by: Dameon White

July 26, 2009

We may be in the era of 3D and motion control, but 2D fighters are continually proving why they are more than just a classic videogame pastime. ARC System Works – developers behind the phenomenal Guilty Gear series – just released arguably the best 2D fighter this generation. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is fast, artistically imaginative, and brings the fun by the truckloads. Prep your fingers now because your d-pads and joysticks will never feel quite the same again.

BlazBlue can almost be a considered the successor of the Guilty Gear franchise. Only that it’s, well, not. If you’ve played Guilty Gear, though, you’ll understand what I mean almost immediately when starting up this one. Both games feature incredibly fast-paced action with a strong emphasis on dashes and aerial combat, excellent visual flare, a superb soundtrack that caters perfectly to the intense onscreen action and more fun than a barrel of monkeys playing with more barrels of monkeys. Adding to the list that not only are the controls simple and straight forward, but the game also manages to somehow provide a pretty reasonable amount of depth that can be found within the more advanced gameplay techniques and you essentially have a game that’s both easy enough for the novice to enjoy and deep enough for the more experienced fighter to take solitude in.

At its core, BlazBlue is primarily a 4-button fighter (A, B, C and D), which is how a novice can easily jump in to the game. A, B, and C are just standard attacks with escalating strengths (light, medium, strong) and speeds and D is your Drive attack. The Drive attack is basically a special, character-specific move that not only looks visually amazing, but also of course is quite powerful should it connect to your opponent. You won’t get too many of these per match, but a well-timed Drive move can quickly change the tide of the battle.

For the more experienced fighters, a host of button combinations and gestures are at your disposal. You can cancel a move mid-animation to psyche out your opponent or quickly adjust to an incoming attack. You can create barriers that will allow you to block stronger incoming moves that a normal block wouldn’t stand a chance against. You can also unleash a very visually appeasing instant kill attack called Astral Finishers. The game is incredibly fast and allows you to virtually play however you want, which can make for a quite challenging affair specifically when playing against the AI on harder difficulty settings or a well versed human player. Various gauges are also found within the game, such as the Heat gauge (think of this as a Power gauge from other fighters that increases as you take and dish out damage so you can perform stronger moves).

It’s very difficult to imagine a fighter that is both novice and advanced player friendly, but Arc System Works has managed to provide just that. There are tons of combos that can be easily performed using just the standard attack buttons and many are easy enough to perform that it shouldn’t scare off even the faintest fighting fan. Yet, start diving into the deep combo system and more advanced button mechanic techniques, dashes, special attacks, and learning how to effectively use your meters and you’ll find a game that is worthy of every penny.