REVIEW - ps4
BY SJ hollis
Classic 2D fighting game series BlazBlue is back and this time it’s swinging with both magnificent fists. Prepare to be smacked in the chops with one hell of bumper compendium of bright and beautiful battles and sumptuous story. Fans, rejoice. Newbies, this is your big chance to set your PS4 alight with the wonders and curiosities of the BlazBlue universe..
We all like to get our money’s worth, don’t we? Never before has it been so obvious when you first fire up a game, that your money’s worth is an understatement. In fact, you may be tempted to snatch up the telephone and declare ‘Operator? I wish to bestow more money upon the developers of BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND’. I’m sure the befuzzled operator will politely tell you to ‘do one’, but my point is that BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND has enough content to keep you happy until the cows come home, even if they’ve been on a pub crawl in Bristol City Centre and don’t return until quite late.
I’m sure regulars to the series will know exactly which part of the game to begin with, but for a newbie it’s a bit like dithering over which perfectly wrapped present to draw out of your Christmas sock first. It all looks so good and you’ll want to rip everything open at once and rub the torn paper all over your body. A good starting place is clearly the Tutorial. A fight isn’t much fun unless you know how to really kick your opponent in the chestnuts. The Tutorial will introduce you to two different ways of playing. There’s the normal way, called Technical, which involves lots of fingers dancing on the controller, a good memory and a passion for nailing those hard and devastating moves. More about all that later. For those who want to experience the story side of things and those who are just pants at fighting games, there’s the awesome Stylish Technique. Stylish Technique will let you pound those buttons until your heart is content and your controller is broken. There are very few moves that require any attention to what you’re actually doing. Combos really are easy as one, two, three, press whatever whenever. On the Beginners difficulty with Stylish Technique during Story Mode, I won a fight while drinking a cup of tea.
Some of you may be wondering what the point of Stylish Technique really is. You either want to fight properly or you don’t. BlazBlue has an incredibly rich background full of detail, history and interesting characters. It’s a world you could get swallowed up by. If, like me, you love your stories, your plot and characters and actually care more about that than smashing a little girl in the face with an electrified frog, then you should be allowed to enjoy the BlazBlue world without worrying if you can actually make it past the battles to access the next piece of the story. Story Mode played with Stylish Technique lets you sit back and enjoy the show with your feet up. You might even want to crack open a bag of Maltesers.
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