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IGN Review of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
My head almost exploded with delight when the original BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger hit store shelves last year. The game featured gorgeous, hand-drawn character sprites, amazing gameplay, and a sweet soundtrack. It also boasted one of the most complex stories that fighting games have ever seen, and plenty of unlockable content to keep gamers happy. Fortunately, that wasn't the end of the BlazBlue name, as developer ARC System Works has given us BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, a refined version of the original BlazBlue with plenty of new modes, new characters and a brand new story. Even though a good deal of content in Continuum Shift is identical to the original, there's still plenty of new BlazBlue goodness to enjoy.
If you're new to the BlazBlue scene, Continuum Shift is a one-on-one fighting game from the same developers that brought us the eccentric and wildly fun Guilty Gear franchise. The real beauty of BlazBlue, besides the incredible cast of characters, is the fighting system. It's really easy to pick up and play but it has an absolutely staggering amount of strategy to learn over time.
At its core, there are really only four attacks in BlazBlue: weak, medium, strong and Drive (or A, B, C and D, alternatively). Every character has this basic assortment of attacks, and the Drive attack is a simple way to execute a character-specific technique. Rachel, for example, uses her Drive attack to summon a gust of wind, which can push not only her through the air but also alter her special moves. Iconic hero Ragna, on the other hand, uses his Drive to absorb an opponent's health.
These Drive techniques represent just one of the reasons why I love BlazBlue: the cast. The characters in this fighter are so diverse and play so differently there's always something new to learn and figure out. You must understand, I am too intimidated to master unorthodox characters like Litchi Faye-Ling or Carl Clover, but they're available to those fighting game veterans that want a challenge.
For newcomers, one of the additions to Continuum Shift is Beginner Mode, which is essentially pointless for anyone even remotely invested in fighting games. However, for someone that's never played a fighting game before (or, perhaps, for young relatives that want to play along), this mode changes the control scheme slightly and turns button-mashing into a glorious torrent of combos. Again, this isn't for a serious fighting game fan, but it's a nice nod at the inexperienced.
More valuable is the tutorial mode, which offers interactive walkthroughs for nearly every aspect of the BlazBlue experience. Everything from basic movement to counters and cancels is covered in these tutorials, and players can even learn general strategies specific to each character. This tutorial system, along with the challenge missions that instruct players on advanced combos, give prospective BlazBlue fans some fantastic tools to learn the ins and outs of combat.
Legion mode was also added to Continuum Shift, after its initial appearance in BlazBlue Portable. In legion mode, players must take over enemy points on a map in a series of survival-style matches. With each successful takeover, players can keep one character from the defeated team to draft into their own army. This mode is really enjoyable as it adds a bit of a strategy element to the equation, but it would have been nicer if the maps were randomized. As it stands, each difficulty level only has one map to work through, and those maps are populated by the same characters every time. It's still fun, but the replay value isn't as significant as it could have been.
Gamers will be happy to hear that BlazBlue's robust online support returns, with stable matches, leaderboards and the ability to save replays. It's hard to say how the fighting game community will react once Continuum Shift is released, but at least it has local multiplayer in case the online community is lacking.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift does feature a brand new story, complete with branching paths for each character. This is one of the most enjoyable additions to the experience, though the incredible horde of unlockable content is just as drool-worthy.
The new characters in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift are excellent additions. Tsubaki is an easy character to learn and she uses her Drive technique to power up her special attacks. She's mostly a close/mid range character and seems pretty accessible to combo with. Hazama, on the other hand, is a bit crazier. His Drive attack sends his chains flying outwards, which he can use not only for offensive purposes but to move around the screen as well. There are almost no other characters in BlazBlue that can close spaces as quickly as Hazama, so I expect gamers will have fun with him.
The only problem with Continuum Shift, as you might expect, is that a good deal of content is identical to the original. Most of the character sprites are the same, stages are reused and the soundtrack is also repeated. Even with the new content, this can be disappointing, but the game is only retailing for around forty dollars, which isn't entirely unreasonable.
©2010-07-22, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
If you're new to the BlazBlue scene, Continuum Shift is a one-on-one fighting game from the same developers that brought us the eccentric and wildly fun Guilty Gear franchise. The real beauty of BlazBlue, besides the incredible cast of characters, is the fighting system. It's really easy to pick up and play but it has an absolutely staggering amount of strategy to learn over time.
At its core, there are really only four attacks in BlazBlue: weak, medium, strong and Drive (or A, B, C and D, alternatively). Every character has this basic assortment of attacks, and the Drive attack is a simple way to execute a character-specific technique. Rachel, for example, uses her Drive attack to summon a gust of wind, which can push not only her through the air but also alter her special moves. Iconic hero Ragna, on the other hand, uses his Drive to absorb an opponent's health.
These Drive techniques represent just one of the reasons why I love BlazBlue: the cast. The characters in this fighter are so diverse and play so differently there's always something new to learn and figure out. You must understand, I am too intimidated to master unorthodox characters like Litchi Faye-Ling or Carl Clover, but they're available to those fighting game veterans that want a challenge.
For newcomers, one of the additions to Continuum Shift is Beginner Mode, which is essentially pointless for anyone even remotely invested in fighting games. However, for someone that's never played a fighting game before (or, perhaps, for young relatives that want to play along), this mode changes the control scheme slightly and turns button-mashing into a glorious torrent of combos. Again, this isn't for a serious fighting game fan, but it's a nice nod at the inexperienced.
More valuable is the tutorial mode, which offers interactive walkthroughs for nearly every aspect of the BlazBlue experience. Everything from basic movement to counters and cancels is covered in these tutorials, and players can even learn general strategies specific to each character. This tutorial system, along with the challenge missions that instruct players on advanced combos, give prospective BlazBlue fans some fantastic tools to learn the ins and outs of combat.
Legion mode was also added to Continuum Shift, after its initial appearance in BlazBlue Portable. In legion mode, players must take over enemy points on a map in a series of survival-style matches. With each successful takeover, players can keep one character from the defeated team to draft into their own army. This mode is really enjoyable as it adds a bit of a strategy element to the equation, but it would have been nicer if the maps were randomized. As it stands, each difficulty level only has one map to work through, and those maps are populated by the same characters every time. It's still fun, but the replay value isn't as significant as it could have been.
Gamers will be happy to hear that BlazBlue's robust online support returns, with stable matches, leaderboards and the ability to save replays. It's hard to say how the fighting game community will react once Continuum Shift is released, but at least it has local multiplayer in case the online community is lacking.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift does feature a brand new story, complete with branching paths for each character. This is one of the most enjoyable additions to the experience, though the incredible horde of unlockable content is just as drool-worthy.
The new characters in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift are excellent additions. Tsubaki is an easy character to learn and she uses her Drive technique to power up her special attacks. She's mostly a close/mid range character and seems pretty accessible to combo with. Hazama, on the other hand, is a bit crazier. His Drive attack sends his chains flying outwards, which he can use not only for offensive purposes but to move around the screen as well. There are almost no other characters in BlazBlue that can close spaces as quickly as Hazama, so I expect gamers will have fun with him.
The only problem with Continuum Shift, as you might expect, is that a good deal of content is identical to the original. Most of the character sprites are the same, stages are reused and the soundtrack is also repeated. Even with the new content, this can be disappointing, but the game is only retailing for around forty dollars, which isn't entirely unreasonable.
©2010-07-22, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved