From the Bakemono's Mouth: Continuum Shift
Nearly a year down to the day, Arc System Works released the next installment in their new fighting game franchise Blazblue. If you read my review for Blablue: Calamity Trigger, you’d know that I have a soft spot for the franchise as it was my favorite fighting game of last year. I played Calamity Trigger on and off for the whole year waiting for the next game to come my way. Finally, Blazblue: Continuum Shift is upon us with an extended storyline, new move-sets for the recurring characters, a rebalanced system, and some brand new characters to lead the way. But is this enough to make this a worthy continuation? Or should you just stick to the previous one instead?
Story
Once again, I won’t touch on too many specifics of Blazblue’s story. There is simply far too much information to divulge for me to try and squeeze into a review. If you haven’t played Calamity Trigger by now and you have an interest in learning BB’s story, you should probably pick it up and play it first. Continuum Shift tries to help you out by giving you a brief synopsis of the important events that happened last time around, but there are too many little references using terms from the game’s world for a first time player to understand.
Continuum Shift picks up just a few days after the events of CT. There was a huge battle, the main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, is still the terrorist at large and there is still a great deal of chaos within the tyrannical order that is after him. Much of the story centers around the main villain, Hazama, and his plot to destroy the world using some ancient and bizarre technology. A few other villains sprout their heads and we learn a little bit more about the overarching story and how each character fits into it. Some of the lesser characters from the previous installment finally start to show some merit in their existence and actually apply themselves to the plot, making their story seem more meaningful than just another half-hour of wasted time.
Overall, the story of CS is a vast improvement from CT for several reasons. The main reason I felt it was better was the language and the method of delivery. In CT a fair amount of the dialogue gave you information, but with a vocabulary that was rarely ever defined or explained. So a lot of what was said felt very cryptic and I never felt like I got a good idea of what was happening. I spent most of my time mentally looking up the words they were using and the rules of the world established in the game rather than really getting immersed in the story. In CS, they are much more willing to spell things out for you, in fact, the villain often says, “Let me spell it out for you.” They still use the terms and vocabulary of the world and some important things that exist in the world are given names without any faces, but after finishing the story I felt like I had a grasp on what was happening in the world and the roles everyone had to play. They often repeat stories or concepts from different perspectives so you’re getting something new each time, but they’re still making it easier to understand some of the complex ideas by going over them again.
The other big improvement for the story was the characterization. Calamity Trigger did a decent job at building the characters and showing their past and personalities, but when it came down to their involvement with the plot, there were only 4 that seemed like they had anything to do with the story. This time, with the exception of two or three characters, the roster has a much more vital role to play in the storyline and its progression. I was very impressed and excited to see certain characters that hardly had anything to do with what was going on before, become important plot devices and obstacles for the protagonists. Not to mention that everything felt much more connected among the characters. Often in fighting games, it feels like people just need to fight for no apparent reason, but in this it seems like for the main plots of each person, there is a legitimate reason and connection to the fighters.
Fighting games aren’t required to have the best stories, but I admire the effort that the developers at Arc put into Blazblue. Each character has one main storyline, a “what-if” scenario, and a gag reel. Excluding the gag-reel the other two stories of each person has little truths about that character and the world that tie into the main plot. Even in the “bad endings,” there are certain things you learn about the character or their story that can be applied to the main plot, so it doesn’t feel like you’re wasting your time.
After the so-called “bad ending” of each character they play a little cartoon segment for that character that can be quite entertaining as they break the fourth wall of the story and talk about the game, as a game. One instance was in, the new character, Tsubaki’s segment. They discussed how in the online forums she was often compared to Order Sol from the Guilty Gear series and how much that insulted her.
The gag-reels are hilarious as well. With the exception of one character, I was at least chuckling through each of them. Often playing off the maneurisms of each of the characters and bringing out some weird personality traits that may or may not be true it was fun to see the characters of a serious plot acting so eccentrically. Much of the time they used sexual innuendo in their comedy to get the sides splitting.
The main downfall I felt in the story was when the game got way too similar to mediocre or bad anime. I really wish that Arc had chosen better animators for their “cinematic” scenes because the animation has so little detail and flair, I preferred just watching the 2-D stills interact with each other. Part of the reason I dreaded these sequences was because it felt like the direction and choreography drew from a number of clichés including the flashback of a moment that happened less than 10 minutes ago to try and tug on the heart strings in some way.
Gameplay
Since the mechanics of Continuum Shift are rather similar to those of Calamity Trigger and I already went over them in the previous review, I’ll briefly discuss the small changes made to the system.The game still plays very much the same with the fast pace running, dashing, jumping and slashing from before. But in an effort to balance out the gameplay as well as make things a little more interesting the developers adjusted the style and mechanics that I like and at the same time complain about. In typical Arc style, each character has a barrier burst at their disposal. However, unlike before, you now have just two per match and depending on your timing, it relates to your regular guard meter. You also must have at least one Burst available to you in order to perform an Astral Heat, Blazblue’s form of a fatality.
Aside from the Burst requirement, Astral Heats have become easier to perform in that you don’t have to wait till it’s the absolute end of the match; you merely have to be in a winning position and be able to finish them off with a full meter and only 30% of the opponent’s health. Most of the other mechanic specifics are explained better and in greater detail in the tutorial mode added so if you’re interested and confused, direct your attention there.
But it wasn’t just the system itself that was changed. Many character specific alterations were made to balance out the roster and prevent certain characters from dominating the match, as is the norm for fighting games. For instance, Jin Kisaragi’s freezing techniques do not last as long and no longer require you to rotate the joystick to break free. Priorities have changed, new moves have been added, character speeds have been adjusted, and even some of the original moves have slightly different inputs than before requiring veteran players to relearn their favorite characters and combos a little bit.
Much of the fighting itself is relatively the same with a few minor changes added to it. For the pro players out there, the combo windows have gotten much tighter than before, meaning that you won’t be able to casually string together as many lengthy combos as in CT. Much of this is character specific, but I have noticed that a lot of the combos require more specific timing than before. However, this does not mean they made the game inaccessible to newcomers. In fact, they added a “beginner” option to the game that allows players to do special moves without having to tear up their thumbs on the d-pad. Players who select this mode can do special moves with just a single tap of a button or holding down the button can cause a super move. The set up was very reminiscent of Marvel vs Capcom’s beginner format and even a little like Bloody Roar.
But the mechanics are not all that’s new to the game. With a sequel we expect some new character additions, and though the roster is nowhere near the size of Super Street Fighter IV, I find that quality is much more preferred to quantity. Both of the new characters that come preloaded in the game play crucial parts in the story and are also rather fun to use. They also have three additional characters to be added via DLC. The first one, Makoto, has already been released.
Part of the reason I liked Blazblue over other fighting games was because each of the characters were very unique and different in their style of fighting. It didn’t feel like there were any clones. The story of Continuum Shift affects the styles of the fighters and certain characters show some similarities to others, but are still able to set themselves apart a great deal. For example: I had a feeling that Makoto, being a fist-fighter, would be very similar to Taokaka, the cat-girl in a coat who bounces all over the place. And while they’re similar in speed, Makoto is not as versatile and wild as Taokaka and makes up for it in damage dealing. This uniqueness of each character adds to the variety and unpredictability of the gameplay whenever you’re about to face someone.
The online multiplayer is still perfectly functional. I rarely have to deal with any slowdown in matches much like before, and this is on PSN. The developers added the ability to practice in training or arcade mode while you wait to be synched up with another player, something I did while playing Street Fighter IV. Here you can customize your desired match to how many connection bars you want, even what side of the screen you prefer to start on. Of course, a quick match with no specifics is still an option too. Basically, much of the gameplay and design choice in the previous installment have been changed only slightly to balance out and streamline the experience more.
Presentation
I already mentioned how I didn’t care for the anime sequences in the story mode, but as for the rest of the presentation, the game is still stellar.Voice work is top notch in both English and Japanese. The writing is very well thought out with the numerous intricacies in the plot as well as the creative techniques of characterization. The gags are truly funny because they don’t feel like they were jokes that were lost in translation, but intended for American audiences. The personalities of the characters stand out much more in this game, especially Rachel who presides over the tutorial mode. During each tutorial lesson she is not afraid to insult you the whole time during your learning process. It seems like the developers spent a great deal of time trying to make the experience feel consistent and interwoven that would allow players to really get into the roles of their characters.
But even outside of the story mode the presentation is terrific. New backgrounds are available for fighting as well as some stages that were in CT that got a facelift. Some of the old stages have rain falling in them, or feel like they’re seen from a slightly different perspective. There is always plenty going on in the background while the 2-D sprites wail on each other in high definition and stunning color.
The battles themselves feel even more epic than before with the character intros I craved in the previous game. Taking a little consideration from Guilty Gear, more characters have specific intros for their battles depending on who the opponent is. It was something I always appreciated in the Guilty Gear series and I’m glad to see the dynamics between characters come out even more in the fights themselves with special moves, taunts, or dramatic introductions to the match.
The music is still just as good as before with the high speed thrash guitars coupled with orchestral melodies. If it isn’t broken, why fix it? There are some new tracks to play off the new rivalries in CS, as well as some new themes for the added characters. excluding the main theme song in the game’s intro, which also plays when you perform an Astral Heat if you don’t turn that option off.
