Japan are great with bringing out quality anime which covers a huge range of genres and storylines involving humans, monsters and even aliens. Inazuma Eleven is a great example for their sporting genre, as players have special powers and football is practiced seriously amongst the players from within the show. Inazuma Eleven 2: Firestorm and Blizzard follows up from the first DS game, where Mark and co. have just won the Football Frontier. Now they come face to face with a brand new threat, known as the Alius Academy, who have come from outer space.
The story mode is solid, featuring everything that makes the anime great, even going to the extent of including clips from the show itself. It does however feel a little too long when the talking sequences pop up. It feels as though they have tried to cram too much of the story within the game. Although that is the case, the story still delivers something interesting, if not engaging, and makes sure that players know exactly what they are to do and what they are coming up against. Match mode is set within the story, where you need to use the stylus to beat the opposing team, or in some cases, try and win a losing battle. Nonetheless, everything from the first game has been carried on over to this game.
We all know that the DS does not produce the most amazing graphics and with this game you can see that when the action zooms in. RPG games seem to suffer with this, as despite the amazing gameplay that some deliver, the graphics come out somewhat blocky. Despite these hick-ups, I can clearly see what the developers have tried to show and tell us. The graphics come to life mainly when you execute a big shot, such as the Dragon Crash or Fire Tornado. When you are on the normal story mode, where you move around seeking out players and talking to people, the graphics are not something that will amaze you nor will they disappoint you. While it doesn’t stand out visually from other DS RPG’s, it does have its own style and flair.
The gameplay is nothing to be amazed at either. It, again like the features, are carried on over through the first Inazuma Eleven game. You move your players in story mode with either the D-Pad or the stylus. The stylus helps control how fast you want your players to run or walk outside of football matches. The action and gameplay, however, come into play when you enter a match! You can control whether or not a certain player moves and where to and who you are going to pass to. Depending on where you tap can also determine where the ball will land if you successfully tackle your opponent. When your team are on the attack, you can tap the stylus to where you want to pass the ball, whether it is to another player or to get it away from the other team, and then you get the chance to tap a specific area of the opponents goal, where you will get the chance to kick, chip or do a power shot, which only some characters are capable of.
Multiplayer mode can be fun if you know another person who has the same game. You can challenge them to matches and trade players with them. Trading players is a lot more successful if you have the opposite game to your friends. Firestorm and Blizzard have specific players allocated to the game and therefore pushes you and your friend to trade players and try to collect them all. Again this is only fun and can be a benefit IF you know someone else who has the game. However, you can play this online, which broadens your horizon with whom you can play with and offers much more of a challenge when you go up against the more skilled players.
The anime sequences bring this game to life and draw you into the game even more. Not many games based on Anime shows feature clips from the series itself. This helps bring the game closer to the fans themselves. Those who have picked the game up just to try it out and see what it is worth may not be as impressed as the fans are. Inazuma Eleven 2 is a game for the fans, it needs a lot more work to call out to people who are not familiar with the game and its goals.