Bleach: Shattered Blade... after some ranting.
So... I have a confession to make everyone. Brace yourselves. Be wary of your socks as they're likely to blow off.
I. Am. A. Nerd.
Wild, huh? You're as surprised as I am and that's totally okay. I'm slowly coming to grips with this. One of the things that drives me to this conclusion, aside from all the comics, anime and the mighty, freakishly large transformers collection, is the recent driving obsession with a lil series called Bleach. I usually take the lazy route and wait until I can watch the anime on netflix or something after they've dubbed it into english audio. I haven't actively wanted to watch anime in Japanese in awhile, nor have I bothered seeking anything out. Since I've finished Witchblade and the Guyver TV series I've been waiting for something to come along and after watching over 180 episodes of Bleach I think that I've found a worthwhile distraction. Mind you, the english audio stops at like episode sixty or so and I've been sneaking episodes on Youtube frequently instead of sleeping. I'm currently sad because the show is actually moving faster than the printed manga work, so they actually have to wait for the comic to catch up and the show is making an original story arc while taking a break from the main story.
Given this obsession of mine; it's not entirely unlikely for me to want to dabble in its other forms of media. Naturally, Video Games are a huge priority of mine. So it's not that strange for me to want to try the Wii exclusive game Bleach: Shattered Blade. It takes place somewhere between the story arcs within the third/fourth seasons. It's also a fun nod to season 7-8 or so... Whenever the Arrancar are introduced.
Click to viewWatch the damn series on Youtube. Dammit.
The game features some sharp visual polish for a Wii title and makes excellent use of the cel shading technique that makes it basically look like you're playing 3D anime. The gameplay concept is intriguing; that two characters fight in 3D, but in a 2D style so that one player tends to one side of the other player and can run around to avoid incoming projectiles and attacks. The gimmick, of course, since it's a Wii title is that you swing your Wii-mote to attack much like a sword and the remote can distinguish between vertical and horizontal slashing and to be fair its detection is sharp as a knife! The ultimate goal is pretty obvious in that you hit the other guy (or occasionally girl) until they stop doing that moving crap. And you can mix up attacks by pressing buttons as you swing, swinging at certain speeds and in large and small arcs. Finally, you can power your characters up and unleash their ultimate "bankai" attacks by wiggling the nunchuck until their meter fills and whupass reigns down.
Unfortunately, while all the control elements are present and accounted for, the story is acceptable, the character roster is admirable and the voice acting it perfect... the game is complete crap. In versus you might as well literally beat your opponent with your controller because it's mostly dependent on who is the cheaper bastard who swings first and most consistently. There's no strategy involved with this game because it's about as random as clowns materializing in your bedroom and dragging you into a ball pit. Skill is irrelevant, the computer comes loaded with gallons of the cheapness sauce and the miserable dialogue and the piss poor representation of story and conversation is so woefully disappointing that fellow fans of the series may be seriously considering arson in lieu of angry letters.
It's a big let down for Sega to fumble like this, but then I suppose these things happen. It's a classic peek into the past where every licensed game except Who Framed Roger Rabbit was complete crap. The fun of unleashing big attacks gets old real quick, as do the ceaseless load screens and redundant gameplay. If there WAS a plus, it would be the robust character roster and the bouncing booby detail that th-er, I mean the detail oriented and show-faithful designs of the characters in the game. It's worth a rental if you have a coupon and a weekend to hate yourself for not getting a better game, but unless you're paying well below twenty bucks to buy it the game is not worth your time. Especially for hardcore Bleach fans, I think the anguish is more potent for them than casual gamers or weaboo.