Review: Blazblue: Continuum Shift 2 (PSP)
The BlazBlue series has finally made its way to handhelds, but was it worth the wheel of fate? Find out in this review.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2 and the Blazblue series overall features a wide variety of rather unusual characters, each with a unique story to tell. With the amount of characters available to choose from it took me a while to find a character that I could play with the PSP version compared to the console version, this is due to the the gameplay feeling a lot slower and stiff which doesn’t feel as smooth compared to the console version. I understand however they may have had to tone down the speed due to the hardware capabilities, but it just doesn’t feel right. A very positive aspect is that the characters and the gameplay itself feels very balanced, meaning it was relatively straight forward to battle any character.
Blazblue: Continuum Shift 2 has quite a few different modes including Story, Abyss, Legion 1.5, Multiplayer, Challenges among others. The first thing I decided to try out was the tutorial mode due to not playing the title on a handheld before. The tutorial seemed to start off quite well but the intermediate tutorials became ridiculously confusing to the point of frustration, and in the end I decided to just hope for the best in the matches. This is also due to the unfortunate button names. “D” is X and H is “O” and so on instead of just having simple layouts like X is X. The way the tutorial tries to explain specific moves can get confusing, and overall I thought that the tutorial mode poorly designed for newcomers due to its complicated instructions.
The main story mode is the best feature of the game, being pretty lengthy due to being able to follow a narrative with each individual character. If you’ve never played a BlazBlue title then this mode will be your best option as it introduces the characters very well and actually helps add some character development. As fighting games go, this isn’t the most serious fighter
on the shelves but it is probably one of the most interesting and cleverly created fighting titles. The characters are all very unique and from time to time throw a threw jokes in there just for good measure. The story mode also features cut scenes where two characters move the narrative along with dialogue. This style of progressio
n will be familiar to those who have played the console versions, but the lack of full cinematic scenes may feel a bit rough for new comers. Even though the story mode is pretty solid, there are quite a few flaws with it. The first main issue I came across is the saving functionality during the story mode. The game claims it saves at specific points, but I continued finding myself re-playing the same scene again because it didn’t save as I had expected. As it’s portable you probably wont tend to be playing it for hours on end, but the issue was frustrating, meaning that it took me a lot longer than I thought to complete certain story’s for characters. Potentially adding to the save issue, you aren’t able to skip the cut scenes, meaning that you’ll need to wait a while before heading back to the fight.
Now, I want to say the gameplay is great, but it isn’t. The controls caused me far too many issues that I care to imagine. The game only allows you to use the d-pad, usually working well in other fighting games such as Street Fighter, but BlazBlue on consoles is much more fast paced and using an analogue is really needed. As they have slowed down the gameplay on the PSP I can see why using the d-pad may of been a better choice but it’s far to irritating. I did however find pulling of combos easy to do and entertaining to watch. The same can’t be said for all combo’s though as a lot of them require techniques, but the button input can be confusing as I mentioned earlier with their labelling.
The design overall is probably some of the best 2D animation and character designs in a fighting game since Street Fighter 3rd Strike. The levels are well designed and very colourful. There’s a lot of detail to appreciate, it’s just a shame the game is let down by its flaws. The voice acting is also hit or miss, with characters ranging from good to just about bearable.
Lastly, one thing that I was even more disappointed about was a feature that could have really added to the overall package. The multiplayer mode is present but only via ad hoc, supporting no online functionality. It’s a real shame since a lot of fighting games online functionality is what draws a lot of people in and the competitiveness opens the game up to a whole new level and adds a lot more depth. This is a large omission for this type of game.
Overall 5.5/10
Blazblue: Continuum Shift 2 is a nice looking PSP fighter, featuring a solid story mode though let down in a number of key areas from controls to the multiplayer. I did enjoy the short bursts I played but a lot of the time I got far too frustrated to continue either it being the controls or the dodgey saving system. Without the online multiplayer the re-play value is limited but there is a lot for singe-player fans of the series or new comers. It’s a shame they decided to cut a lot of corners and left the game with a lot of rough edges. Hopefully future handheld version improve on the flaws.