Review: BlazBlue II: Continuum Shift 3DS

Don't let the cute little girl in the right corner fool you; She'll tear your face off.

   BlazBlue II 3DS is a port of the very popular in Japan & at conventions arcade/console fighting game from the creators of Guilty Gear. Fast fighting, wonderful hand-drawn art, and a combo system where juggling is okay-dokay! Does the 3DS port due the series justice?

VISUAL: Being what looks to be a straight port, the character art is toned down a little. Still looks great in motion, it often comes up a little blurry when nothing is moving. The background have been toned down to keep the processing power of the game in check, but they still have more movement then the background in Super Street Fighter IV 3D. Speaking of 3D, this is the first 3DS game I've played where the 3D is better left off, or at least on the lowest setting. When played at mid to max 3D, the game looks unnaturally 3D. It breaks down the 3D scope to 4 levels; Far background, close background, shadows, then characters. Because of this, shadows look as if they are floating above the ground you're standing on. This is easily ignored with the 3D settings on low or even off. I chose to keep them on the low setting myself. 8/10.

Vash + Hulk VS Chun Li + Mai = This picture.

AUDIO: Fans rejoice, you can play with either English or Japanese audio. English voices are easily made fun of, but there aren't many fighting games with good voice acting. Music is good, keeping you in the fight for the most part. This game is made to play loud, despite the fact that the music is easily forgettable. The only issue I have with the audio is the sound clips inbetween battles. The music is too loud and you can't really hear any speech. 6/10

STORY: How much story can you really make plausible in a fighting game? Someone or another has some evil plan to use the fighters in a tournament style-battle system to take over the world/create or become the ultimate lifeforms/summon a god or something to those extents? Honestly, the story in this game isn't terrible enough for me to completely make fun of it, but it's not good enough for me to remember much of it. 5/10



Furry attacks puppet girl on the observatory of Hogwarts. News at 11.



CONTROL: Being a portable fighting game, I honestly thought the control would be terrible. As it turns out, the control is simular to the PS3/Xbox versions. That isn't a great thing, as the game's control & fighting system take some working to get into. If you're new to the series, the 3DS port my not be your best bet to introduce yourself to the series. The touch screen is used to toggle though move-set lists, changing the page with each tap. The screen only moves forward, making it difficult if you tap to many times. Having a slide feature instead of a tap would of made it a little easier. The game includes a tutorial mode to make the same easier for you. 7/10



FILLING: They keep you busy in this game. With an arcade mode, story mode, abyss mode, verses mode, time attack, challenge modes, network mode, and many more, there is alot to do in the game. The game also features the downloadable characters from the console version at no extra price. The issue with most fighting games comes down to how often can you fight the same fight over and over. 8/10

The real victim of this battle is the cat-like thing that witnessed it all.

OVERALL: BlazBlue is a great looking 2D fighter with few issues, but some of these issues really bug me. Rushed 3D visuals, questionable storyline, and not being able to hear sexy Noel talk is a negative in my eyes. It's a fun game in the end, once you get a hold of the system. Overall, the game is still a solid fun fighting game. 6.8/10.