Monday, October 29, 2007

Bleach: Blade of fate


Title: Bleach: The Blade of Fate
Rating: T
Genre: Fighting
Publisher: Sega
Its a: Video game
For the: Nintendo DS

Next review is for a brand new game for my alltime favorite series, Bleach, though you may find that its more then just a fan only game for the series.

Bleach Blade of Fate consists of a story mode, Arcade mode, Challenge mode, Training mode, Time attack mode, survival mode, Deck Construction, Urahara shop, and the Gallery and options mode.

There are 23 episodes in the story mode, covering nearly every playable character. The story modes are usually fairly short, and only a few fights long, besides Ichigo's episode and the Soul Reaper Chronicle episode.

There are 28 Playable characters in all though some aren't very useful. For example, Kon, a trademark character of the series, is Playable, but has only one attacks, and his supers all feature him screaming Bankai and then telling you he can't do that. This can get frustrating.

The fighting itself is pretty solid, with specials able to be selected on the touch screen, so you don't have to remember super long combo buttons.

Not to mention that they've added a pretty solid V.S mode, with 4 player wireless fights, when everyone has a game pack, or download play for three other people to Join the fight on Just one game. The options don't stop there however, because there's also online Gameplay.

Fighting online is a blast, with extensive options, letting you pick how you want to fight. Points or no points, Deathmatch or not, it even allows for the use or lack of use for Spirit cards, my next topic.

Though there is a ranking mode, in which you fight online players to increase your Spiritual Pressure, making you a higher ranked soul Reaper, from tenth seat to captain.

Now on to spirit cards,

Spirit cards are customizable decks that give you and advantage in combat. Clicking them can give you boosts like higher jump or invisibility for a short period of time, its can also restrict things like line jump and card use, but it all depends on which best fits your combat style, a fun little extra to the game.

The games great, with all the episodes, extended online play, even little quirks, like choosing who announces the title screen and guides you through the modes maker the game seem fully customizable.

FINAL WORD:

Graphics: 3/5 Game Boy Advance grade graphics, I suppose. The sprites do look nice though, and the anime rendered backgrounds are pretty cool.

Sound: 4/5 Really good voice acting mixed with show rendered background tunes, even the sfx for the attacks are pretty cool. They even added the full song from the 3rd opening for the game.

Gameplay: 5/5: Best fighter for the DS, and for good reason. The combos and buttons are smooth, and the gameplay just fits.

Replay value: 5/5 With customizable spirit deck and online matches, fans will be swinging the Blade around until the the already approved sequal.

No comments: