Bleach: The Blade of Fate (DS)
What's this? An anime-based game that isn't horrible? It can happen, folks.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Deep gameplay and fantastic visuals make an outstanding DS fighting game.
What's Not: Fighting against scrubs who use the touch-screen controls is awfully frustrating.
Phil Theobald
Status: Trying to keep track of all of my various status messages
Remember those Spirit Cards that you can unlock? These items add an extra layer of depth to the bouts. Don't worry -- Treasure's not getting any Yu-Gi-Oh! in your fighting game. These cards simply give you a mid-round boost if you need it. You enter each match with a deck of 15 Spirit Cards, and 10 are randomly chosen to become active for that round. As you fight, two cards at a time appear on the DS' touch-screen. By tapping a card, its ability is activated. These abilities can range from making you invincible to limiting your opponent's movement. As you earn more cards, you have the option to create custom decks with the cards that cater to your style of play. You certainly don't need to use Spirit Cards to do well in the game, of course, but they do add an extra level to the game.
Fighting games are something of an anomaly on the DS, so it's great to see one that's this polished come along. Fans of the Bleach series will certainly eat this up, especially with its wide variety of fan service goodies, including unlockable character artwork and voice samples. Even if your only experience with Bleach has been of the "brighter colors, whiter whites" variety, you'll want to give this game a go. You might not rush out to buy any DVD box sets afterwards, but you'll appreciate the hardcore fighting action.
This review was based on a retail version of the game provided by the publisher.
