"A game based on an anime?"

Bleach, the award winning series by Tite Kubo has come to the DS. Many games based on an anime have surfaced throughout the history of gaming, sadly, a majority of those games are laughable and not well done. This game is in the minority. It is for sure one of best games for the DS in North America, and arguably the best fighter on the DS in North America. This game has tons of playable characters, extra game modes, and uses these aspects very well.

Story: 7/10

This game is about a 15 year old boy named Ichigo Kurosaki. He encounters a soul reaper named Rukia Kuchki, and absorbs almost all of her power. He then begins fighting monsters and what not. However, a place called the Soul Society learns of Ichigo and Rukia's power swap, and sends two soul reapers to bring Rukia back to be executed. Ichigo tries to defend her, but fails begins a mission with his friends to rescue Rukia before she is put to death.

The game's story starts from there. Form there on, Ichigo goes through the Soul Society fighting other Soul Reapers to rescue Rukia. The game's storyline is not as detailed as the anime's. it jumps around, and is sometimes tough to understand without knowing the anime. However, the game does a good job with what options they could use. At certain points, it can get text heavy, but that happens only occasionally.

Now, I bet you're wondering why I scored the story the way I did, well, it has twenty two other story modes. They each revolve around different characters. Now, since there are 23 story modes why isn't it higher? Well, the makers used a "Soul Reaper Tournament" story for a good majority. these characters' story modes get old very fast. however, the story modes not based on the tournament are quite good in my opinion. They follow each characters' story lines, and have some challenging (at first playthrough) fights.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics for this game are very good. The attacks and characters movements and variations of the two are top notch on the DS. Each character's attacks are very smooth, and even when there are four players on the field, it's no different. there aren't many ways the game can improve with the DS's graphics capabilities than it has, so the makers have done a very good job.

Gameplay: 10/10

This is where the game gets amazing. yes, it is a combo based fighting game, but it adds a lot of different abilities and attacks which propel it over many fighting games. This game also has amazing balance. To me, there isn't a top tier of characters that are completely superior to the rest. yes, there are a few joke characters, but for the most part, it's balanced. Almost any character can beat any other character on wi-fi. Each character can be very adaptable, and the basics are easy to learn and apply to battles. However, it takes some time to get successful combos mastered. The air battling is superb, and each attack has its ups and downs.

One thing that definitely surprised me was the use of the touch screen, as well as the card system. On any live action game, once cards get involved, most people run for the hills. Kingdom Hearts; Chain of Memories is a perfect example. Card systems on most live action games are usually crappy and not used or thought out well. However, this game is much different. First off, the cards are optional. They aren't mandatory to use, but they help you out a great bit, so when allowed to, use them. The game is more of a challenge without using them in my opinion, but whatever. The cards in this game are used as power-ups, and are very well put into the game.

Music/Sound: 8/10

Yes, the music in this game is very good. This is the first game I haven't wanted to listen to my MP3 player while playing. However, the added sound from the characters' voices gets annoying. But, there two things to do about it. Switch the sounds to Bonnie the Boar (A pig, I know), so when you scroll through the main menu you can hear pig sounds or the alternative thing you can do about the voices is by just turning the voice volume to zero and voila, no annoying voices.

Replayability: Varies/10

I for one am a person who upon completion of the story mode, usually starts the game over and plays through the game for enjoyment. This game can get pretty old without wi-fi, so for you without wi-fi, tough luck. The replay value drops for those select few without it. Things like the Urahara shop are good ideas, but it could be used much better and valued more if there were more worthwhile things to purchase. But it's always fun to get a knick knack for a few minutes, but it gets old quickly. the other game modes are challenging, and offer some fun.

However, with wifi, this game goes from good to great. Up to four players can play, you can specify card uses, and the like. Those with wifi will experience an almost never ending buffet of fun. there is one draw back, the lag can get annoying in a heated match.

So with wi-fi the replay value becomes 8/10, without it, it becomes a 6/10.

So... overall score with wifi: About 9/10
Overall score without wifi: About 8/10

Reccomendations: For thirty dollars, this game was amazing. I would highly reccomend you buy it, I doubt you'll regret it. If you're not a huge fighting games fan, rent it and see if you like it. Have fun.

Yes, I personally like the anime, however, the anime mainly focuses on the story, and note how the story mark brought it down.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/07

Game Release: Bleach: The Blade of Fate (US, 10/09/07)