BlazBlue Review
I've played many fighting games over the years and Blazblue is by far the best one I've ever played. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a hardcore fighting game player. I just play fighting games for fun, and my favorite fighting games are those that make me feel like a badass while I'm kicking ass. Blazblue delivers this in spades. It's accessible to beginners and very cool to watch while being deep enough to satisfy the hardcore audience.
Blazblue is the most accessible fighter I've played. The biggest barrier to entry into fighting games for me is pulling off specials. Because of a disability that effects my manual dexterity, pulling off dragon punches, spinning piledrivers, and fireballs is a challenge that inhibits me from enjoying myself. With Blazblue, a special move can be as easy as a flick of the right stick, which will allow beginners and others who lack motor skills to have a shot at winning, and, more importantly, to have fun while doing it. The rest of the mechanics of the fighting system are simplified as well. Blazblue makes use of a four button system. Three buttons control light, medium, and heavy attacks, and the fourth button controls a character specific power.
Along with this comes the aforementioned right stick, or "easy stick", with which the player can execute each character's special moves by flicking the stick in one of four directions. I believe it is the simplified controls that make Blazblue accessible to the casual audience. Fighting games such as Street Fighter downright require arcade sticks to be effective, but Blazblue's set up makes it easier on pad users. Casual gamers probably won't have an arcade stick, so the "easy stick" feature and the four button setup make it easy on them to execute the advanced moves. This is not to say Blazblue is strictly a game for noobs. The game contains advanced concepts that take time and practice to master, and the "easy stick" can be turned off in online play. Blazblue is a fighting game that is as deep as you want it to be.
The visuals in Blazblue are the best of any 2d fighter. The mixture of 3d backgrounds and 2d sprites is gorgeous. This game has set the standard for how any 2d fighter after it will have to look. The style of the characters is akin to its predecessor, Guilty Gear. If you're a fan of the Guilty Gear style, or just an anime fan, you should be fine with it. The fantastic heavy metal soundtrack adds flair to the visuals. as well. When it comes to the character roster, Blazblue is proof that quality is better than quantity. Blazblue includes twelve characters, each very different from the next. Jin, for example, can freeze opponents with ice, while Carl can control a marionette to fight alongside him. The game is also very balanced and any skilled player has a chance to beat any character with any character he or she chooses. Tier lists are irrelevant with skilled players. That being said, some characters require more skill to use than others. While beginners are better off using Ragna, Jin, or Noel, experienced players can really exploit the advanced tactics of Rachel, Arakune, and Nu. There are enough options for anybody to find the character that best suits their play style.
Blazblue contains the standard fighting game options of arcade, versus, training, network play in addition to an expansive story mode. However, expansive is not indicative of good in this case. The story itself is not particularly bad, especially for a fighting game, but the manner in which it is told leaves much to be desired. The story is told in a visual storybook style. When I'm playing a fighting game I want action and flash, not to have to sit through ten minutes of minimally animated pictures while reading and listening to longwinded dialogue. I found myself skipping most of the exposition to get to the fights.
Another gripe about the story mode is the archaic requirements to complete each character's story. Not only do you have to explore each branching path that you are presented with and fulfill certain victory requirements, such as win using a distortion drive, but you also have to lose every fight in the story to get the coveted 100% completion rating. To me this is a cheap way to extend the life of the story mode. While I had issues with the story I do appreciate the effort to include it, and anyone who does enjoy it will get plenty of mileage out of it.
The online play in Blazblue is fantastic. There are ranked matches in the game that effect your rank in the online community, and player matches which are just played for fun. In the player match lobby, you can have up to six players in a room to take turns playing and watching others play, which is very fun, especially with a group of friends. Another cool feature of online is the ability to save replays of your matches, or other matches you've watched in a player match room, and watch them in the replay theater whenever you want. While playing online I did experience lag on occasion, but it never became a huge problem. Blazblue is a game with voluptuous visuals, inspired design, an abundance of options, and a deep fighting system that hardcore fighting game enthusiasts will enjoy while still being accessible and enjoyable to the rest of us.
Final Verdict:
A definite buy for casual gamers who want an accessible fighting game that's easy to pick up and play, as well as for hardcore gamers looking for something new with a lot of depth.
