BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Review

08 Apr 2010 at 13:31:17 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (360)

There are some serious disadvantages to living in Europe, first and foremost that we've been waiting for BlazBlue for almost a year, which is how long it's been since other territories got a console release. This hyper-stylised one-on-one fighting game gave Street Fighter IV a run for its money when it launched last year, and now we finally have it.

Yes, it's a fighting game, but it's a fighting game by Arc System Works, and that's reason to sit up and pay attention even if you're not the biggest fan of one-on-one brawling. Typical fighting game pitfalls – poor characters, non-existent plot, and more importantly a learning cliff that only the most determined or experienced will be able to scale – have, by and large, been dealt with.

The game has all the modes you'd expect, including Arcade, Versus, Score Attack, and a Training mode with an impressively comprehensive set of options, but when it comes to single-player it's Story that's the star of the show. For once, BlazBlue actually has a good and complex story, and not one that's all told through initial exposition and then bookended with a closing cutscene. Each character has their own individual story section, comprising four or five fights, with branching paths based on both decisions made inside and outside combat. The fights in this mode tend to happen for a plot-related reason – even if it's not necessarily a good one – and finishing one character's arc will only reveal one small part of the grand, overarching story. The arcs for some characters, such as Rachel, hint at vast goings-on behind the scenes, while other arcs will leave you feeling a tad confused, only coming into focus when the paths for other characters are played and completed. All of this builds up to form a wide picture, and by the time you're done you'll have a feeling for every single character's individual personality and background.

Each character, too, is individual – there are no Ryu/Ken/Gouken/Akuma/Dan/Sagat/Sakura-alikes here. Noel wields a pair of pistols that allow for extremely easy chain attacks, Rachel can control both her movement and her foe's through wind while controlling space with lightning-based attacks, Haku-Men focuses heavily on hugely powerful mid-range attacks and counters, Ragna can steal health from his foes, and so on and so forth. Every character has an individual design and a unique specialisation, which allows match-ups with good players or high-level computers to ooze liquid tension. 12 characters admittedly seems a little low for fighting games these days, but when each is as individual as those on display here, it's a shallow complaint.

What's really special about BlazBlue, though, is that the newbie hasn't been forgotten. If you're lucky enough to get hold of one of the Limited Edition versions of the game – for the same price as the regular edition, no less – then you'll get a tutorial DVD explaining the basics of the game, as well as strategies and combos for each character. That aside, things have been made easy for newcomers. You've got your standard light, medium, and heavy attacks, as well as a fourth Drive button which activates the majority of special moves, which makes things fairly simple to initially grasp, but better still is that many of the advanced options really are just that: options. I could discuss rapid cancels, instant blocks, barrier bursts, the guard libra, and the like, but these are things which the average player won't need to touch to enjoy the game. If you want to dive right in or start to work these features in as you improve, then you can, but when you're starting out, all you really need are the four face buttons and both analogue sticks. Yes, both: in another neat twist, a few special moves have been bound to the right analogue stick's directions. This obviously has a limit of four moves – usually two special moves, a Distortion Drive supermove, and the instant-kill Astral Finish – but if you're using a gamepad rather than a fightstick or have difficulty pulling off certain moves under pressure, this provides instant access to them, which makes the game a hell of a lot less frustrating to play.

That said, BlazBlue is not necessarily the most balanced fighting game in the world. One or two characters (Jin and v-13, I'm looking at you) are capable of, with little effort, destroying players that aren't watching every single move they make, and it's hard to shake the feeling that the game is built in favour of ranged characters. Then again, every fighting game has characters who suffer from poor match-ups against certain other characters, and skilled players will always find a way to steal a victory in the toughest match-ups; how much the odd poor match-up bothers you comes down to you, really. And hey, if you lose, then you play again. And again. And again.

Which is the thing, really. BlazBlue is fun. As far as fighting games go, it's easy to get into, it's got a cast of wonderful characters, it's beautiful, it's got an astonishing level of depth when you start to get a bit more into it, and it's deeply, deeply enjoyable. If any part of you wants to play a fighting game, regardless of previous disappointments or difficulties with other series, then give BlazBlue a try. It's an excellent game that's been well designed to provides entertainment for both casual players and pros.

Check out our video review of BlazBlue here.

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