BlazBlue is back with improvements to its already solid design.
Continuum Shift adds a whole lot of new things to the series, but I'll start with the 3 brand new playable characters: Hazama, Tsubaki, and Mu-12. Hazama and Tsubaki are available to be played as from the start; Mu-12 however must be unlocked through the story mode. Hazama can use his drive to shoot out a long chain with a monstrous mouth at the end (vaguely similar to Scorpion's from Mortal Kombat but much larger). He can use this to halt his opponent, throw his opponent, or even pull himself to the opponent to get up close and personal. He has a good mix up game and an extremely dangerous distortion drive that launches his opponent way up into the air, allowing him to follow it up with a combo as they fall back to the ground. Tsubaki uses her Drive to charge up a meter which she can expend to pull off improved versions of her special moves. She is very fast which grants her great potential to rush down and pressure the opponent. Her damage is fairly weak, but with a fully charged meter she can be a big threat. Lastly, Mu-12's drive summons several turrets/mirrors called Steins that can fire/reflect lasers. Not only that, but she can cause them to explode, halting her opponent's attempts to rush in. She has an excellent reversal and plenty of options to keep her opponent at bay. All three of the characters are unique (Mu-12's design does share some similarities with Lamda-11's, but their fighting styles differ greatly) and are great fun to play as.
As of now, three additional characters have been announced and will be included as Downloadable Content (DLC) in the future. The word is that these characters are Makoto, Noel's squirrel-like friend; Velkenhayn, Rachel's polite butler; and Platinum the Trinity, a brand new character with 3 different personalities that is introduced in Continuum Shift's story. It's stated that these will cost money (rumor is $7 as of writing this).
All 15 of the characters in Continuum Shift come with unlock able unlimited forms (unlike Calamity Trigger which only had 4 unlimited characters unless one purchased the DLC). If you're not familiar with what they are, unlimited characters are basically overpowered "boss" versions of the games playable cast. They have been created with almost no thought of balance in mind and are meant only for playing in a non competitive setting for fun. Don't think that these are the same unlimited characters from Calamity Trigger as most of them have had pretty significant changes to make them even more over the top and fun. Unfortunately, the only way to unlock these unlimited characters is by completing Score Attack mode with the character whose unlimited form you wish to unlock. This is a very hard thing to accomplish. There is DLC that can be purchased to unlock the unlimited characters if you do not wish to go through the agony of unlocking them all yourself, but I can't help but feel that method for unlocking the unlimited characters was made extremely difficult in an attempt to get players to cave and buy the DLC. The unlimited characters are more of a fun side attraction than a crucial part of the game, but it's still disappointing that they are not so easily accessible.
Continuum Shift features a massive amount of new stages. All the previous stages from Calamity Trigger have had complete redesigns made of them (the Calamity Trigger original's are of course here as well should you choose to use them). One stage from Calamity Trigger had you fight on a platform with pedestrians during a sunny afternoon as giant airships passed behind you. The Continuum Shift version has you fighting on the same platform but in a heavy downpour of rain which gradually stops to have the clouds break, revealing a sunset. Knowing that, the redesigns aren't necessarily meant to replace the originals rather than give them a different kind of style. Some brand new stages have been included as well like a lush royal garden, a historic museum, and a suburban bridge on the brink of the city. Calamity Trigger had absolutely astounding stages, but I find that Continuum Shift's new stages and redesigned stages take it to the next level. To be straight forward, Continuum shift has the best stages I've seen in any fighting game yet.
Several Tweaks to the characters have been made. All the characters from Calamity Trigger sport new moves, move commands, and changes to their mechanics in Continuum Shift. For instance, Ragna has a new special move called Belial Edge which he can use to rapidly dive downward when in the air. Most people will find that this new move leads to much better air combos when compared to Calamity Trigger which will cause them to relearn and play Ragna quite differently. Another example is Arakune who now has much larger and much more powerful insects, but must build a meter instead of landing a single hit to use them. Also, many changes to frame data have been made in an attempt to progressively make the game more balanced. In general, it's a much more balanced game than Calamity Trigger was and it is pretty well balanced over all, but there are still some flaws. Rachel for instance has been weakened to a point where she is at a pretty large disadvantage to the rest of the cast. Fortunately, an announcement has been made that Arcsys plans to patch the game in the future to further improve the balancing.
The core mechanics of the game have undergone some tweaking. The bursting system is no longer tied to your character's barrier gauge. Instead, both players start a match with one burst each. Another burst is given when a player loses a round. Players can gain and store up to two bursts at once. I like this system much more than Calamity Trigger's which made it effective to burst only when your character was nearly dead, taking away the strategic aspect of bursting. Ultimately though, I still find the burst system from Guilty Gear (which is tied to its own meter) to function the best out of all of them. I personally would much like to see it implemented into BlazBlue.
Another change to the game's mechanics is the new guard break system. Characters don't play tug of war with a meter in an attempt to break through the opponent's defense anymore. Instead we have the new Guard Libra system. Each character has their own set number of Guard Libras that break when an opponent attacks with a few select moves in their arsenal. Once all of a character's Guard Libras are broken, they become stunned for a long period of time which allows the opponent go in for a free combo. I, again, like this system more than Calamity Trigger's because it's a much more permanent penalty rather than a regenerating one. These moves with the potential to break Guard Libras can also cause new counter attacks (counter hits are performed by hitting an opponent while they are in an attack animation) called Fatal Counters which lead to even more powerful combos than before.
The Controls remain the same (Buttons for A, B, C, and Drive), but a new beginner mode (which is of course optional to use) has been added which replaces the easy specials from Calamity Trigger. Beginner mode really simplifies the game by giving the player 2 buttons for attack (normal and heavy) as well as a button for specials and a button for grabs. Basic combos can be easily strung together by mindlessly mashing buttons. Distortion Drives are performed by pressing and holding one of the two attack buttons and Astral Finishes are performed by holding both together. It's a nice function for those with absolutely no experience with fighting games who just want to jump in on the fun. I really do wish the easy specials option wasn't removed though. I know two friends in particular who are capable of pulling off simple commands like quarter circles, but have difficulty stringing more complex commands into combos. Because easy specials have been removed, they must either play in the extremely simplified beginner mode or buy better controllers and spend time they really don't have practicing. A quick side note is that an option for mapping the controls has been added right to the character select screen which is a very nice touch.
The sound is still top notch. New songs have been added for the new characters and game instances. "Gluttony Fang" and "Endless Despair" in particular have more of a heavy and jazzy Guilty Gear vibe to them and are easily my favorites of the game. You can also choose to have the character's voiceovers done in the original Japanese or the dubbed English. Like in Calamity Trigger, the English voiceovers are surprisingly good. It is still a bit of a downside that you cannot select the English or Japanese languages specifically for each character, only for the entire cast. The announcer has been changed too, but I found her to be somewhat obnoxious. Again, downloadable content is available so players can download individual announcer voiceovers done by some of the actual BlazBlue character's cast (if you wish to pay for them that is).
All the modes from Calamity Trigger have come to Continuum Shift (Arcade, Story, Versus, Online, Training, Replay, Gallery and Score Attack). Continuum Shift also features 3 brand new ones. The new tutorial mode shows new players the ins and outs of the mechanics as well as character strategies through several playable lessons. Challenge mode on the other hand allows players to take on 10 challenges for each character. These challenges have the player learn and perform special moves and several combos. These two modes are a welcome addition that helps newer players to familiarize themselves with the game's mechanics and the characters of their choice. Legion Mode (while not necessarily new as it was in BlazBlue Portable) has players attempt to strategically take over a map with a growing army. This mode is still rather disappointing as you can only play one of three different maps that never change, otherwise meaning that they're only worth playing once. It could be a fun mode if it is ever expanded upon in the future.
The story in Continuum Shift is just as massive as in Calamity Trigger. There's a nice "on the previous installment of BlazBlue" segment which helps explain the story of Calamity Trigger for those who didn't play the Calamity Trigger's story or where confused by it. I enjoy the BlazBlue story and I like the direction that Continuum Shift takes it, even if the final revelation feels a bit like a dues ex machina. The story is still presented in a convoluted way though, so don't be surprised if you find yourself lost and confused at times. There are also more hilarious Teach Me Miss Litchi episodes included.
The online mode is pretty much exactly the same. This is a bit disappointing as I was hoping that there might be some kind of team or tournament modes added. The net code has apparently been improved, but I didn't really notice a change since I found the Calamity Trigger net code to be near perfect to begin with. The online mode is still great; I just wish Arcsys added more to it (seeing as how it is kind of the bread and butter of the game).
Overall, I'm very pleased with how the console version of Continuum Shift turned out. When compared with standards that other sequels set today, I certainly think that Continuum Shift fits the mold of rightfully being called a sequel. If one does not believe that, then certainly everything that has been changed and added is worth the discounted price tag. Continuum Shift gives the BlazBlue name a firmer footing and proves that it is filled with potential and is one of the best, if not the best fighting game of this current generation.