Written by: Alex

 

 

 

Arc System Works are one of the few developers still dedicated to the art of the 2D sprite. For years they have been producing HD beautifully animated titles. Guilty Gear was foremost among these, a one-on-one fighter that continued to evolve the genre ignoring the divergent developments of 3D titles such as Tekken.

 

BlazBlue furthered this branching evolution, continuing the companies high standards of animation while creating diverse cast of characters all of which both look and handle completely differently, both from each other and other fighting archetypes.

 

The most recently released version of series, "BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2" has now made its way to the 3DS where Arc System Works have been faced with porting a HD, 2 player, big screened, joystick twitching, 2D arcade title to a tiny handheld whose greatest selling point is that its 3D. But with the small system fast becoming a second home to one-on-one fighters it may not be such a strange fit. Personally I am just happy to have an excuse to play more of the series, given that I have owned on PS3 for some time and have rarely had a chance to play it.

 

 

Fighting games always manage to create fun excuses to frame the action. These range from the small scale 'it’s a tournament' (replete with fighters out for revenge, to people looking for their mother) to ‘fight to save the world’. BlazBlue 2: Continuum Shift fits neatly in to this second (altogether grander) reason with characters intent on saving existence or ending it, plus a few of the more interesting fighters who are just caught up in their own problems.

 

 

With magic and spirits blended with science and cross continuum travel BlazBlue is ridiculous, and (especially in the drawn out incredibly verbose story mode) very Japanese in its execution and narrative style. But what it allows is a vast range of characters. It would be hard to say what came first; the incredible range of character designs or the tale that excuses their existence, but the important thing is that it has enabled the creation of this wonderful and flamboyant cast.

 

 

Robotic inter-dimensional skipping robots, vampires, children, spirits and ancient heroes make up just a small fraction of the games cast of eighteen characters. Each is unique both in aesthetic and combat style and all seem (as far as my skills could divine) well balanced as they smoothly leapt around the screen.

 

There is a huge breadth of characters on show in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2, many of who have moves that could best be described as non-traditional. The range of attacks mapped to what would be considered ‘standard’ moves (the face buttons) can create super natural attacks that if mastered can be devastating and setting up huge combos (I can say that with some authority having been on the receiving end of many). For me the time required to get to grips with these guys was simply too much, so I stuck with my more classically styled fighters.

 

Using the four face buttons for basic attacks (light, medium, heavy and special) the bottom screen constantly displays possible combos and moves to help. For players less keen on complete mastery of every attack however there is a simplified ‘stylish’ control system that binds many special attacks to single buttons or the analogue stick. Again, personally, this was not an option I gravitated to as I hoped to transfer any skills I amassed on my 3DS to my PS3 version for when I play with friends, but the option is appreciated for lazier days.

 

 

This 3DS version adds a lot of play modes on top of the arcade original. ‘Tutorial’ and ‘Story’ proved my first stops, but both were choices I soon regretted. Hugely verbose (though much of it was voiced) the amount of explanation and exposition was tiring even to someone (like me) committed to learning the story and systems. Eventually I gave up on the tutorial, which was framed in the style of one of the games impatient characters berating me constantly for my lack of skill (which was actually quite funny but far too slow). I did manage to stick with the story though which, despite minutes of dialogue without any action, managed to hold my interest to see what the designers had created to justify their fighters’ existence.

 

 

Other modes offer a bit more pick up and play fun, as well as allowing free choice of fighter. From the usual survival, scenario and verses modes, to the less usual like the Abyss (a survival hybrid with levelling) and my personal favourite Legion 1.5.

 

Legion 1.5 started me off with one character and had me fight my around a ‘map’ of other characters. With direct routes to my goal or the option to hit every ‘node’ on the map, I was encouraged to explore to build my Legion. Fighting characters allowed me to add them to my roster so in subsequent fights they could be used. Characters level, and add buffs to the team (such as extra speed) to allow some customisation to match my play style. It's a fun addition, and along with all the other modes it does add longevity to the handheld edition.