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With BlazBlue finally in the states, I can finally do a review (though the import version is essentially the same since they both work on JPN and US consoles and both support ENG and JPN voicing along with ENG, JPN, KRN, and CHN subtitles. Sadly, PAL version (region-free) version is only for PS3. 360 will…have to wait or something…So onto the review.

Since this is quite late, I’ll do this post as if I were on time. Also, don’t mind the fact that the image used for the post isn’t the logo….I needed a moe-moe Noel picture or else I couldn’t live with myself.
(6/30/09)
Today, the nice UPS guy dropped off a nice package. Quite excited to play this, will post more after I waste my life away….

*few hours later*
So yeah…after playing for a few hours at a friend’s house…I’m addicted…now to play more at my house…

(7/1/09)
While I have the free time (which never happened by the way, but was planned), I’ll just post more pictures here of the content. I love the fact that the states are selling the Limited Edition for the initial release then moving onto the Regular Edition. The game feels like a mash of Guilty Gear with Melty Blood. I can’t stop playing it. (I actually ended up playing for about 15 hours straight starting from 8am and playing till 1:30am or so with “breaks” every so often…) I’ll do a full post the next day….

The LE version comes with…
Game (of course…)
2-disc OST
Tutorial/guide DVD from the people of Shoryuken and DustLoop forums

*Pre-Order from Gamestop gets you artbook*
*Get game (Normal Edition) from specific stores in Japan gets you different phone cards*
*Some other place offered a drink or something…*

(When I wasn’t distracted and pulled myself to posting >.>)
Okay, so since I’m about to fall asleep after playing for like 15 hours…I’ll get through the post (or most of it anyways…)

BlazBlue is a 2D fighter (IN HI DEFINITION!) made by the same people who made Guilty Gear. A lot of you will feel very at home when playing this if you were a fan of GG. The game itself has a cast of 12 characters and 4 Unlimited (EX) versions. The menu is beautifully designed for a fighter and the story is quite extensive with multiple routes. Voicing talents in this game is top notch and music is of course always good considering Daisuke is once again working on the music (the guy who did the GG music). New OP video done by KOTOKO (the single is great by the way) and animations are done by GONZO. Basically this game is a cluster of awesome. This game really did not fail to deliver and I must say my addiction is not driven solely by the hype, but by the actual game itself. So lets get on to what many will ask. The GG counterparts of all the characters… So here we go (I’ll leave blanks if I can’t think of any…)

BB Characters – GG Characters
V-13 (Nu-13) –
Arakune – Zato-1/Eddie
Carl –
Noel -
Jin – Ky
Ragna – Sol
Litchi – Jam (assuming she was more …. developed and had a staff and no buffers)
Hakumen – Justice (if she were male and had a katana)
Tager – Potemkin
Bang – Chipp (a more steroid version)
Taokaka -
Rachel –

That’s all I can think of…as you can see…some rehash, but its all good. The characters are all diverse and have their own “drive” which are basically …. perks I guess is the best way to call them. The game controls are easy to pick up and with specials being able to be binded to stick motion or buttons, pulling off specials is quite easy. Let’s continue with what I love and hate found as a minor setback.

Love
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Noel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Rachel
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
Tsubaki
-Story: Great story, both the main and alternative routes of characters. They’re quite silly and definitely worth it.
-Characters: All the characters are unique in style and design. Though the roster is only 12 characters, that’s more than enough to make this game fun.
-Music: Same composer as Guilty Gear. ‘Nuff said.
-Online Play: It is quite good. Ran onto lag only once or twice out of about 10-20 matches. Also, blind pick on ranked and various settings on player matches including spectating.
-Saving Replays: ‘Nuff said.

Disappointed
-Unlocking Finishers: Must play through arcade to get the character’s Astral Finish or Unlimited/Ex version.
-Story Mode set up: To 100% the story, you must lose and win every match along with doing Distortion finishes depending on path and all. Will require guide unless you’re just good at working your way around.
Losing: ‘Nuff said (not really a negative…just a personal thing lol.)
-Translations: Some of the translations are weird or lacking…Such as errors in sentences or not translating some stuff. It’s just as small minor setback.

So yeah, this game is quite good and I highly suggest people pick it up. There are shortcuts already pre-bound to the right stick to make this game more accessible to new players of 2D fighters. The game is currently selling in the states as a Limited Edition which comes with a 2-Disc OST and a tutorial-guide video from the people at DustLoop and Shoryuken forums. Though the tutorial are stuff you can find online, it is quite nice to have and see the combos sometimes.

As most can tell, my first impression of the game is a good one. Also because I got a stick to play this with, which really makes all the difference in my opinion. The stick really adds more fun to it, but that’s just me. I wish there were more animated sequences in the game. Seriously, GONZO really did well with the animation and I really would love to see more. Also there is most likely going to be a sequel since the story left off at a cliff hanger and a lot of things are still unexplained. Not to mention, the series seems to be getting off pretty well.

As for the artbook…I have yet to actually look through and read character descriptions and all, but as you saw from the front cover… that’s all I really need. <3 Noel.

I do hope our readers will get this game and especially get it for the 360. Please feel free to add me on XBL: Darkdragon500. I’m always willing to get some friendlies in. Much more so in this than Street Fighter 4.

Also, I would of done scans of the covers for the games and the cover of the artbook…but….yeah…too lazy lol….and too much BlazBlue….Also…don’t mind the fact that this post is all over the place…I did this over a period of at least 5 actually 3 days and did not re-read…so yeah…..

Also before I go. I would like to show you guys the most fail mechanism for the CD “button” on game-cases…

VIDEOS
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How the European countries probably felt.

Launch Trailer in the States.

Japanese Trailer.

Console OP.

Arcade OP.

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