"The epitome of hardcore"

I've never been a huge fan of anime -- the furthest extent of my dabbling in Japanese art and animation is pretty much with Ruroni Kenshin manga as well as the manga and anime of the brilliant Case Closed. Aside from that, however, I'm not a huge fan, and I'm therefore greatly confused by such series as Naruto or, the topic at hand, Bleach. That didn't keep my from renting Bleach: Blade of Fate, however, just because I've lately been really yankering for a DS fighter.

There are a number of modes to tinker around with in Bleach: The Blade of Fate, but hardcore fans of the series will most likely begin with the Story Mode. I can't speak very authoritatively on the subject, naturally, but from what I've gathered, the main character, Ishigo, has to enter some shielded world to save a girl who's given him the power of a Soul Reaper (her name is Rukia). You've got to defeat 13 guards and along the way you'll participate in several other battles in your quest to save Rukia. I suppose it might be interesting to any hardcore fans of Bleach, but to be honest I had a tough time getting into the storyline and instead focused more on the gameplay itself.

Bleach: The Blade of Fate is, at its core, a really hardcore fighting title. The control pad will direct your character's movement, as well as crouching and jumping. The B button allows you to slide around, with the Y, X, and A buttons executing certain attacks. But of course, a good fighter is not a button-masher, and that's certainly the case with The Blade of Fate. Simply hitting the Y, X, and A buttons in varying orders probably won't net you a win: what you'll need to do is master the game's really impressive combos and special moves.

But just as The Blade of Fate is hardcore in that it expects you to know tons of characters and background info, it's equally hardcore in that it's a really tough game with one of the steepest learning curves of any DS game I've played. At the beginning of the game you're given a quick tutorial in which a mountain of information is tossed your way, and you're very much expected to remember it all. You're given the complex button inputs for all the special moves, information on the many different meters in the game and what they represent, and descriptions of several statuses. In about five minutes. Your tutor then spouts out some crap like, “It's actually pretty easy,” and you're left worried that you should have maybe taken notes.

And aside from the intense learning curve, the game itself is fairly tough. The AI is well-done you're never winning effortlessly nor getting your butt handed to you time and time again. There are several facets for you to practice and get really good at the fighting mechanic. You can play VS. matches against computer players or access the training mode, which essentially features a solitary character upon which you can practice combinations. And once you've mastered the combat system, Bleach: The Blade of Fate is a really satisfying game. For those that don't want to commit to memory the half-dozen or so special moves, you can also map them to the touch screen and activate them simply by tapping them.

As I already mentioned, effectively mastering the complex combat that is the bulk of The Blade of Fate is a really satisfying achievement. And I'll lay it down right now: if you have the patience and ability to get that far, then you rock and you need to own this game. If, however, you're like me and suck at most games and/or tend to rent them and don't have the patience the master a game then you're going to be underwhelmed by this title. That said, chaining together special moves, jumping back and forth between planes of combat, and seeing your combo count soar up into the 40s all makes for a fairly exhilarating experience.

Outside of local battles, there's also an impressive online offering to be found with Bleach: The Blade of Fate. However, if you get online you're going to need to be good, because the core community of online players are insanely good, and will combo the crap out of you if you don't know what you're doing. Online battles are fun and run quite smoothly and without lag -- that no doubt has something to do with the fact that the game runs in 2D. Also, this brings up the game's visuals: the battle graphics are really nice-looking and obviously anime-inspired. However, the conversations that take place in between battles in story mode are done with basic 2D pre-renders of characters.

?It's tough for me to either recommend or not recommend this game just because of the fact that it really is a mixed bag. If you do decide to purchase it, however, keep in mind that The Blade of Fate is hardcore in every way possible. Bleach fans will appreciate it for the slew of characters and the somewhat-lengthy story mode, and fighter fans will love it for the really deep and rewarding combat system. But if you don't fall into either (or both) of those two categories, it's honestly pretty tough for me to recommend this. It's a tough game that's not for casual gamers and will take a while to get into. But once you do, you're going to have a lot of fun with this quality DS fighting game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/08

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