From the same people who brought you Guilty Gear, Arc System Works brings their newest fighter to the table. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger stands on its own as a spiritual sucessor to Guilty Gear. BlazBlue is full of rich background, gorgeous sprites, and a rock opera soundtrack. Although Japanese arcades have housed BlazBlue since last November, it is hitting North American shores and home consoles now.
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BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger makes a smashing debut of a great new franchise. It displays a level of depth that will take many hours of play through to uncover. Gaining critical success everywhere, Blazblue is becoming a worthy contender among a genre dominated by giants with legions of devoted fans. Being a brand new and original franchise is always a risky maneuver, as some fans will cling to what the know and reject anything new. Nonetheless it was well worth it, and BlazBlue delivers on all fronts.
With a first glace at the roster, one could be underwhelmed by the limited cast list of only 12 characters. When you have other games (Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for one) that boast a roster of over 50 characters, it can be disappointing. Size is not always what's important though. A large number of characters is difficult to manage, and usually becomes quite imbalanced. With many becoming unplayable against the the more widely used characters. BlazBlue has balancing down to a science. Every character has had the time put into tweaking and adjusting their individual and unique powers. Arc System Works keeps their tradition for interesting, yet eccentric character design. While some players might find the change to what they're used to jolting. It's a refreshing example of originality in a genre often plagued by derivative material.
Even when you jump further into BlazBlue, you'll see it goes above and beyond incredible art direction and design. The content itself is extensive and will keep players busy for quite some time. The game has several different modes to play through. Battle through the roster in the arcade mode, or hone your skills in training mode. Go online and battle random players or your friends in network mode. If you'd rather be a spectator, you can join other random rooms and watch battles happen. Score attack mode pits the player against the CPU if you're looking for a real challenge. The newest addition from the arcade version is a story mode, where you can play through each individual character's tale. Therein lies one of the best design features of BlazBlue. There is no way to play the story "straight through". It plays similar to a choose-your-own-adventure novel. As your character goes through their story, you must choose the path they take. The choices you make in which direction they go, or who they follow all impacts the outcome of the story. Every character has a percentage of completion next to their name, so it'll take multiple playthroughs to unlock every facet of one character's story alone.
The gamplay is centered around fast attacks and quick evasions. Barrier bursts can lead strategy to flow into combos, or play a more defensive role. Characters also have a "Heat" gauge that charges up for massive combo attacks. Certain characters have specific bars unique only to them that all control different aspects of their fighting techniques. For example, one character is a little boy who fights with a giant robotic doll. A specific bar for him only relates to the HP of the doll. Special character abilities are controlled by the drive button, which can be customized to whichever button scheme the player feels most comfortable with.
All in all BlazBlue is an extraordinary fighting game, and I highly recommend picking it up if you're a fan of the genre. It's deep and will provide many hours or truly unique gameplay that is hard to find these days. BlazBlue raises the bar for other fighting games with its level of story and development. It's not a game that should be looked over this generation and is a shining addition to Arc System Works' catalog.
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- BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
- Score: 4.50/5.0
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- GamePro's Score: 4.50/5.0
