I'm in the middle of my own personal fighting game renaissance. I have played fighting games in the past and enjoyed them, but I never felt confident with my skills and would always quickly tire of the game, mainly because there was never anyone to play with. That all changed last year with the release of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger. The game had gorgeous 2D art, a great set of unique characters, an involved story mode, and a healthy online community. It excelled at easing players into its fighting mechanics and encouraged players to learn each new strategy. Since then Blazblue has gained a dedicated fan base, and they expect enough new content to justify picking up Continuum Shift. Will the additions to Continuum Shift satisfy those fans?

 

The basic gameplay has changed little in Continuum Shift. Players still have a light, medium, and heavy attacks along with character specific special attacks. Guards, guard breaks, and counters all come into play as there is a deep technical game here for the more intensive players. They'll be the ones to notice many of the minute changes that will alter their past strategies such as the introduction of Fatal Counters which allow for longer combo chains. There is also a new Beginner's Mode for casual players that replaces the analog input from the previous game. In this mode each button performs one of the more visually impressive maneuvers and limits access to some of the more advanced techniques. The game will also help link these moves together to form combos. It's a button masher's paradise and is actually a greater help to new players. I still prefer the analog input from Calamity Trigger since it inspired players to learn the moves not available to them. Still this is a better option for players who just want to jump into a simple and entertaining fight.

The greatest strength of Blazblue has always been its wide range of characters. No two play alike and that holds true for Continuum Shift. Four new characters make their debut though, the “new” Lambda-11 is merely a more balanced re-skin of Nu-13. The rest are completely new and all have interesting strategies at their disposal. Tsubaki uses a sword and shield that can change shape but she has to remain still to charge her more powerful attacks. Hazama is an odd fighter that specializes in flinging himself around the stage to keep his opponents off balance. Mu-12, the only character that needs to be unlocked, is a long distance fighter that can plant lasers across the stage in order to keep up pressure and avoid opponents. All of the previous fighters have been balanced with each receiving or losing moves and certain combos gaining or losing strength. Fifteen total fighters may seem low, especially compared to Super Street Fighter 4, but at the time of this writing another character is available for DLC (Makoto) with two more coming in the near future.

 

Along with the new characters, Continuum Shift offers several new modes. Tutorial mode teaches players the fighting system, starting from the basics and slowly building to the most advanced maneuvers. The instruction can be dry and longwinded at times, but it did teach me several tactics that I wasn't aware of. Challenge mode works the same as Street Fighter 4's, tasking players to pull off increasingly complex combos with each fighter. Blazblue keeps things moving in their version rather than reloading the stage after each success. It includes a video aide which helps greatly in pulling off some of the later moves thanks to the demonstration. The final new mode is Legion, which was brought over from Calamity Trigger's PSP port. Players select a character before being presented a map with several nodes. Each node has one fighter or several that must be defeated in order to move on. Each victory allows the player to recruit one of the opponents and use them to work towards your ultimate goal of controlling every node on the map. It's a fun distraction with some slight strategy as far as which nodes should be conquered in which order. Legion is at its best when playing with friends and passing the controller whenever their best character is up. The rest of the game modes consist of holdovers from Calamity Trigger: Arcade, Versus, Story, Training, Gallery, and Network Battle. All of these come together to provide plenty to do in the single player portion of the game, but there's nothing truly different between each option. They are merely different setups to fight and hopefully improve the player's skill for the multiplayer.

 

Of all the modes though, Story is the one that will keep players entertained the longest. Continuum Shift picks up a few days after the events of Calamity Trigger and the end of the constant repetition of the time stream. The world is an uncertain place and the characters who are aware of the shift are trying to prepare as best as possible. However, many of the fighters are still recovering from the events of the first game, but a new threat has emerged in the form of Hazama. He and two other mysterious people are preparing to take control and bring chaos to the world. These actions directly affect all the other characters as they rush to stop him or take care of their personal quests. Overall, the story is much easier to follow than in the previous game. It attempts to catch new players up with what came before but often terms will be said with little to no explanation and will likely leave new players lost. What makes the story so much easier to follow is that each character only has a canon ending, a bad ending, and a joke ending rather than a myriad of small possibilities. No longer do players have to purposefully lose in order to see every outcome.

The major problem with the Story mode isn't the story itself but how it's told. There are roughly twenty hours of entertainment to be found in Story mode. The reason I say entertainment is that players rarely do much of anything during this mode. Instead of actively participating, players sit passively as character portraits talk back and forth with little visible action. Fights break things up every so often but they're short affairs and no different from any other mode. Important moments are punctuated with a short animated sequence and while there are more of these than in Calamity Trigger, they still aren’t enough. That's not to say the story shouldn't be experienced. Many new revelations and characters are introduced and the series has finally gained a proper villain in the form of Hazama. This is a guy who revels in being evil and causing misery. He does horrible things but he's so entertaining that it's easy to let it slide. Every scene with him in it immediately pops and becomes supremely interesting.

 

If there's one thing that's proven difficult to improve in Continuum Shift, it's the graphics. The first game featured some of the best 2D art this generation and there's little change to be seen in this update. The clarity of the visuals has improved slightly but beyond that the game looks the same. Again, this is not a knock against it as I can't see how it could be improved. Several new levels are introduced and all of them are as vibrant and active as the previous ones, which have all returned with some tweaks to make them fresh and show the effects of the end of Calamity Trigger. Like the graphics, the music is just as good as before with as many new tracks as there are returning ones. The music has a rock-tinged feel or sometimes goes for a sweeping orchestra when the mood calls for it. All of the voice actors return and have good performances, whether it's in story mode or just small character moments during fights. Players have the option to use the English or Japanese language track to suit their tastes but in both cases, the actor playing Hazama steals the show. Visually and aurally, the game is a treat.

 

On the surface, Blazblue: Continuum Shift doesn't seem to be offering as much as its competition. Three new characters, three new modes, a handful of new stages, and some tweaks aren't enough to excite people. And if one of these people were only buying it as a single player game, that'd be understandable. However, like most fighting games, the single player is designed to prepare players for taking on friends and strangers in the multiplayer. By itself, the single player is worth at least renting if only for the story's continuation and seeing what the new features have to offer. Add in the multiplayer and it's a different story.

 

No fighting game can last if there isn't someone for players to test their skill against. Blazblue: Continuum Shift still has some of the best competition of any fighting game out there. The reason I can say that with such confidence is because its prequel was able to convert myself and a few friends into fighting game fanatics, constantly fighting one another and holding makeshift tournaments. Continuum Shift continued this tradition and proved to be just as much fun. Matches went back and forth and were  every bit as enjoyable as before.

Then there's the online, which is just as strong. Rank matches put players against one another with set rules and the opportunity to rank on the leaderboards. Player matches allow the rules to be changed and won't affect the leaderboards. Finally Friend Matches are as they sound. The best part of the Network Battles is that the connections are always near perfect. They may stutter during the loading sequences but once the actual match starts, there isn't a hint of slowdown. Matchmaking is also done remarkably well which is a rarity in fighting games. The side effect of this is that finding another player to battle in a Ranked match can take up to several minutes. The game also lacks real variety as far as online battle modes. Super Street Fighter 4 has, along with all these modes, Team Battle and Tournaments. Both of these would have been a great addition to the multiplayer.

 

It may not have the variety of Super Street Fighter 4 but Blazblue: Continuum Shift has a thriving community and the promise of even more DLC fighters (that can be fought against even if the player hasn't bought them). With its $40 price tag and wealth of gameplay, it's hard not to recommend to fighting game aficionados.

 

Note: This game was reviewed on Playstation 3