(LAST UPDATE: 9/8/09)
Developer(s): Arc
System Works
Publisher(s): Arc System Works, Aksys Games (NA)
Designer(s): Toshimichi Mori, Yuuki Katou
Platform(s): Arcade,
Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release: November
2008 (Arcade), June 30th, 2009 (PS3/360)
Characters: Ragna
The Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi,
Noel Vermillion, Bang
Shishigami, Iron Tager, Arakune,
Rachel Alucard, Litchi Faye Ling, Carl Clover,
Taokaka, Haku-Men, V
No.13
Related Games: Blazblue: Continuum Shift,
Sengoku
Basara X, Hokuto No Ken, Battle
Fantasia, Guilty Gear X
Story: Before the events of BlazBlue, humanity was on the verge of extinction from the "Black Beast", a creature of Darkness. The world was saved by six heroes who wielded magic. They helped humanity create "Armagus", a fusion of magic and technology, to defeat the Beast.
After the war, the Novus Orbis Librarium Armagus (the Library for short) was created to govern the world with the use of Armagus. A great deal of dissent was caused by the Library, partly due to Armagus' use in nearly every facet of society, and the widening socioeconomic gap between those who could and couldn't use Armagus. This dissent would eventually form years later into The Ikaruga Civil War, when the Ikaruga Union openly rebelled against the Library. After the war, the Library imposed a harsher rule on the world, punishing any rebellion against the Library with the death penalty.
On December A.D. 2199, several years after the Ikaruga Civil War, a branch
of the Library was utterly destroyed by an SS-class traitor named "Ragna
the Bloodedge" also known as "The God of Death", in an attempt to destroy
the entire Libary. The Novus Orbis Librarium Armagus, hoping to stop him,
immediately put the largest bounty ever for anyone who could capture him.
Interestingly, Ragna possessed a powerful form of Armagus known as the
"Azure Grimoire" (Grimoire of the Blue in Japan), also known as the BlazBlue.
This led to the Librarium, as well as the Ikaruga Union and other fighters,
to be after not just his bounty, but also his grimoire.
Review: Running
on Tatio's Type X2 arcade board, Blazblue is Arc System Works' newest gem
of a 2D fighting game... It has nothing to do
with the Guilty Gear series as far as storylines go, but both the
gameplay & character designs are closely reminiscent of Arc System Works'
original fighting game series. Blazblue launches with a respectable 12
characters (each with 12 color variations), a nice variety of gorgeously designed stages, and a
metal/techno/opera
soundtrack that (thankfully) exceeds the guitar-thrashings of Guilty Gears... Some of the tracks are actually quite
catchy actually, which makes the collector's edition soundtrack a sweet
addition to the home package! Unlike the arcade version, the home versions of Blazblue introduce
a multi-path, fully-voiced Story Mode (either in English or Japanese) for each
character, Online Multiplayer, and
an all new animated into by anime studio GONZO.
Like the long-running Guilty Gear X series, Blazblue's
gameplay is
blistering fast... It takes some getting used to, especially if you've been
playing the likes of Street Fighter IV over the last
several months. On that note, Blazblue is a very different kind of 2D fighting game
and is as far from "traditional" as it gets... Of course the staple
life bars and super meters are present, but that's where the similarities abruptly
end. First, you have to wrap your head around the bizarre and intricately
detailed anime-style character designs... They are a unique bunch indeed. Seems like
Arc System Works put every ounce of effort to make these characters stand out as
original fighting game characters, from the way they look to the way they
fight (and they did a pretty good job overall)! Each character has a distinctly different playing style, and overall
balance out the game incredibly well. Some characters can attack from tons
of different angles, which allows players to really "mix-it-up" and be
creative with their attacks. The "freedom" that Blazblue's
gameplay system gives players can both be looked at as a "good"
and a "bad" thing... It really all depends on what kind of 2D fighting
game you fancy.
Blazblue has 4 main attack buttons... A weak attack, medium attack,
strong attack, and a fourth "do-something-cool" button that greatly
differs depending on the character. For experienced & non-experienced
fighting game players players alike, it's easy to jump right in and start
pulling off sweet looking special moves & even combos, almost making it look
like you know what you're doing (even if you don't). 
Taokaka for instance, can fly all around the screen using only one button
and holding the directional pad in a specific direction. Comparatively, in games
like Marvel VS Capcom 2, you actually had to
"know" how to do that sort of stuff. 
With Blazblue, air dashing and
triangle jumping seems like child's-play in some cases. Blazblue's user-friendly control scheme and fairly straight forward move-sets
makes it an easy fighting game to pick up and enjoy for players of all
levels, but of course, offers a much deeper gameplay
experience that requires a lot of practice to master.
Blazblue is indeed an all new fighting game to "most of
us" who picked it up on PS3 or 360, since it didn't exactly have a widespread
North American release (for the record). The special move commands are familiar
enough to get a hold of rather quickly, but learning how to combo, cancel, and
actually use each character effectively will take some dedication... Some of the more
dynamic gameplay mechanics include offensive and defensive techniques like Rapid
Cancel, Instant Block, Barrier Block, Barrier Burst, etc. Not all techniques
have to be mastered to enjoy the game casually, but there is a lot to learn if
you're a new player and want to jump online without getting destroyed. Each character has a good variety of super moves
(distortion drive), and also an Astral Heat, which is an instant-kill move that
can only be used in the last round of a battle. To use an Astral Heat, your
opponent must have less than 20% of their life left, and your Heat Gauge must be
at 100%.
Finally, if you
haven't figured it out yet, Blazblue looks amazing both in motion and
standing still. Featuring 2D sprites even larger than those seen in the Guilty
Gear X series, Blazblue
currently holds the title for the "biggest 2D sprites" ever
in a 2D fighting game (or video game for that matter). The character sprites in motion are also
more fluid than
their Guilty Gear X predecessors... Arc System Works really stepped their
game up in the animation department! The 3D stages with 2D elements also look
outstanding, each stage featuring an intro as the camera "scales
back" to the plane that the fighters are on... An impressive effect that
nicely shows off the high-resolution sprites! Blazblue is a work of art in motion, and is an improvement over Guilty Gear X
in almost every way... Indeed one of the best looking 2D fighters of all
time.
The attention to detail in Blazblue does not go unnoticed,
and I'm not only talking about the graphics. "Character specific" dialogue
before the fight in character intros, during the fight with their
special moves (which is offers some much appreciated variety), and even after the
fight in each characters win quote (all of which fully voiced) takes character
interactions to a new level. Blazblue's characters really seem to have
relationships with one another, which is shown in even more detail with the
games multi-path Story Mode (which takes a good 30+ hours to complete). The
voice-overs in the Story Mode are done exceptionally well both in English &
Japanese, and the slow pacing of the story really contrasts the game's insanely
fast gameplay. It's nice to step out of the game for a while, and take a
breather with the Story Mode... The actual story is a mixed bag, some moments
slow & boring, though others will make you laugh out loud... In any case, the
artwork within story mode (and in the entire game) is stunning, and some of the
best in-game fighting game artwork I've seen in quite some time.
The Network Mode is actually one of the best fighting game online
modes to date... Blazblue's solid netcode keeps lag to a minimum, and
sometimes non-existent all together!!! The staple Quick Match, Ranked Match, Custom Match, &
Player Match are all there to mix things up online. The Ranked match is a strict two players per
session, where you'll go up against a random opponent (which makes sense,
stopping the potential cheaters). With Player match, up to six players
can join one room and there are even quite a few room options such as:
Voice chat on/off, easy specials on/off, match rotation type, connection quality
'importance', astral heats on/off, etc! Another appreciated feature is the
Replay Theater... Along with being able to record your matches & your
friends' matches after every online battle, you can even download replay data from
players... Pretty sweet! Each online player also has a slick ID card, which shows your online
rank/level, your win/loss record, and even the two characters you pick the most.
Even though I wouldn't consider myself "skilled" at this game yet,
it's been a blast playing online so far... There's some tough competition
on PSN!
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- Review is for PS3 version of Blazblue - |
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Closing Comment:
While not nearly as conventional as other 2D fighting games of 2009, Blazblue
offers an exceptional gameplay experience in it's own right. Visually, Blazblue
is what I'd call a "role-model" next-gen 2D
fighting game, proving once again that 2D fighting games are here to
stay. 
As a more casual fan of the Guilty Gear X series, I have to
say I've actually enjoyed Blazblue a bit more than it's predecessor. I find
myself liking a lot of the character designs, though Blazblue's characters are a
bit "gimmicky" in terms of how they fight and the combo possibilities. The "out-of-control", yet controllable-with-practice
gameplay is a
is intriguing enough to try to learn, but overall a bit too 'off-the-wall' for my
fighting game purist tastes.
A bold new franchise like this among a year of
"sequels" is refreshing... Needless to say, this is a successful
beginning of a major new series by Arc System Works, and I'm already looking
forward to the sequel and wonder what new character designs they have in store. 
So
far, I'm
enjoying taking my time with the strangely absorbing Story mode, and playing online
casually with friends... Good stuff Arc
System Works, I wouldn't expect any less!!! Love the artwork!!! ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG
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