Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Ambitious"

I'll just go out & say it. BlazBlue is definitely not for everyone, but don't think just because it has anime influences and is fighting game you won't like it, as it's depth is amazing with amazing polish.

Gameplay: It houses an incredibly simple design with depth and complexity just gushing from it. Strong attacks can easily be pieced together with only 4 fighting buttons - A: Weak Attacks, B: Medium Attacks, C: Heavy Attacks, and finally D: this is your drive and what makes each character so damn unique. For example, Ragna uses his Drive "Soul Eater" which steals your opponents life force, or Arakune's "Crimson" which lets him curse his opponents, cursed enemies will be attacked by bugs with each subsequent attack, building up staggering combos making him a powerful adversary. There are *alot* of gameplay mechanics which can easily put a newcomer out of place (barrier bursts, instant blocks, heat gauge, distortion drives, astral heats, rapid cancel & many. many more), but over time will become second nature and incredibly useful to learn and perfect them all. Due to each characters unique fighting style, it's not a simple task to train with Arakune and assume that you can use Carl efficiently too. The game also boasts tons of modes, from training, to a neat gallery, to its ambitious network mode, there is tons of fun to be had here.

Sound: The voice acting is pretty decent, but the thing that really stands out is BlazBlue's soundtrack; which consists of an orchestral/heavy metal mix which comes together perfectly (*awakening the chaos*, *white requiem*, *gluttony fang*, and *blue beating* stood out the most for me). The themes all piece together with their characters well, and you're never feeling a song is out of placed. With a perfect balance of epic-ness and emotional contrast of each character in each song it comes off as one of my favourites.

Story: For a fighting game it's very surprising. For once it's not about being the greatest fighter or the tournament leader! Although the story is very complex, somewhat convoluted, and presented by static 2D (hand drawn) pictures, it still manages to capture some awe and shock. Each character has a deep backstory, founded by a deep back drop. Just jumping in will make you lost, and the only way to get the entire picture is to beat everyone's arcade, and story multiple times. With concepts such as nox nyctores, the Novis Orbis Librarium, 6 heroes, seithr, ars magus, azure grimoire, floating around it doesn't make it any simpler, but if you do want to dive into BlazBlues excellent story I'm sure it wont disappoint for those who take the time to explore. Overall there are 13 (playable) characters in total, all of which vary greatly in their back stories and fighting style, & not one seems out of place.

Visuals: If you're looking for a game that pushes PS3 popping visuals... go elsewhere. BlazBlue might look colourful and artistic, but it's certainly not the best. It is all hand drawn anime, 2D sprites, and a rare moving cutscene during story & arcade modes.

Overall, I certainly love BlazBlue, and I know it's appeal is limited but if you are even slightly interested *try it out*. I hope lots more get to try out this masterpiece!

-10/10