Blazblue: Continuum Shift at Anime Expo

I had the pleasure of playing the final build of Blazblue: Continuum Shift at Anime Expo on July 3^rd since Aksys returned to set up its exhibit booth like prior years. CS has already been out since November for Japanese arcades and popular stateside arcades have imported it for their loyal fans.

If you've played CS at an arcade, you'll know what to expect. Hell, even if you've played Blazblue: Calamity Trigger for the consoles last year you'll know what to expect. A relatively small roster of unique characters fighting against a beautiful backdrop of stages in HD with the masterful music of Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari. So what was different for the console release of CS?

New music

There are three new songs for the console release: Sword of Doom, Pandora Tears, and the opening, Hakira no Sora e Sasoedo, all selectable before you fight. I quite enjoy the third but lots of people enjoy Sword of Doom as well. The entrepenurial people of dustloop have also uncovered the theme songs not only to Makoto Nanaya (the first confirmed DLC character) but also Valkenhayn and Platinum. This means dustloop has uncovered strong evidence as to who the last two DLC characters are.

Button mapping

Often times when you watch tournament videos online, players will map buttons where they want them on their sticks on a match, test them out, than restart the match. One thing I've noticed on BBCS is that you can bring up a menu to map your buttons on the character select screen before starting the fight. Now there will be less hassle on having buttons just the way you want them, especially if you're sharing the console among friends or in a tournament setting.

Superficial details

Playing in the arcade is definitely a unique experience, but having the game on consoles makes it easier to appreciate the finer things about the game. It's difficult to admire the graphics on an arcade screen in a dim room with its sounds competing with other machines. In the bright setting of a the dealer's room without the flash and noise of other machines with the easier to ignore chatter of attendees could I make out the beautiful music and effects.

Not only are the graphics as crisp as ever with beautifully drawn sprites on an HD capable TV, the simple sensation of brand new sticks that aren't manhandled day in and day out is a refreshing take on controlling a game I'm familiar with only in a public setting, with warped sticks and greasy buttons.

And then there's Mu-12

I had some time to see Mu-12 in action and even tried playing her.

Mu bears several striking similarities to Nu/Lambda in design and gameplay, but playing her like the latter would be a mistake. Mu doesn't fight at range like Nu/Lambda but more or less at medium range. Her floating swords give her a lot of attack range while her drive, steingunner, functions more like cover fire than actual zoning.

Using the drive button causes Mu to release a satellite at a certain position appropriate to the direction you hold the stick. It fires a laser after a after few moments and stays on the field for an unspecified amount of time but can still be used for other purposes on command such as firing again and exploding. Using steingunner, Mu can effectively force her opponent to block while she can approach her optimal fighting range in relative safety.

One of her most unique normals, 6C, is an attack which teleports her swords to stab forwards through space. Essentially, it's worthless up close because the swords teleport through space to attack, leaving the space between her and her actual attack untouched. When correctly applied though, this attack can be a fatal counter and cause wall bounce. I can foresee Mu players fishing for random fatal counters in the future with this attack.

Blazblue: Continuum Shift was already looking like a worthy sequel when it was released on arcades last year. With the addition of more modes on console such as legion mode, challenge mode, expanded online lobbies, another character plus the promise of more characters via DLC, Continuum Shift will likely knock Super Street Fighter IV off it's current pedestal on my Xbox 360.