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Name: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

BlazBlue is something of an oddity; it's a brand new fighting game from Arc System Works, the developers of the popular Guilty Gear series, only they've gone and done something a bit weird, instead of taking the well travelled route of throwing a new game together and upgrading to 3D they've stuck firmly to their guns and produced a new 2D fighter. Well, it's not exactly new; it's actually a home console conversion of one of Japans biggest arcade hits that first came out in 2008, of course it's not a straight conversion and various bits and pieces have been added such as a new Story mode alongside new music, animations, and backgrounds.

As with all fighting games there is a loose plot to follow and it's a typically Asian type of story; humanity came close to being wiped out from a monster known as the Black Beast until it was saved by six warriors who showed human kind how to fuse together magic and technology in a method known as Armagus. After the Black Beast was defeated a special governing system for Armagus was set up which came to be known as Novus Orbis Libraium, or NOL for short. Armagus became part of the normal way of life which caused some friction between those who could use it and those who couldn't until eventually a Civil War broke out, a faction known as the Ikaruga Union rebelled against the NOL but were ultimately crushed; after their defeat the NOL took a harsher stance against those who would oppose them and imposed the death penalty for those who would stand against them. Several years passed until a rebel known as Ragna the Bloodedge destroyed a branch of the NOL. In retaliation the NOL issued a bounty on Ragna's head, the largest ever issued by the NOL.

It's through this bounty that that the characters paths cross, there are a total of 12 characters that can be met and fought over the course of the game. The characters come in various shapes and sizes, some human, some not, and like the story they all come with a hint of Manga about them; each character is exquisitely rendered typical to the art form from buxom babes to dark and brooding hunks and of course battle between them commences when they meet. Each character in the roster is unique; there are none with the same kind of fighting style and although the story is some what loose, the effort gone into creating the characters back stories is obvious, Arc System has put a lot of effort in.

The fighting style is something different than most, it's great to see that they haven't followed a template set out by other fighting games, sure there are echoes of Guilty Gear to be found in the system but it would be more surprising if there wasn't. There are three basic attacks and buttons to press, unsurprisingly these affect a weak, medium and strong attack and even less surprising is that they can all be combined into combo moves. The combos they create become less and less effective as they land on their opponent which gives the other character a chance to escape, what becomes quickly apparent when you're first playing is that there are a lot of character animations, and make no mistake about it, there are a lot. It can become quite bewildering on the eyes when fighting some of the flashier characters as they dance around the screen in fighting form. As well as the basic attacks there is a one button special move that can be performed, these are known as Drive attacks and help add a bit of flair to the combo moves; though it's worth noting that the Drive attack isn't available to you willy nilly, whenever you land an attack or indeed receive one then a "heat" meter fills up at the bottom of the screen, its through this that the power from your Drive attack derives, so once you've used it all up you must wait until you've enough power to launch into a another one.

It isn't all about playing offensive however, you can block attacks as well. There are two for you to choose from, a normal block, which while effective in blocking the attacks can also be broken through with a decent enough combo, there is also another block type which is harder to break and is once again fuelled by a meter, this time at the top of the screen. Once you've gotten used to the basics of the fighting you'll begin to pick up on some of the more advanced techniques, you can for example cancel your combo moves at any time and return the fighter to his or her natural state allowing a form of defence from an opponents would be retaliation, this will however cost you and the damage you take from that moment on will be increased; little things like that will no doubt appeal to the more hardcore gamer and will produce some fierce fights when two masters of the system collide in the online mode.

The fights, as much as they can be confusing, can also be pure eye candy to watch, while it's fair to say that for those not used to a fighting game in this way it can be intimidating, yet the fights won't ever fail to impress, although the main action is strictly 2D once a special move is executed it will often lead to a much flashier style of animation with 3D and particle effects being used. The rich character development also shines through in the fighting sequences as well; the dialogue at the beginning of the fight is tailored to the two and even what they say to each other during the fight can be relevant to their relationship, better than the usual grunts and insults that can normally be heard in many of its competitors. That being said however some of the phrases they utter can become a bit repetitive during a fight, it's especially annoying when you're taking a beating to keep hearing the same phrase over and over again; then again it's annoying to take a beating in any fight at the best of times.

As previously mentioned, the home version of BlazBlue includes a story mode to play through, each character has a story to be told and a history behind them, it is through this method you learn more about the world of BlazBlue; playing through this mode is a lot like playing through a role playing game, there isn't much in the way of animation and a lot of it is just text to read which is unusual in this day and age. Often you're shown a static screen with minimum animation, perhaps a house burning or some kind of zoom effect to a certain area while a voice narrates what you can read. If you're not into that kind of story telling then it can be a bit long winded, especially since pressing a button to advance the story simply advances to the next line. Other single player modes include the Arcade version of the story and of course the other staples of most fighting games such as the Training Mode and the Score Attack mode. The training mode is actually quite a useful tool to have at your disposal, it offers the option to display your particular move set that you're trying to learn but also lets you record a series of moves from your opponent, so if you're having problems defending against a certain type of combo then you can practice against it in a safe environment and to your hearts content.

Multiplayer modes include both offline and online play for two players; the online mode is a good example of how things should be online, there is little lag evident when playing and overall it feels just like the offline mode when in a fight. There is a ranking system to play against and you can choose if you want to fight people with the same level of skill or if you want to play people that are ranked higher. Echoing this is the option to play people in your area, although looking at the user names of the players that came up with this option you can't help but wonder how wide an area this extends out to. You don't have to play just ranked matches either, there is a mode where you can set up rooms for challengers to come and go; there is also the option to just sit and witness others fighting if you're looking for a few tips or a new strategy to try out. If you come across something interesting then you can also save these out to your console for greater study at your own pace.

Like most fighting games the online fighting is going to be a draw for most players, but this is where the holes are going to start appearing; certain characters seem to be used a lot more than others due to their moves, although an experienced fighter might be able to pick a way through the attacks, it doesn't provide a fair chance for those that aren't. It doesn't help that you can't see who your opponent has picked until the fight begins either, and while this should be a good thing, you can't help but give an internal or even audible groan when you come up against character X for the tenth time and see exactly the same moves aimed in your direction; normally these kinds of characters have at least one counter character who stands a better chance than others at defeating their attacks but for when you can't see who your opponent is before the fight it almost feels like a game of roulette at times.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is an impressive outing, every option you could possibly want has been thought of and included in the package, proving that just because this is an old school style fighting game it's not going to leave anything out. Whether or not it's going to appeal to everybody however is another thing entirely, it's very easy to pick up and play, the controls aren't that hard and you can even get a fair way by just button bashing the controls, but there is much more to be gained from the fighting system by learning the nuances to the combat styles. Those that delve deeper will find something special with Calamity Trigger, but unfortunately there are those that will want to play on a more casual basis, these may find themselves a little frustrated when coming up against other fighters online. It takes a lot for people to want to buy into this kind of fighting game and BlazBlue offers a lot in return if you're willing to dedicate yourself.