Video Game Vintage Title: BlazBlue: Continuum Shift

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is a 2-D fighting game developed by Arc System Works and is the official sequel to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. As with the previous game, the game first came to arcades before both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions as the game was currently released for the Taito Type X2 arcade system board, with a 16:9 ratio and 768p resolution. It was released on November 20, 2009 in Japan. A console version was released in Japan on July 1, North America on July 27, and in Europe, on December 3, 2010 along with a region-exclusive Limited Edition. Two of its updated versions were later released, which are also available for PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita.

A third entry in the series has been announced called BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, and was released during winter 2012 in Japan.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Plot

The game is set after the events of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. A few days have passed since the reported raid by Ragna the Bloodedge, The 13th Hierarchical City "Kagutsuchi" forgets to celebrate New Years, as his alleged involvement in the "Mysterious Bombing" and "Huge Pentacle Sightings" becomes the talk of the town. With the NOL offering no official explanation, the citizens voice their own theories, exaggerating and spreading rumors like wildfire. Completely indifferent to the state of the city, Ragna grips his massive sword and quietly bides his time�waiting for the chance to achieve his true objective, and then, the enormous "power" that has ensnared Ragna begins to activate...

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Gameplay

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift retains the traditional 2D fighter gameplay of two characters participating in a duel on a two dimensional plane. A match can consist of one to five rounds known as "rebels". To win a round, one player must either deplete the other one's life gauge to 0 by inflicting enough damage through various attacks or by having more remaining health after the round's timer depletes.

During each rebel, players fill a Heat Gauge which can be used for advanced techniques such as Distortion Drives, Rapid Cancels, Counter Assaults, and certain characters' attacks (Jin/Hakumen). The Heat Gauge can be filled via dealing damage, taking damage, and perfectly blocking attacks. However, some mechanics from the previous installment have been changed or completely replaced in the transition.

The Guard Libra system which utilizes a tug-of-war gauge has been replaced with the new Guard Primer point system. Each character has a certain amount of points (e.g. Tager has a maximum of 10 primer points while characters like Carl or Ragna have 4 and 5 respectively). These points are depleted whenever moves with "Guard Break" properties (e.g. Jin's "Gale" or Hakumen's "Forward C") are blocked. Upon depletion of all points, the character is immobilized for a certain period of time known as Guard Crush. Barrier blocking can be used at critical times to prevent a Guard Crush by consuming 50% of the Barrier gauge instead. Primer points regenerate over time or after all points are depleted.

Barrier Burst has been replaced with Break Burst, a similar ability but with different penalties. Break Burst can only be performed twice in a single match, and its second use only becomes available if you lose a round. It no longer permanently drains your Barrier Gauge or gives you the "DANGER" penalty. A free unused burst is required for Astral Heats. Bursts have different properties depending on when they are used, as the offensive "Gold Burst" has high bounce and combo-ability, while the defensive "Green Burst" will provide invincibility for the entire burst motion, at the cost of permanently halving your maximum primer points. All lost primer points due to Green Bursts will not recover until the next round.

The conditions to use an Astral Heat, a flashy finishing move, have also been changed. Instead of requiring it to be the final round, having 100% Heat, and your opponent having 20% health or less, it now only requires it to be your match point round and your opponent being within 35% health, in addition to the aforementioned requirement of one free burst.

Reception
Gaming Bus awarded the game a B+, citing as pros great tutorials, Abyss Mode, storyline, gameplay, difficulty adjustment, Stylish Mode makes game accessible to new players, online gameplay, a balanced versus mode, and the soundtrack. It did note, however, that Unlimited Mars isn�t really accessible to new players, the game requires much faster reaction times than Marvel or Street Fighter, the learning curve can be a bit steep when learning to play against humans, and that the game will not appeal to those turned off by anime character designs.