I'll avoid spoilers but suffice it to say it is a lot of fun. There is an arcade mode where you fight 10 enemies with character dialogue and in game quips along the way. (If you fight as a character with a history with your opponent your in game quotes will change to reflect that which is fun to hear.)
Then there is story mode. Starting story mode you are greeted with a rather lengthy cutscene drawn in a Japanese anime style with narrated words done with real voice actors. As you progress through story mode with your chosen character each fight is flanked by more scenes and dialogues involving you and the characters you meet along the way, with every line spoken by a character voiced by a relatively competent actor.
In fact, the story mode in this game operates very similarly to the Guilty Gear story. You follow along with the dialogues and occasionally make a choice in actions that changes your story. The game keeps track of which paths you have chosen so to get 100% completion for a characters story you have to go back and make the choices that you didn't on previous runs through.
Graphics:
The first thing you'll probably notice about the game is that it looks very crisp and detailed. As I mentioned before it is done in an anime style. Both the characters and the stages give the feeling of being lovingly crafted to seem stylish yet unique. The animations are clean and the whole game sports a vibrant color scheme.
All of the characters are unique, visually and technically. Many of the stereotypes of Japanese anime make debuts; Ragna the Bloodedge (the main character, as well as the new Sol Badguy) sports spiky silver hair and a red jacket festooned with belts. Iron Tager is a ridiculously bemuscled behemoth (essentially the new Potemkin). If you don't mind this then you're in for a treat with the array of colorful characters on display in this game.
The stages are strictly cosmetic, as opposed to other games such as Super Smash Brothers. The only thing to mention is their design, which is just as good as the other visuals in the game. From Rachel Alucard's field of roses outside her mansion to the Librarium Cathedral the backgrounds are crammed with details that you can spy if you're willing to take your fight off of your opponent for a precious second or two.
With all of this praising it is important to mention that this is where the game has, in my opinion, its biggest problem. With the flashy fighting, characters, and backgrounds the game can suffer from being very cluttered. The game can be called almost too stylized. Every move flashes across the screen and you might find yourself losing your character in all the mayhem.
Gameplay:
If you've played the Guilty Gear games you'll feel a certain initial familiarity with BlazBlue. It moves fast and fluidly and shares many of the button combinations with the older games, however the similarities are really only skin deep.
The game moves more slowly then Guilty Gear, and in doing so puts more emphasis on timing and execution then faking enemies out and approaching the enemy quickly. Each character has a standard weak, medium, and strong attack. In addition each character has what is called a drive button. Drive attacks are unique moves possessed by every character that adds new and unique function to each character.
An example is the character Carl Clover. He has low attack, low defense and mediocre attacks. However, his drive button activates his automaton Nirvana. As long as you hold down the button you can control Nirvana and attack enemies. Contrast this with the character Taokaka; she uses a fairly typical fast attack scheme, but her drive attack will send her very quickly across the screen in a chosen direction. This dive can be combo'd off of or canceled early to confuse your opponent. This gives every character a very unique feel and makes it fairly challenging to learn everyone.
Things to Look For:
- More story then most fighting games, and surprisingly it doesn't suck like the Tekken story and isn't just a "Crazy company/villain throws a tournament for the fate of the world." (a la Tekken, Virtua Fighter etc. etc.)
- The characters are incredibly varied and very fun to play. Added to the story it gives the game a good amount of replay value.
- It ISN'T just a carbon copy of the Guilty Gear fighting system.
Things to Steer Clear From:
- The screen can occasionally become very cluttered, or confusing making it difficult to follow your character, or the opponent in the mayhem.
- The game feels very stylized with the character designs. If you can't get over the anime feel then you might find yourself unable to really enjoy the game.
If you are a fan of fighting games and don't mind anime (or at least don't hate it) definitely check out the fast paced action of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger!
BlazBlue: The Calamity Trigger
Overview:
BlazBlue is the latest game from Arc Games, the same people that brought us Guilty Gear. In fact, BlazBlue is considered the spiritual successor to the popular Guilty Gear series. The question then becomes; does BlazBlue live up to its elders?
BlazBlue is a 2D fighting game that features fast paced action and flashy visuals. It features an assortment of characters across a wide array of levels.
Story:
Yes, there is a story, and it is surprisingly fleshed out. I'll avoid spoilers but suffice it to say it is a lot of fun. There is an arcade mode where you fight 10 enemies with character dialogue and in game quips along the way. (If you fight as a character with a history with your opponent your in game quotes will change to reflect that which is fun to hear.)
Then there is story mode. Starting story mode you are greeted with a rather lengthy cutscene drawn in a Japanese anime style with narrated words done with real voice actors. As you progress through story mode with your chosen character each fight is flanked by more scenes and dialogues involving you and the characters you meet along the way, with every line spoken by a character voiced by a relatively competent actor.
In fact, the story mode in this game operates very similarly to the Guilty Gear story. You follow along with the dialogues and occasionally make a choice in actions that changes your story. The game keeps track of which paths you have chosen so to get 100% completion for a characters story you have to go back and make the choices that you didn't on previous runs through.
Graphics:
The first thing you'll probably notice about the game is that it looks very crisp and detailed. As I mentioned before it is done in an anime style. Both the characters and the stages give the feeling of being lovingly crafted to seem stylish yet unique. The animations are clean and the whole game sports a vibrant color scheme.
All of the characters are unique, visually and technically. Many of the stereotypes of Japanese anime make debuts; Ragna the Bloodedge (the main character, as well as the new Sol Badguy) sports spiky silver hair and a red jacket festooned with belts. Iron Tager is a ridiculously bemuscled behemoth (essentially the new Potemkin). If you don't mind this then you're in for a treat with the array of colorful characters on display in this game.
The stages are strictly cosmetic, as opposed to other games such as Super Smash Brothers. The only thing to mention is their design, which is just as good as the other visuals in the game. From Rachel Alucard's field of roses outside her mansion to the Librarium Cathedral the backgrounds are crammed with details that you can spy if you're willing to take your fight off of your opponent for a precious second or two.
With all of this praising it is important to mention that this is where the game has, in my opinion, its biggest problem. With the flashy fighting, characters, and backgrounds the game can suffer from being very cluttered. The game can be called almost too stylized. Every move flashes across the screen and you might find yourself losing your character in all the mayhem.
Gameplay:
If you've played the Guilty Gear games you'll feel a certain initial familiarity with BlazBlue. It moves fast and fluidly and shares many of the button combinations with the older games, however the similarities are really only skin deep.
The game moves more slowly then Guilty Gear, and in doing so puts more emphasis on timing and execution then faking enemies out and approaching the enemy quickly. Each character has a standard weak, medium, and strong attack. In addition each character has what is called a drive button. Drive attacks are unique moves possessed by every character that adds new and unique function to each character.
An example is the character Carl Clover. He has low attack, low defense and mediocre attacks. However, his drive button activates his automaton Nirvana. As long as you hold down the button you can control Nirvana and attack enemies. Contrast this with the character Taokaka; she uses a fairly typical fast attack scheme, but her drive attack will send her very quickly across the screen in a chosen direction. This dive can be combo'd off of or canceled early to confuse your opponent. This gives every character a very unique feel and makes it fairly challenging to learn everyone.
Things to Look For:
- More story then most fighting games, and surprisingly it doesn't suck like the Tekken story and isn't just a "Crazy company/villain throws a tournament for the fate of the world." (a la Tekken, Virtua Fighter etc. etc.)
- The characters are incredibly varied and very fun to play. Added to the story it gives the game a good amount of replay value.
- It ISN'T just a carbon copy of the Guilty Gear fighting system.
Things to Steer Clear From:
- The screen can occasionally become very cluttered, or confusing making it difficult to follow your character, or the opponent in the mayhem.
- The game feels very stylized with the character designs. If you can't get over the anime feel then you might find yourself unable to really enjoy the game.
If you are a fan of fighting games and don't mind anime (or at least don't hate it) definitely check out the fast paced action of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger!
