We Touch Games – BlazBlue: ChronoPhantasma Extend

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend, further referred to as BlazBlue, is the sixth game in the BlazBlue series. It is a great mixture of a 2d fighting action game and a visual novel. An extremely interesting character design, special attacks and voice acting all mix together to make an incredibly beautiful storyline and fighting game. It was developed by Arc System Works and published by H2 Interactive Co, and Ltd. Many thanks for the review key!

While its main attribute is its high action gameplay, deep character design and ability to make every single character unique, it also has a deep and story rich history and the ability to choose between multiple modes. One option is the arcade, where you beat enemies to gain shreds of story for the character you pick. You also have the option of story mode, which is on its own a visual novel. No fighting, just hours of a visual novel containing the characters you fight as or against. You also have a very in-depth training mode, tutorial, network play, 2 player vs, unlimited mode, and score mode, to name just a few of them.

To start it off I think it is important to note that this game is fully controller supported, however this means there are some troubles with the keyboard layout. This game is not really suited for a keyboard and mouse, considering the mouse does nothing, and all of the interface and fighting is done with the keyboard alone on the numpad and arrow keys. It is heavily recommended to play with a controller.

The game features local and online multiplayer. For local, one of the players must use a controller as keyboard does not seem to support two players on it. Online multiplayer is possible and usually has players of every skill level and can be a lot of fun to play around with, even for the most inexperienced player. Multiplayer features ranked matches, player matches (more for fun) and your own player data where you can see your stats. Overall the online experience is fluid and pleasant, I have not encountered problems with the system personally, however there are players that rage quit in the middle of a round.

The combat system is somewhat complex, you have to time your blocks and basically everything else you have to do, from difficult combos to cheesy ones that keep you at a safe distance while pissing off your opponents. Every character has a special “weapon” that can be used as an attack or skill, some are a long weapon like a staff, others have a book of healing or spells. This gives all of the characters a different play style so if you ever grow bored with one character you can switch to another and it is almost like a different game as you to have to learn their combos and their range. Overall the combat is enjoyable and does not get repetitive unless you make it be repetitive by spamming the same combos over and over.

The visual novel, or story part of the game, is well executed if you are already familiar with the characters or story line, however if you want to brush up on the lore from all six previous games you may do so from the game itself. Even if BlazBlue is your first game, it offers a great backstory presentation so you can get caught up on the story, which I think is personally amazing to add which also gives it a good sense of continuation.

While the story mode was not what I had pictured personally, it is great nonetheless and does give you an interesting story to follow with many different characters and ways they all intertwine. The visual novel part is spectacular, with many animations of facial expressions or movements which not a lot of visual novels do. The music changes with every scene and rarely gets dull or boring to listen to, which some games do fail at due to things like some people being slow readers and therefore hearing the song repeatedly, happily BlazBlue does not fall into such a trap.

Music and scenery are two things that go hand in hand, and in this case they are both fairly well executed throughout every part of the story episodes, extended stories, extra stories, or even during the gags this game features. The backgrounds are well detailed both in visual novel style and during the action phase, making the game beautiful to watch along with its splendid character design.

Overall BlazBlue: ChronoPhantasma Extended is a great fighting game and a great visual novel, playing it safe as they have separated those two so you can do as much as you want or sit back and relax with the story for a few hours. Personally I would have loved if they would have mixed it together in more ways than just the arcade, where only a small part of the story is present, usually not more than five lines between each fight. If you like visual novels or 2D fighters such as this or tekken or mortal kombat, this is an excellent choice, however I would recommend getting it on console or a steam sale. To close this off BlazBlue is a great and enjoyable game that I at least recommend people to try out!

Eivmoe gives BlazBlue: ChronoPhantasma Extend a Drastik Measure 7.9 out of 10.0 (79).

http://store.steampowered.com/app/388750/

Review by We Touch Games – A TDM Join