BlazBlue - best fighting game ever made?

Ok, so I swore I'd never do anything like this before, but I guess it's time to try something new - so here it is, a word that I have despised since its inception, but nonetheless, the first of what could be many "blogs" from me, the man himself, Clev.

The first one is going to be a rant about how great the fighting game BlazBlue is. If you aren't a big fighting game person, well then you don't need to read this. No wait, you should, because this could very well be the game that MAKES you a fighting game fan. To begin with, the game is pretty much completely insane. One of the people you can play as is a little kid who has a big mannequin thats twice the size of him that of course doesn't speak, yet he calls it his "sister". Then theres the cat girl who is wearing one of those sweet P-coats that were all the rage a few years back (I still think they are kickass, but then again, I'm still waiting for the day when capes become awesome to wear in public - I'd imagine it won't happen in my lifetime, which is sad, but anyways - ), showing off her legs but not her face (just two red eyes and a mouth), yet, for some reason, if you jump on over to the gamefaqs forums, you will find a rather disturbing community of dudes who like to draw naughty pictures of her. I for one, like my dirty pictures to have girls that have facial features, but hey, to each his own. Then there's one of my favorites, the dude who has no face on his mask, but he has eyes all over his body, the better to slash your face up with his sweet sword. Thats just 3 of the 12 people you can play as in this game (I didn't even mention the girl with big boobs who fights with a staff - a natural occurence in a game made by perverted Japanese developers - a girl with monstrous boobs that fights with a big phallic symbol, but I digress...), and for some fanatics that are used to being able to choose between 20 or 30 different people, this might be a problem.

But this brings me to one of the main reasons why everyone who enjoys playing games at all should give it a shot - because its different. With the old Mortal Kombat games, we had the same dude with about 16 different color variations - Smoke, Reptile, Scorpion, Sub Zero, all the same looking. It's the same issue with the recent Street Fighter IV (which I also love, but we aren't talking about that today, are we?) - you have all those dudes that can throw fireballs and have a similar move set - Ken, Ryu, Sagat, Akuma, Gouken, and possibly the best joke character ever created in a game, Dan. All SIX of those guys are similar. You won't find any character at all that plays like another in BlazBlue. Everyone is completely different, to the point that you better learn what you are doing with each person before you even attempt trying to fight jerks online with any of your favorites. It's for this reason that casual gamers might get turned off on this game (the reviewers at Game Informer sort of did), but even casual gamers won't want to argue with the fact that is a freakin' gorgeous game.

First of all, since this is my blog - and I still shudder everytime I type that stupid word - but since this is my blog, we'll get it established that I'm an old school gamer. Give me a pretty 2-D game any day over a 3-D game with confusing controls. I love that 2-D games can seem simple at first, but some can surprise you with the ridiculous amount of depth they have. BlazBlue is such a game. This game has more moves, more combos, and basically just more things you can do to eff your opponent up than nearly any 3-D fighter thats ever been made. I'm so hopelessly addicted to this game that I've even considered dropping 100 bucks on what I call a "fightin' stick", a fancy arcade style controller that has a joystick and buttons like they used to have in arcades (may nearly all arcades in the US R.I.P.), just so that I can play better online - although I DO have a 56% win percentage on there the last time I checked - but I guess if you look at that as a grade, and I probably should since I spent seven freaking years in college - that'd be like, an F+. So a fightin' stick could probably take me up to a solid D, D- at least.

So what else to discuss? How about the story mode. Any RPG gamer, basically any nerd, especially one thats in to anime, will love this game. It has a completely convuluted and confusing storyline that involves the end of the world, a dude with a bigass sword that may or may not be a good guy, a nutcase that can freeze stuff with HIS cool sword, a demonic blob type creature that wants to absorb anyone that he defeats (who also happens to my favorite character), and a little vampire girl thats a couple hundred years old who is mostly just there to observe how it all goes down. And the cat girl that some of the gamefaqs crowd seem to have an unhealthy obsession with is always there for comic relief too. Basically, theres something for everyone. At least, every kind of nerd. Any any kind of RPG gamer that wants a change of pace, but still wants to have a pretty sweet story that you...well, that you probably can't relate to your friends without getting yourself confused, but is still pretty awesome. Actually reminded me of Xenosaga, another classic I pretty much destroyed, but honestly I couldn't really explain WHAT was going on in that game, except there was a lot of talking and...well, it was pretty awesome. And some things blew up. Oh and there was a hot cyborg (and SHE had a FACE, unlike the cat girl in BlazBlue, weirdos).

But anyways, I think that about covers it. If people seem to like what I have to say, then I'll keep this up, I'm a pretty hilarious dude after all and I have a lot to say, and the plan is to review two classic games a month, and since there are A LOT of garbage games out there - we've had over 30 years of video games now after all, think of all the crappy MOVIES that have come out in the past 30 years (I'm looking at you, Gigli!), and of COURSE we've had nearly as many stink-o games, another plan is to review at least one total crap game a month. More if those provide to be pretty entertaining (and I promise that they will be). On top of that, I want to review the new stuff - like the new King of Fighters thats out next week - and go back to some older games of the past year or so that I think everyone should have played, or I just want to talk about because I never got the oppurtunity to talk about them much (WHY did I not write reviews for the University newspaper, WHY?!), but basically, theres gonna be things to keep you entertained here, so come on back now.

I don't have a real review system set up for now, but basically, if we were to break down the normal things that are rated when we talk about BlazBlue:

Graphics - 9/10 - its a freakin' beautiful game, easily one of the prettiest 2-D games ever created, the animation is incredible, and if I ever wanted to drive to Roger Ebert's house to shove some games in his stupid monkey face to finally convince him that video games ARE art (he is adamantly opposed to the idea - just read his reviews for the Doom movie, or any action movie that seems like it'd be a good video game), this would be one of the main games I'd bring.

Sound - 8/10 - The only reason I didn't mention it up there, is because, while I love it. It's not for everyone. Heavy metal guitar riffs, mixed with some orchestra, a bit of gothic piano, basically everything but the kitchen sink thrown onto a soundtrack - but its definitely heavy guitar intensive. So if that's not for you, then the soundtrack to this game won't be either. However - the voice acting is actually fantastic, something that hardly ever happens in video games, and has NEVER really happened in video games - play the first Resident Evil game if you don't believe me.

Challenge - 9/10 - This game is TOUGH. Even playing the last few jerks on normal difficulty is a pain in the ass. And trying to get yourself an achievement or a fancy gold trophy by playing all the way through Score Attack mode, in which you can't even lose once? Well, you are a king among men (mostly nerds) if you can pull that off - to give you an example, you check whose finished it online, it's less than 1,000 people. This game has sold somewhere around 50-60,000 copies. And it has a bit of a learning curve that makes it not immediately accessible to everyone, but it's still worth a look just as a 2-D showpiece for either system.

Fun - 10/10. It's a blast. Haven't I established that already? And if you are an online player, well then good news! Hardly anyone (at least on PS3) talks on there, so you don't have to listen to 10 year olds that stomp your face into the ground that are up too late past their bedtime, or people that disguise their voices by sounding like a robot - it's sad that wasn't cool 5 years ago, and it's even worse now, yet it happens. And it has enough offline content to keep anyone busy for a long time - more things to do that Street Fighter IV had to do, for one.

Overall - 9/10. Just check it out if you are a gamer at all and like fighting games, RPGs, or just want something different. It's pretty much destined to be a classic. Aaaand, if you can find a limited edition one for the PS3, you've probably just made yourself around 40 bucks profit if you want to sell it. True story!

And with that, the first post is done. I'll be working on this thing throughout the week, and taking suggestions - if I talk too much and it's too wordy, if you want some links (still figuring that part out), if it just sucks in general, let me know.

Next up - a possible rant about why I think the PS3 is the best system out there. And a review of one of the best games ever made - Final Fantasy III - VI to those in the know.