Reviews

Beat 'em ups are a genre of game that divide their fans straight down the middle, Street Fighter or Tekken; 2D sprites or 3D polygons; combos or timing, button mashing, even online multiplayer. The list of contentious issues seems to go on forever. But let us put aside all differences and kick some serious butt with the latest beat 'em up offering to come out of the Japanese arcades - BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, the sequel to Calamity Trigger which entertained us earlier in the year.

The first thing you notice upon starting a fight in Blazblue Continuum Shift is just how gorgeous everything looks. The HD graphics are a sumptuous feast for the eyes. The huge and intricately detailed protagonists battle it out over lavish animated backdrops. It seems almost criminal that these works of art are used as a mere background to the violent struggles of the fourteen fighters found within Blazblue Continuum Shift.

The game features several modes, the first are the obligatory arcade, versus and score attack modes, which are all self explanatory. Next comes challenge mode which seems to consist of completing increasingly difficult chains of combos and as the display can be switched to show which buttons are needed to complete each combo, this actually makes an excellent training mode, and will have even a n00b picking up the games more basic combos in no time at all.

Next we have story mode which plays like an extended version of arcade mode, with (slightly too) long conversations interspersing the fighting action. The dialogue is all voice acted and is certainly at the top end of the predominantly cheesy dialogue that is staple for all beat 'em ups. At certain points you will have to make a choice which will affect the storyline, which increases the replay value of this game mode.

The most interesting extra game mode included is Legion. As you move around the game board you will have to fight various rosters of characters. Before you fight you get to choose your own roster from your available army, then once the battle commences any fighters who lose all their health are removed from your army, and the battle continues with the next character in your roster. If you run out of fighters it's game over.

At the end of every battle, if you are successful, you will be able to recruit one member of the opposing roster to join your army for future battles. This all adds an interesting strategic element to the game, and with various bonuses available on the board to boost your army or reduce the enemy's strength you will soon find yourself meticulously planning your route to maximise your squad of fighters. The only down side to this game mode is that you will need to be fairly familiar with all the characters moves before attempting it on anything other than the easiest level.

The game allows you to tailor the difficulty to suit your expertise level, and for the novices there is a beginner mode that allows the use of just single button presses to produce each characters moves. Naturally the more skilled you are, the more you need to work out for yourself in the harder settings.

Fighting itself consists of the usual button presses married to the appropriate d-pad/stick movements. As one would expect, everything works well, leading to some satisfying combos which more skilful players will finish with one of the games many advanced attacks, including distortion drives and astral heats to name but two. How to obtain these advanced moves and more is fully explained in the interactive tutorials that are available from the main menu.

The only gripe I personally had with the controls, is that all reference to buttons seems to refer to the original arcade buttons, while fine for seasoned BlazBlue players, this can be a little awkward for beginners. Luckily controls are configurable and whilst you cannot change the on screen displays of button A, B ,C and D to refer to your controller on Xbox 360 you can reassign the buttons so the colours of the buttons match those displayed on screen.

The music in the game consists of some up tempo rock tracks which seem to fit perfectly (J Pop would have been criminal) and there is enough variety that they don't get repetitive. And there's good news on the SFX front too, all the action is accompanied by deep and crisp cracks and crunches interspersed with the odd sarcastic aside from the battling foes. Another place where variety helps keep things fresh is in the pre-match face-off there seems to be a lot of pre-fight set pieces for each fighter which helps keep things fresh.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is a top notch game that will appeal to die hard beat 'em up fans, but shouldn't be overlooked by more casual gamers, who, if they give the game a chance, will find an extremely deep beat 'em up experience that also has pick up and play value - ideal for those after pub matches.