Bleach: The Blade of Fate (DS) Review

From the same talent that brought us Ikaruga, Sin & Punishment and Wario World comes Bleach: The Blade of Fate for Nintendo DS. Bleach is a 2D fighter well suited to the handheld and ticks all the right boxes for both a solid fighter and faithful game conversion. Treasure have done an outstanding job with the Bleach license. Some minor game imperfections and faulty online play do not diminish the quality time this game can provide. Check out our review.

As the name implies Bleach: The Blade of Fate is based on the popular Japanese anime series Bleach. The main character Ichigo and his friends must rescue Rukia, a new friend of Ichigo’s who also happens to be a soul reaper. They head to the realm called Soul Society where Rukia is held captive and has been sentenced to death by her fellow soul reapers. Fans of the show will be very pleased to know that all the elements of Blade of Fate are faithful to the original show including the voice actors, art, scenarios and playable characters.

In addition to the strong compliance with the original source material, Blade of Fate is an admirably strong fighter as well. It has the full suite of fighting genre features including 28 characters, 15 arenas, various game modes including story and challenge, a huge list of unlockables and online play. The original ideas Treasure have used in Bleach also work extremely well, beginning with a unique take on the traditional story mode.

The story is powered by standard cut-scenes utilising written dialogue and portraits of the characters to help bring consistency to the story and connect each fight with the next. Initially Ichigo is the only playable character. His story begins as a tutorial and then progresses into an almost ‘choose your own adventure book’ style. The player will advance in different ways, determined by criteria explained prior to the match. For example having zero soul power at the end of the battle for one direction, maximum soul power for another or neither for the third option. Unfortunately, so early in the game players cannot distinguish between the poorly named and ambiguous terms like ‘soul pressure’, ‘soul gauge’, ‘soul cards’, ‘soul power’ and other usless descriptions. Fortunately though if you do not understand what your objective is, failing enough times will still see you eventually get to the end (it will be somewhat repetitive).

After completing story mode with Ichigo, 23 new story mode episodes will open. These episodes are not as deep as the former and often very short. They are alternative views of the story played as most of the cast featured in the game. This enables fans to participate in every major fight in Soul Society plus many, many others. Completing story mode for all the characters will take an estimated 15 hours, which is excellent considering there are four other game modes. Training mode, arcade mode and versus mode are all the standard fighter affair. Nothing particularly exciting or new yet each still boasting plenty of length and depth. The final mode and probably the most interesting is the challenge mode.

Challenge mode is a highly innovative and very impressive dive into the nuances of the fighting system. Best described as a practice meets puzzle mode, the player must hit their opponent with a specified combination of attacks. It succeeds quite well in teaching players the possibilities available to them during combat. Challenge mode is also far more difficult than the generally easy (when set to normal difficulty) pace of the game, completing all 10 challenges for a single character is a genuine feat of skill. Such a challenge might involve eight or so attacks, but to string them together successfully the player must actually perform several additional moves to position themselves or their opponent correctly to continue the manoeuvre. It simultaneously becomes a practice in puzzle solving and learning how to play the game.

Blade of Fate’s multiplayer is unfortunately a variety of highs and lows. It can support up to four players simultaneously which is a nice feature to have, but fights are utterly chaotic and so random the victor requires no knowledge of the game what-so-ever. Two player matches are fantastic though and emphasise the solid fighting backbone that supports the game. The game features both multipack and a fully featured single pack multiplayer modes (all characters and levels are playable). Online multiplayer is atrocious however; unfortunately it is a complete and utter write-off. Not dissimilar to many other games in the genre, Blade of Fate suffers from excruciating lag and has very few players online. Making it near impossible to play even if you can tolerate the lag. It is worth noting that I was unable to play against any friends, online play may or may not fair better in friend battles against opponents you know are within Australia.

Blade of Fate looks and sounds like a high production value game ripped directly from the era of 2D games. All the characters, locations and sounds either resemble or are identical to their anime counterparts, which is appreciated quite a lot. Unfortunately the developer could have probably taken better advantage of the Nintendo DS’s power to make the game look even better. Additionally the frame rate frequently drops in four player matches and pixelated special effects frequently populate the screen. Those are all minor imperfections that do not reflect the overall high calibre and fidelity of Bleach’s audio and visuals. It looks and sounds just right.

Bleach is underpinned by a beautifully conceived fighting system that will entice newcomers with its high accessibility but does not neglect gamers seeking a long term commitment. The game is controlled primarily using the traditional face buttons Y, X, A and B which are mapped to slow, medium, fast attacks and the flash step. The longest ‘combo’ in the game is three moves long: a fast attack followed by a medium and then slow attack. As if this was not simple enough the game contains an option to set combos to automatic, enabling button mashers to pull off combos even more easily. This deceptive simplicity has a fantastic ability to instantly appeal to even the youngest gamers; ideal given half of the game’s targeted audience.

Serious gamers should be equally impressed by the same fighting system. Elements for the dedicated begin to emerge in various ways through a good solid learning curve. Depth in the fighting system comes from stringing together the above basic combos with special attacks, super attacks, flash steps and spirit cards. The victor will be the one whom best understands how each of these effects battle and also has the ability to actually execute their plans.

During combat a spiritual pressure gauge charges up when you hit with or are hit by an attack. When the gauge is filled the player is granted spirit pressure stock to spend on special attacks or damage cancels. It is possible to save up to three spirit pressure stock which can happen quite quickly, maintaining pressure to use them. Additionally some characters have the ability to spend all spirit stock at once to perform Bankai, the devastating moves from the show fans will absolutely adore.

Below the super attacks in strength are special attacks, which are performed by inputting a combination of directional presses ending in an attack button. These button combinations (not the moves) are shared amongst all the characters in the game, adding to the overall accessibility of the game. The final button press of such combos determines if the attack will be fast, powerful or both. The third option is the best, although doing so will deplete the spirit power bar which is equally important for performing defensive manoeuvres such as the flash step.

Since spirit power is critical to both defensive and offensive fighting, they must both be utilised efficiently to mix and match moves for the best results. The end of slow moves can be interrupted by a flash step and a flash step then interrupted by the beginning of another attack or combo. Herein lies the depth and freedom provided by the game. Some really impressive and creative manoeuvres are possible and many of them are demonstrated in the challenge mode.

The final elements to Bleachs fighting system are the spirit cards. When a battle commences two spirit cards are randomly selected from a deck of ten, which can be customised before battle. Spirit cards are displayed on the bottom touch screen and tapping one will activate it. Spirit cards can make you invisible, stop your opponent from jumping, swap spirit pressure with your opponent plus many other inventive abilities. Additionally spirit cards used precisely at the end of an opponents combo cause a damage cancel which negates the damage dealt during the combo that was interrupted. A huge amount of spirit cards with a wide variety of effects can be purchased or upgraded at the Urahara Shop.

The Urahara Shop contains a staggering amount of content to unlock. In addition to the large amounts of spirit cards to buy are new characters, character colours, system voices and literally hundreds of graphics and sounds from both the game and show. Disappointingly there are no full motion videos in the game. Some serious time must be invested into the game if one expects to unlock everything available. Fortunately practically every task in the game rewards the player with the currency used to in the Urahara Shop.

Bleach: The Blade of Fate is a fantastic fighter for the Nintendo DS. Kudos to SEGA and Treasure for not providing the world with yet another anime cash-in. This game is a pleasure to play and measures favourably against the 2D fighter genre and the anime on which it is based. It is great value for money thanks to a barrage of unlockables, several game modes and a deep fighting system. The horrendous online multiplayer is one major disappointment, but is some what compensated by a fully-featured single pack multiplayer complete with competent AI. Bleach: The Blade of Fate is strongly recommended to all gamers, but in particular to fans of the anime and the fighting genre.