Months ago, I got my first taste of Arc System Works new Guilty Gear successor, Blazblue, at Tilt arcade. It has since then moved on to Arcade Infinity before awaiting it's console release. Now, I'm not the most elegant arcade stick player, so I'm thankful for it's release on pads for my thumbs. Now that I don't have to pay a quarter per play, how much more fun is it? I've talked about the game in brief before, so what's happened to the console version?
Work for it son
Now that you have all the time in the world to play this in the comfort of your own home, you're gonna need it. I'm not gonna say there are some awesome unlockables, but what you do unlock is pretty nice. Interesting artwork (my fav is "Noel's Birthday 12/25") home version Astral Finishes, and a decent story mode to work through. Yes, compared to SFIV's dodgy arcade mode "story" where we see your characters paper thin reason to venture out and punch faces, Blazblue's story has some meat on it. It's a big conspiracy revolving around Ragna and the Azure Grimoire he's stolen, aka Blazblue. Each character's story and ending interweaves with others and yet doesn't due a weird anomaly which Rachel's story helps explain. Not only has the awesome music made the transition intact, a few new songs have been added for our pleasure, including Bang's install theme and the new home console theme.
Show'em what you're made of
Now, like every other good fighting game with online capability, the netcode responsible for how you play online is great yet is lacking in some places. However, Blazblue definitely has things SFIV could take notes on. Player matches set up lobbies, so more then one other person can join you. This means two people can have a match, while the others not only wait in line in the lobby, but can view the match in real time! A great way to pick up some tips on the fly or watch how your opponent works. The method in which the game handles latency is also impressive. Even in decent level pings, the latency is good though it may occasional lag a few frames (if it's not perfect that is). The opening intro always lags as it picks up the slack, and by the time the match actually starts, it's as if the game has gotten a hold of the perfect way to smooth over the latency.
On the other hand, "ranked" matches have some shakey legs. As ranked matches go, you should get a random match based on your skill and have a fight on equal terms. It gets things right at first glance because ranked specifically has double blind character selection, but when you look at it in depth, you can actually cherry pick your matches, which defeats the purpose of it being ranked in the first place. You can see their level, favorite character, among other things. the only sembalence it has to being ranked is the fact you have one match and are promptly sent to find a new match if you want.
Dustloop!
The game itself has been sweetened since it's arcade release, so it's a good a time as ever to try this game out. It seperate itself from the crowd by having lots of offensive and defensive options, small but well thought out character roster and design, and a story that you'll actually care about. Story mode itself is kind of anal on the definition of 100% complete, since getting every character's story 100%'ed wil take a while, but the alternate endings and good story overall make up for this this caveat. Lastly, I want to let it be known that one of BB's achievements pays a hilarious homage to Guilty Gear called, "Ride the Icening" which is a reference to Ky Kiske's "Ride the Lightning" which in itself is a reference to Metallica's song of the same name. Well played Aksys, well played.
No comments:
Post a Comment