Source: Youtube Channel banjoparapanyo
Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Aksys Games
Platforms: Arcade , Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Playstation Portable, Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Genre: 2D Fighter
Pros:
-Breathtaking visuals in both environment backdrops and character sprites
-Beginner mode makes it more inviting for new comers
-The combat mechanics leaves a lot of room for creative combos and competitive gameplay
-Gameplay is smooth, stylish, dynamic, and fast-paced
-Story mode isn’t just a repeat of Calamity Trigger, but a follow up
-Daisuke Ishiwatari once again graces us with his genius music compositions
-Legion and challenge mode changes up the pacing from the usual arcade mode
-All characters play very uniquely and have their own play style
Cons:
-DLC characters a $7 each, what a rip!
-Last boss: Hazama of Arcade mode is stupidly hard to beat even at the easiest difficulty level
-The new character selection graphics aren’t as good as the CT, but that’s a preference
-Players who have gotten so used to Calamity Trigger might have to readjust for this one
After playing BlazBlue Continuum Shift for about 1.5 years, I’ve come to love it more and more. The game just keeps getting better the more you play it. BlazBlue has one of the most definitive stories to go along with a fighting game. It’s so deep, moving and intricate that it just pulls the player into the world and change the ways one might feel about each individual character. Characters become more than just toons that fight each other, but they all have reasons and agendas that coincide or conflict. What’s more, Continuum Shift is a continuation of the events of Calamity Trigger rather than a simple update as most other fighting games seem to do. The game itself is fast-paced, very stylish and a lot fun to perform all sorts of combos, skills, and special abilities, but having the story completes the package. The changes from Calamity Trigger has added new specials for all characters, an optional beginner’s mode, some tweaks to how burst works, etc. to make the game more balanced and dynamic. This would be one 2D fighter that I would recommend to those who don’t generally play fighting games as its intriguing story mode is like a game of its own while the beginner mode option makes it easier for one new to fighting games to ease into it while definitely recommending it for hardcore, competitive players as it has all the factors that make it challenging.
Aesthetics
The main reason why I decided to buy the game was because the music was by Daisuke Ishiwatari and is developed by the same team who created Guilty Gear. It was sad to hear that they lost the rights to Guilty Gear and was no longer able to continue the series, and so I wanted to support them with the purchase of BlazBlue. Sure enough, the music was amazing the first time I heard it and more so when I hear it now; however, the visuals shocked me. I was expecting BlazBlue to be similar to Guilty Gear as characters from BlazBlue seem to look similar to those in the GG series. The graphics were dynamic with beautiful backdrops with lighting effects, moving sprites, and a sort of 3D-ish feel to them. The character sprites are a lot sharper and clean cut compared to what the team did for GG. The animations are incredibly fluid, flashy, and stylish, making combos, specials, and attacking feel really good. I have to admit that I was annoyed by some of the voice acting in both the English AND Japanese, but as I played the game more I began to adore the talents of both languages and their portrayal of the characters in the game. The biggest treat for me was the Story mode, which convinced me to play through Calamity Trigger before I started on the story on Continuum Shift, as it became a major factor to what made the whole game come alive. Story mode changed how I felt about each character and encouraged me to even play characters I generally wouldn’t choose. My biggest complaint on the game’s aesthetics would probably be the main menu. All modes and options are laid in one long list which makes it overwhelming and cluttered when most of them could have been collapsed into sub-categories and menus for an organized look. Besides that, I can complain a bit about some of the cinematics having odd animations and character design that doesn’t match up to the rest of the game’s art style, but it’s not that big of a deal either. Everything about BlazBlue Continuum Shift in terms of Aesthetics (Still images, sprites, backdrops, animations, cinematics, dialogue, voice acting, music, story, etc.) was very well thought out and meaningful. BlazBlue turned out to be a much more polished and carefully developed fighter than I would have every guessed. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
The controls of the game are both easy and hard at the same time. There are essentially 4 buttons to utilitze: light attack, medium, heavy, and a special attack that differs between all characters. Players can easily perform combos by mashing light->medium->heavy and mix them around a bit; however, the combos and delays vary between each character. Even with beginner mode on, a player may not be able to land all their hits in time and can be countered if the opponent is skilled. Other times, combos are so easy for certain characters that even the most novice player can combo lock an opponent into a string of attacks that they can’t get out of. This is why the controls are both easy and hard at the same time. The mechanic of using three main attacks and a special key has been utilized in other games such as Melty Blood and now even Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 as it is much easier to understand and handle to single-action attacks from fighting games like Street Fighter or King of Fighters. It makes it much easier to learn and perform combos and utilize special attacks into them. Compared to most fighters, the leeway time between each attack for combos is rather lenient. The difficult part in learning how to play each character when not in beginner mode is finding the flow and pacing of each character and knowing which abilities can be chaining to each other. Some skills can still be difficult to execute, even with the use of a fight stick. For the most part, the game’s controls and battle mechanics was easy to understand if given the patience and time to learn them. Challenge mode helps a little, but rushes into the difficult techniques a bit too quickly. Buttons: 9/10
Concept and Content
I was disappointed at first when I got the game and realized how very few characters the game seemingly had; however, I changed my mind about that as I played through story mode and saw how deeply involved each character was to the story of the BlazBlue as well as how distinguished each character players. To give some examples: Bang Shishigami focuses on counter-attack, grapples, and dashes; Iron Tager excels at knock-backs, wall bounce hits, grabs, and pulls; Rachel Alucard requires the use of all her special abilities and the use of wind influence to make the most out of all her attacks; Taokaka is quick and so can perform a long string of attacks in a small amount of time; etc. This idea of different play styles favors those who play in a certain way or ones who seek variety in their fighting games. The additional challenge mode to the existing arcade, training, legion, and story mode is a good tutorial into more advanced techniques, but it isn’t entirely exciting. The concept of story mode playing like a visual novel is both easy for the developers to continually create more in a short amount of time and providing a lot of insight to events, characters, and background history for the player. The continuation of the story from where Calamity Trigger left off is the biggest treat in Continuum Shift. Three additional characters were eventual available for DLC, but cost $7 each and doesn’t include their story modes. Also, those who didn’t play Calamity Trigger will have a lot of unexplained events in the story of Continuum Shift. It seems that upcoming release of BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend will remedy all these with stories of the first and second in one game, all the characters released so far, and a brand new mode. Continuum Shift further extended the concepts and gameplay mechanics of Calamity Trigger, but seems to have been lacking in content that should have been there such as the additional 3 characters. Concept & Concept: 9/10
Duration
The game as a whole doesn’t have a distinct flow, but Story mode is presented differently from Calamity Trigger. Story mode starts off with an introduction as usual and then allows only the choice of playing Ragna the Bloodedge’s story rather than allowing the player to choose any character in any order. After finishing Ragna’s story, 5+ or so opens up and then gradually unlocks more character stories as to keep a sort of flow to each one of them. The game can last a very long time as I’ve had the game for 1.5 years and am still playing it. Continuum Shift provides: Arcade , advanced tutorial (not available in Calamity Trigger), Challenge, Legion, Training, Online, and Story. For those who play casually only for the fighting, arcade mode and legion mod will probably the main modes to play. Those who like stories and learn more about the world of BlazBlue will play story mode and some arcade. Competitive and hardcore players will play online mode a lot. A good fighting game should have incredible replay value and provide something for the player to keep coming back for more. BlazBlue Continuum Shift seems to fulfill those criteria. Duration: 10/10
Fun
Honestly, my first impression of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift was kind of bad. I loved the visuals and the music, but the voice acting annoyed me, the character selection felt very limited, and the last boss, Hazama, was so difficult and unfair (silly me thought I could handle the game right off the bat on normal mode, everyone else was alright other than the last boss) that it just left a bad impression for me. I seldom went back to play it once in a while just because I loved the rest of the game play when I’m not fighting Hazama and because of the music. The game was fast-paced. Performing long combos felt good. It was fun, but it was hard getting back into it everytime I had to face Hazama. Eventually, I got a copy of Calamity Trigger and started playing story mode. For me, I love fighting games because of the story and how all the characters have some sort of relationship with each other in some way or another and I would play each character to see their character endings and see what their story is about. BlazBlue went far and beyond that with story mode as it expands long dialogues, history, backgrounds, and even multiple paths to go by to provide a rich and intricate world for the player to explore. I got really hooked onto BlazBlue ever since I started playing story mode and have begun to play the game a bit more seriously with training and challenge mode to become more familiar with certain characters. The only mode I’m reluctant to play anymore is Arcade because of Hazama. Fun: 9/10
Overall
What started as a curiosity of music and the history behind the developers turned into a game I can fully appreciate and have fun with. The fighting mechanics might be a bit confusing for those who are used to Street Fighter, King of Fighters, or Mortal Kombat at first, but those with patience to sit down and get to know each character will find a very gratifying 2D fighter that is so unique in many ways that it will be hard to put down. BlazBlue’s eccentric, yet loveable characters draw one in as story mode unfolds their endeavors and agendas. The many modes will keep game play fresh and entertaining after hundreds of rounds and continues to get better the more one plays it. If you have never played any of the BlazBlue games, I recommend picking up BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend which releases on February 14th, 2012 as it will contain the entire story mode from both Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift as well all the characters released thus far with all returning modes and extra modes such as Abyss mode and Unlimited Wars. This version of Continuum Shift was great with certain aspects lacking, but “Extend” will be the complete package worth a 10/10. Overall: 9.4/10
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