BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

Last time I talked about Street Fighter IV and mentioned a game, I felt, deserved more credit than it received. Blazblue is a brand new fighting franchise that hit the consoles last year and quickly became my favorite 2-D fighting game. Though I avoided praise on SFIV, I’m afraid I can’t avoid it when talking about this game; nearly a year since its console release of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger, and it still hasn’t gone stale. 

Story

Ok, so it’s a fighting game that has a story. Unlike how I brushed aside the story of Street Fighter, I feel that the developers put too much effort into creating the story and the world in which Blazblue takes place to ignore it. It was criticized for its story because it was difficult to follow the many branching paths of each character through a world that had many terms and histories left undefined; so I will make my best attempt to summarize it all. 

The setting of Blazblue is in the distant future. Humans and various other humanoids live “Hierarchical Cites,” large city-states that sit atop mountains to protect its inhabitants from deadly ether gases that plague the planet. This ether is the remnants of a “Black Beast” that, several hundred years prior, nearly destroyed the planet and would have, had it not been for several very powerful heroes. In this post-apocalyptic land there exist two major political/military factions. Sector 7 is a scientific community that is trying to understand workings of the world. They also do research on a void called “the Boundary.” The other group is known as something really long, but the shortened version is: The Library. This is the tyrannical military force that controls the various city-states using magic and studying mysterious contraptions that are buried beneath the cities known as “Cauldrons.” The magic they use draws off of the poisonous ether of the planet, so obviously there are some contradictions within the Library (they’d probably still charge a lot more than late fees for any books left unreturned). There are many other details, but that is the world in a nutshell. 

Inside this nutshell are the fighters. The main two are Ragna the Bloodedge and Jin Kisaragi. Much like the Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske of the Guilty Gear series (in looks too), these two are bitter rivals. They also happen to be brothers, though unrelated by blood. Ragna is a terrorist out to destroy the Library and their sick experiments on whatever lurks beneath the cities. Jin is a psychopath who works for the Librarium and has a sadistic lust for his brother. The rest of the cast tend to revolve around these two. Ragna has a bounty on his head so naturally there are plenty of people who would love to capture/kill him. Jin is an agent gone rogue so everyone is either looking out for him. All this conflict among the characters hides the threat of a primary villain and his role remains rather unclear to the end of the game. 

The story is not award-winning and it is certainly confusing, but there was so much effort put into it that it deserves some attention. I could probably try and write a 10-page synopsis of the world and its story, but I still would be leaving many important details out or unexplained. That is one of the main problems with its story. Much of the motives of characters, the terms, the items, and the threats all remain clouded and confusing. The developers were nice enough to include little animated shorts that help define the terms commonly used in the character dialogue; they’re also very funny. But all the elements that make up Blazblue’s story never become completely clear. This may end up being explained in later chapters like Continuum Shift, but it does get frustrating when you feel like a game dictionary should have been included in the box for a quick reference. However, the developers kept the Story mode separate from the mode for a reason. If this just too much background information, you can skip it straight into the fighting, which is where Blazblue shines. 

Mechanics

Obviously if the fighting wasn’t good, there wouldn’t be a point to the game. But the developers at Arc systems designed a fighting system with a plethora of unique fighters to inhabit it, which really makes for an intense and almost balanced experience. Before examining the controls, let’s discuss the system itself. 

This may be difficult to follow on paper, so bear with me if you can. Each character has a life bar, and in between the life bars there is a stun gauge for both characters. There is also a “barrier” bar and a magic gauge for each character. The life bar is simple enough to understand. The stun gauge is a meter that fills up as a player blocks attacks. When the stun meter is full on one player’s side, his or her guard is broken, allowing for the opponent to strike. Players can do a regular block (holding “back”) which will take a small amount of chipping damage. 

They can also do barrier blocking, which involves holding down several buttons while holding back. This puts up a magical shield that stops almost all attacks, does not allow chip damage, and does not affect the stun gauge. If the barrier bar depletes all the way, players enter a danger state where their character’s defense is extremely low allowing even the simplest jabs to cause extreme damage until the barrier bar fills back up. Players can also reach this state permanently by doing a “barrier burst.” You might wonder why anyone would do this. It is meant as a last resort for players who are caught in a lengthy and powerful combo, to send their opponent flying away and giving the player some time to breathe. 

Finally the magic gauge is used for super moves. Each character has at least one move that uses up 50% of this bar for what is called a “,” a devastating attack that can quickly turn the tide of battle. Each character (in the console version) also has something called an Astral Heat. Similar to Guilty Gear’s instant death moves, the characters of Blazblue have a move that ends the battle, so long as the specific battle conditions are met. 

All of these parts of the system are subject to change in the coming Continuum Shift version. I personally think that the way this system works right now maintains a balance in the battle. There are different strategies to blocking and dodging as well as how to command the battlefield. At the very least, each player has the chance to throw off a powerful opponent using the barrier burst. The fact that a barrier burst leaves you vulnerable makes the battle much more intense and advanced players will try to get their opponent to use it early in the match. It allows for interesting strategies and recognizing properties of different blocking and fighting techniques. 

That’s not to say the game is perfect or completely balanced. Each character is unique in his or her own way (I’ll explain why in a moment), but they aren’t necessarily balanced. Jin and the playable boss characters are rather overpowered with high-priority devastating moves. Each character has a few particular techniques that have leeway, but certain characters ended up with moves that lead into combos easier or just allow a lot of recovery time. Other characters got the short end of the stick, but have a few tricks up the sleeves to keep them alive. One has low priority, low health but is extremely good at escaping and “turtling.” One has the same properties but happens to have an infinite combo. Overall, the fighting system and character mechanics make it more balanced than Street Fighter, though a little fine tuning is needed.  

Controls

 There are four buttons that map out the attacks of each character. Designated A, B, C, and D in the command lists, the attacks go from weak to strong in that order; there’s no “punch” or “kick” button designation, it’s all just attack. It seems simple enough, but where things get different is the D button. On the blue-ray that came with the special edition of the game, one of the players giving a walkthrough said, “The D stands for: ‘Do something cool.’” Each character is unique in that they use different weapons or techniques that are specific to that character; the D button is the one that utilizes this. For instance: Jin’s sword has a magical property of ice, so when this button is pressed, he sends out a projection of ice that freezes the opponent for a length of time. Ragna has a soul-leech ability that allows his attacks to be imbued with this dark force that leaches life from his opponents. There are some characters that use magnetism, counter abilities, wind, the list goes on. The reason this is such a big deal is that after playing Street Fighter and having so many “fireball characters,” it was refreshing to see a roster of characters that were vastly different from one another. Tekken and King of Fighters suffer from recycled techniques and abilities that are shared among characters, but in Blazblue no one character is the same as another…yet anyway. 

This however leads to the main argument against the game. It is not for beginners. The designers tried their best at making the controls relatively simple to pick up and map out. They even had the right joystick as a method of using special attacks without having to enter the inputs. However, this cannot compete with the fact that so many people already know Street Fighter and how most of the game works. If you bring Street Fighter to a party, people can pick up and play it. They’ll be able to go through most of the roster with relative ease. Bring Blazblue, and only the dedicated are going to want to try it. Its speed and intensity is daunting enough for people who are only a little interested in fighting games. Throw in the countless combos that go beyond 15 hits and only the fans remain. It’s unfortunate that such a strong fighter will forever be overshadowed by a game that commands the masses through reputation and nostalgia. 

Presentation

Presentation is another area that Blazblue kills the competition; and it’s much easier to describe. The stages are bright and colorful with distinct backgrounds that are constantly moving and showcasing the cultures of the areas. Since the game takes place in the hierarchical city Kagutsuchi, battles are in areas ranging from the dungeon-like sewer, to the poverty stricken sections, to the high-class levels. Since the game is strictly 2-dimensional, the characters are all portrayed with the 2-D hand drawn style in the foreground, with NPCs drawn into the background. However, the backgrounds are rendered in a 3-dimensional style that adds an interesting look to the visuals. You truly have to see it to believe it.

The game looks so good while playing, the brief cinemas that are fully animated have a style that, ironically, seems ugly in comparison. When the game cuts to the sequences in the story or the intro, the way the characters are drawn or move feels almost lazy. They look okay when they’re standing still, but as soon as they start moving it just makes me want to play the game and look at the frames instead. 

Sound is superb! One thing that Arc has done well consistently with its fighters has been sound. Specific dialogue is constantly thrown around between characters when special moves are performed, players are hit, or while taunting. The ability to turn the language to either English or Japanese lets you hear what the characters are saying to each other in a fight. So naturally rivals have a lot to say or sometimes they have a specific intro—unfortunately the introductions never quite live up to Guilty Gear ones. The interaction brings out the characters’ personalities and makes the fights seem more meaningful. 

 The stages also influence the sound effects. The material that the characters are standing on makes specific noises as characters walk or run or fall. As Ragna runs across the stage in the upper section of Kagutsuchi the floor resounds with the pings of shoes hitting metal, while the rose garden has soft thuds with the fluttering rose petals. 

The music department does not disappoint either. Daisuke Ishiwatari reprises his role as the composer of intense orchestral heavy rock music. Perhaps one of the best soundtracks for any game I’ve heard—certainly for any fighting game—character themes stand out for setting the stage of an exciting battle. Certain character pairs have specific songs to make the match more epic. Ishiwatari’s songs in the Guilty Gear series were intense, but it seems like he was really free to create whatever songs he wanted for this soundtrack. The ominous tones of an organ, or the rhythmic plucking of bass strings, or the jazzy piano mixed with the fast paced guitar thrashing, typical of his style, help set this soundtrack apart from any other fighting game. 

Multiplayer

It’s a fighting game so naturally it’s important to have a good multiplayer. The computer AI does a good enough job in the arcade mode and is actually frighteningly challenging in Score Attack mode. It is undoubtedly an achievement if you can beat this mode because even the weakest characters are aggressive enough to mop the floor with you. But where you’ll likely be spending most of your time is in the Network mode. 

On the network you have the choice of Player Match, Ranked Match, and Friends Match. Player Match is used to create rooms where you can invite your friends for a Friends Match, or just fight a random opponent. In these rooms you can set particular parameters for the match including allowing powered-up characters, Astral Heats, or use of the right joystick. Ranked Match sets you up with an opponent where you can view their profile before starting the fight. Here you can see what their main character choice is, however, the character select is “blind” and you won’t know what they chose till the match starts. Also the right analog stick is disabled to make the ranking more legitimate. You can search for a match or sit in the lobby and wait for an invite. The wait is usually brief and the level of your opponent is close to your own much of the time. 

Last time I spoke about Street Fighter’s online deficiency being an acceptable one, albeit frustrating some of the time. The same cannot be said about Blazblue. It was astounding how good the game is online. Though I struggle to find a match devoid of lag in SFIV, I often have to look for a match in Blazblue that has any. In the game lobby for Ranked Matches I often see the connection value of only one bar. Yet, when the battle starts, even if lag shows in the character introductions, by the time the announcer yells “Action!” the matches are synchronized and the battle does not suffer any slowdown. There, of course, is a match here or there that is dropped, or where lag delay is significant enough to notice, but it really only happens one every ten times at the most. This is on PSN, by the way; I can only imagine how near perfect it is on XBL. 

The only downside is that since the roster is not huge and there are the unbalanced characters, you are likely to play many matches with the same fighters. I’ve heard that the boss character is a favorite on XBL while on PSN Jin and Noel seem to be the most recurring choices.

Conclusion

Blazblue isn’t for everyone, it can be a challenge to master each character and the fast paced system takes some getting used to. However, it is one of the most exciting and unique 2-D fighting games out there that is available for consoles. It also happens to be the best fighting game to play on PSN right now. The characters are all so different and unique that the experience is vastly different from anything you’ll find in a match of Street Fighter. Its fast pace and quick action keeps players on their toes and forces them to invent new combos to get an edge on the competition. The visuals and the sound are enough to numb the senses as your opponent hands your ass to you. The system does a good job at balancing out the gameplay and giving everyone a fair shot. Even a master of a character that is on the bottom tier could very quickly gain a victory. I said that Street Fighter III: Third Strike was nearly perfect despite the fact that it wasn’t for the casual fighter, so I firmly believe Blazblue: Calamity Trigger deserves a high score.