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Blazblue: Calamity Trigger
Blazblue: Calamity Trigger

2-D Fighter by Arc System Works, the creators of Guilty Gear

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Kickin' it Old School with Blazblue

  • Jul 19, 2009
  • by
Rating:
+4
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is the latest in 2D fighting games by Arc System Works, the same developers that brought us the Guilty Gear series.  It's a nice change of pace from my usual RPG fanaticism, so here we go.

Story...well, this is a fighting game.  The story is about as twisted as a spring and to even try to understand it, I needed to cut out about half the characters.  I didn't want to, though.  The characters are actually pretty amazing.  Like Guilty Gear, the characters are unique to say the least.  Some of the characters are even surprising.  I expected Jin, the Sub-Zero imitating, katana wielding blondie to be the stoic type.  It shocked me to discover that he's actually the psycho of the game.  The voice cast in the Japanese version is just awesome.  Tomokazu Sugita voices Ragna the Bloodedge, and he just about made me jump up and down in excitement, and Kana Ueda voices Rachel Alucard.  Not everyone is so well known, but they did an amazing job.  The English voice cast also has a solid listing, with only a couple of lines that left me thinking "what the hell."  It's a heck of a lot better than some games (Soul Calibur 2's interactions come to mind...) and gives the characters some real features.  The styles of each character are also blissfully unique.  Ragna acts like a general anime anti-hero, while some like Taokaka are a bit more clueless.  The story mode is a visual novel style game where you get text based messages which are voiced and occasionally interrupted by fighting.  This is a hiccup in the game, in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with the style, but to get 100%, you must lose against each opponent as well as win, and some require additional thought and planning.  I found it to be tedious at times.

The gameplay of the game is delightfully fun.  First off, controls.  I picked up the game fully expecting to have to enter three full circles followed by complex button sequences to do a special (*cough* DOA *cough*), but was surprised to find that the most common moves are done with simple quarter circles and (my personal favorite), one button.  That's right: one button entry.  Only grabs need to be done with more than one button, and that's it.  Otherwise, it follows the usual light, medium, heavy attack, and the last button acts as the special property activation.  Each of the characters has a unique property which comes into play with the special activation.  This brings me to the last point.  No two characters play exactly the same, and while one might think that Carl with his doll is a completely different character, even Hakumen and Ragna, both mid range characters, are vastly different in terms of personality and mastery.  It really gives the game diversity as you attempt to gain mastery of all the characters.  Of course, button mashing will serve...to a point.  There is a detailed system of counter attacks and super blocks utilizing a shield gauge.  I've begun tinkering with it, but the depth is there.

BlazBlue is a pleasent surprise in the era of 3D graphics of the modern day.  Leave it to Arc System to keep the old 2D graphics.  Granted, there's nothing really wrong with that.  Imagine Street Fighter 4, only instead of cell shading, you just hyped up the old graphics and gave the backgrounds a touch of awesome.  The character animations are smooth, fluid, and what one would expect from a 2d fighter of this era.  The characters' specials are visually amazing, though at times are rather hard to pull off.

So, if you enjoy fighters, and especially if you enjoy Guilty Gear, I would suggest picking it up. 

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July 19, 2009
Great review, Magister!
 
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More Blazblue: Calamity Trigger reviews
review by . September 21, 2011
posted in The Gaming Hub
2008 was definitely the year of the fighter.  With games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Street Fighter IV and Soul Calibur IV (among others) hitting the shelves it was going to be a great year for fighting fans.  At one point during the time, however, a small game called BlazBlue came around.  For the most part it was familiar to how the fighting genre used to be, while also having quite a bit to offer.  Of all the fighting games released in recent memory, BlazBlue certainly …
Quick Tip by . February 21, 2011
posted in Siliconera Bounce
An amazing HD fighter, with sadly only a few characters, but said ones are far deeper than any character from the mainstream fighters! Very unique play style for every character, interesting VN story style, with a lot of funny moments, the "Teach me Miss Litchi" is probably the most amazing introduction into the game world I have ever seen, the design is very well made and innovative, the online mode is smooth and brings a lot of fun, the best thing is probably the soundtrack, it just never disappoints …
Quick Tip by . February 21, 2011
posted in Siliconera Bounce
Very fun game. each character is unique in their own right. No clones in this game. Story is unique for its time and pretty engaging.
Quick Tip by . February 21, 2011
posted in Siliconera Bounce
Fantastic 2D fighter. Despite the small selection of characters (only 12), the gameplay is incredibly fun and the numerous modes can keep you occupied for a long, long time.
Quick Tip by . February 21, 2011
posted in Siliconera Bounce
Fun fighter that I just go into a few weeks ago. I'm excited for the release of Continuum Shift 2, albeit a long way off (relatively XD)
see all Blazblue: Calamity Trigger reviews (6)
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Sean ()
Ranked #617
I'm an aspiring writer and genuinly enjoy anime, video games, and literature of all forms. Live in sunny San Diego and love it here.
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BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is a two-dimensional arcade fighting game by Arc System Works, the staff behind the Guilty Gear series. It was released on November 19, 2008 in Japan and November 20, 2008 in the United States. It was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 30, 2009. It is a spiritual successor to Guilty Gear. A playable demo was presented at AOU 2008. The game is currently released for the Taito Type X2 arcade system board, with a 16:9 ratio and 768p resolution.

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Video Games, Ps3, Playstation 3, Fighter, Arcade, 2d, Arc System, Guilty Gear, X Box, Blazblue
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