Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (PS3 / Xbox360) Impressions

Gamers have seen all sorts of versus fighting games  by various companies featuring their style of gameplay and unique ways of graphics and soundtracks.  Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (ブレイブルー, Bureiburū) sports a 2D gameplay with rich and colorful graphics paired with multiple raging combos albeit a spirit successor to Guilty Gear series and should familiar to those who frequent the arcades.

** HD button for higher quality

Indeed, if you have realized the similarity, Blazblue is developed by Arc System Works (the staff behind Guilty Gear) and it might just overtake Guilty Gear in the future. Featuring awesome looking characters, visually stunning backgrounds, wholesome  music and of course and most importantly, unleashing of combos and attacks. Like all 2D fighters, BlazBlue on the overall is a 1v1 versus fighting in a battle that takes place on a 2D plane.

The console version features some exclusives:

- an opening animation sequence with a song performed by Kotoko and a insert theme.
- Console exclusive story mode
- redone graphics and animations in HD quality
- Able to switch English and Japanese dubs
- Online multiplayer gameplay with spectator feature

Gameplay is really fluid here and I have enjoyed executing some crazy combos in the game on my Playstation 3. Sadly, I do not have a joystick  to use it for the game except my default PS3 controller ^^ While some might complain about the limited roster of just 12 characters, I couldn’t really agree that this is a setback as each character sports a very detailed design and gameplay technique in my opinion.

For those who are looking into increasing your ranks online, gameplay setup is pretty a breeze and it isn’t laggy unless of course, you are playing with someone overseas far from your existing location and the matchmaking is really seamless. One plus point in the online gameplay is that you will not be able to know what character your enemy chooses until you chose yours, ensuring both start on equal and fair grounds.

** HD button for higher quality

Opening song (Ao Iconoclast) by KOTOKO was pleasing to hear along with its anime sequences, it makes you wonder sometimes if people are buying it for the game or the animations ^^

The limited edition of the game will differ for various regions. As much I am aware of, R3 will not have any special goodies except the States and the Japanese counterpart.

The stateside version will include a two-disc original soundtrack that contains 48 tracks, bonus video disc containing basic tutorials and expert advice, and limited edition packaging at a slight price increase of around SGD15. The Japanese counterpart, while I am not too sure myself should have a artbook? (yummy!) and a drama CD (as expected).

Any Arakune users ? :P