BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is a fresh take on the fighting genre.
With that said, I started playing the game without any previous experience with the series, and I found the tutorial and challenge mode to be very useful in teaching me the basics as well as the more complicated combos. Arc Systems made this game very accessible to new comers, at least on the surface.
The control scheme is traditional. You have a light, medium, and heavy attack button. What makes this series different is the addition of the "drive" button. This attack is unique to each character all the while making each character unique. Ragna's drive attacks suck the life from the opponent and add it to his own health, whereas Lambda's drive attacks summon swords from thin air. Despite the basic control, this is a very technical game. Some of the challenges in challenge mode are nigh impossible to complete without a fighting stick. The Xbox 360's controller is good for shooters, not for fighting games. Although it beats having blisters caused but the PS3's d-pad. Another aspect of this game that sets it apart from others is the character movement. Most characters have the ability to dash, double jump, super jump, and air dash. This opens up an entirely new set of fake-outs and mindgames.
Blocking is also a bit sketchy in Continuum Shift. While you are able to block in mid-air, sometimes the game doesn't register that you are holding back on the controller to block. It may be the controller itself or it could be the player accidentally holding the stick ever so slightly up and back which causes the character the not block and also not jump. Also, when you are performing an air dash away or toward your opponent, and you hold back to block, you will get hit. Blocking does not interrupt the dashing animation. Performing an attack during an air dash will cancel the animation immediately, but block does not until you are about 30-35% done with the dashing animation. Another problem I encountered was the buffer. For those who do not know what a buffer is, I will explain. A buffer is the time allotted for inputs to be registered during an animation to allow for a smoother transition between movements. I often found myself seeing that my character did some actions without my intent to do so. For instance, I am air dashing and I attempt the cancel the dash with a 2C, my opponent jumps to intercept me and connects with a standard jab in the air. After the "stun" brought about by the jab, my character does the 2C move, even though I am now inputing other commands. Super Cancer Bros. Brawl has this same issue. I realise a buffer is necessary for smoother animations. However, for me, the buffer window is too big. Perhaps my fingers are too fast, but I highly doubt that.
The difficulty of this game is inconsistent at best. The difficulty ranges as follows: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Hell, and Score Attack. Think you're good at the game? Beat arcade mode on hell difficulty? Win a few matches in a row online? That's nice, now play score attack to get an idea of how ridiculous a fight can get. The computer, like in almost every other fighting game, can be incredibly stupid or incredibly good. Sometimes you're just not going to win, and there's nothing you can do about it. The computer just decided that it was going to win and nothing you try to do will work, despite it having worked in every other match up until this one. Arc Systems really should have tried to have the computer try to imitate a human. It seems that they did not even explore that option. The computer has perfect timing. At what seems to be the exact same time you press the button, the computer does the move that directly counters the move you input. I'm not saying that should never happen, it just should not happen as often as it does.
When you do lose, there is a loading screen and then there is a red BlazBlue symbol and the words "Game Over" appear on the screen. Normally something like this wouldn't be a problem if it didn't take forever to get back into the main menu. I don't know about you, but I am vindictive and would want to get back to the stage to beat the character who beat me into the ground as quickly as possible. Oh, and there's a loading screen after you get done with the game over screen. Then you have to wait for the game to "save." What for? I have no clue. You reselect score attack, loading screen. Pick your character, loading screen. Then you see the versus screen where you and your opponent are shown, loading screen. Now you finally get to fight, which takes about two minutes, which is coincidentally the same amount of time the game to took to load the whole thing. Yes, the game is visually stunning, but we had better loading times on the Playstation 2...
Speaking of visuals, the game looks great. Characters are crisp and clean. 2D sprites never looked so good. Every character is well designed and unique. Obviously, the 2D sprites don't move as well as 3D models so some movements are a bit choppy and inconsistent. However, those instances are negligible. There is a great variety in colours for the characters. However variety isn't necessarily a good thing, as there are only a few colours that are bearable to look at. There are more colours to be had if you download them through DLC. There are a lot more stages this time around and they are all superb. Each one is lively, each one has something interesting happening in the background. In Rachel's stage, there are shadows dancing on the tombstones. All in all the presentation is great, definitely a high point for the game.
The same composer, Daisuke Ishiwatari, for the Guilty Gear series is back and still got it. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The way the game's opening song is spliced into the gameplay when you execute an Astral Finish is very well done. Aside from the soundtrack, the English voice acting is somewhat good. Not all of the characters sound good. Rachel, for instance has the perfect voice, always bored and constantly criticising. Whereas characters like Bang, have a horrible voice, in both languages. If there is one thing Super Street Cancer 4 did right, it was giving the player the option to individually change a character's voice language. Although, the system could be even more improved by giving the player the option to just mute individual characters. Cough Bang cough. Another downside is the announcer. She's....annoying. The announcer from Calamity Trigger was sophisticated and impartial. This new one they dug up should be replaced, and can be, by shelling out points via DLC.
One of the high points for Continuum Shift is the story. All of the characters are well developed. It reinforced the awesomeness of some characters and reinforced the lameness of others. The way its told could be better though. The information is there, you just have to watch the cut scenes a few dozen times to figure out what just happened. It really is an interesting story with a couple decent twists. I'm sure they would have been better twists to me if I could decipher what was going on as opposed to reading someone's summary of the story. They really should make this series into an anime.
This is easily the best fighting game to come out this year and is worth a look at. If you are a big fan of fighting games or you just want to kill a week's worth of time without killing your wallet, then BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is for you.