Best Bleach Game
Below is my review of Bleach DS: Souten Ni Kakeru Unmei from my fanzine, Extra Life:
Extra Life is clearly becoming something of a DS
fanboys magazine, what with all of these brilliant
DS games I seem to keep picking up. Here we
have a rare beast for the handheld wonder: an
astounding fighting game. Even more surprising
is that the fighting game in question here is
based on the popular manga/anime Bleach, which
up until now has seen something but turgid
nonsense released as videogame counterparts
(see Bleach GC review, and avoid the PSP games).
Bleach DS: Souten Ni Kakeru Unmei is the fighting
game that every Bleach fan wanted. Featuring
a huge cast of characters (some of which are
surprising additions), easy to pick up gameplay,
excellent fighting mechanics and, most
importantly of all, the ability to play as
Kurosaki Ichigo and unleash his Bankai.
Of course, not everyone reading this review is
likely to know just what Bleach is, or is about,
so for a brief rundown turn to the anime and
manga reviews ahead. Suffice it to say, Bleach DS
allows you to act out the major battles of the
series for yourself, using all of the relevant
attacks seen or read about in the anime and
manga, which should come as recommendation
enough for most.
As a fighter, the game closely resembles the
likes of Guilty Gear in terms of graphical style
and battle mechanics. The majority of characters
have a weapon (often a sword) and several
attacks associated with that weapon, all of which
will be familiar to fans of the series. Battles can
include up to four combatants, and take place in
levels that usually have a background and
foreground that can be fought in with a swift tap
of ‘L’. Each fighter has a repertoire of special
moves on top of the standard kicks, slashes and
punches, and these can be executed with button
combinations or, a quick stab of the relevant
icon on the touch screen. While the latter
option may seem like something of a cop out,
you can only perform certain attacks when your
reiatsu (spirit) is high enough, so attention
needs to be aid to the top screen too. Still, one
of the greatest draws this game has is the ability
to perform these exciting attacks, so Treasure’s
decision to make them easy to pull off greatly
increases the fun factor here.
There are literally hours of fighting to be had
with Bleach DS, with a story mode, arcade
battle, time attack and survival for each
character, as well as a shop with hundreds of
items to buy, and even a fully featured versus
battle for up to four players which is
playable online as well as off, which mostly
means that you’ll be fighting super skilled
Japanese Bleach players if you play the
multiplayer, because being an import game,
there probably aren’t many people you know
who own the game. That said, this is easily
the most impressive hand held fighting game
I have played for a long time, pipping even
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper on the GBA to
number one position. The graphics and audio on
offer are extremely close to the level of quality
set by the anime and manga, and the game is
even easy to get into despite the presence of
Japanese text. If that isn’t good enough
reason for you to import the game, I don’t
know what is!
8/10 (which although = 4 stars, I\'m giving it 5 here. I;m a harsh reviewer)
Japan 
