Bleach started out as a Japanese manga back in 2001 and has slowly evolved into anime and movies as well as video games. There have been games being released for the Bleach anime series since 2005 and they have always been hit or miss. This happens to be the first year, however, that the series is to make its debut on the Playstation 3. Earlier titles in the series were released on the Nintendo DS and Wii as well as the Playstation 2 and PSP.
NIS is handling this new entry in the series on a brand new console. Can they pull it off and make a game that the fans will love? Or did they fall short and create a giant disappointment? Here are the Hots and Nots of Bleach: Soul Resurreccion.
HOT
Graphics
The graphics in B:SR are quite beautiful to look at. From the character models to the environments, there is a plethora of rich colors to look at. While the environments themselves are kind of bland, the coloring in the levels really makes them pop and stand out. It is definitely one of the highlights of this title. The moves are flashy and drawn in an over the top anime style and the intro movie is beautifully drawn and animated as well showing off some of the characters.
Stays True To The Series
Unlike some games out there that will sometimes forget their roots and stray from everything that made them popular, Soul Resurreccion stays true to the lore of Bleach.The characters, enemies, and environments come straight from the series itself and the story ties in with the story of the manga. While this is a nice thing for hardcore fans of the series, it kind of sucks for those newcomers out there who wanted to see what this game was all about.
Gameplay/Content
There are three different modes for you to choose from in Bleach: Soul Resurreccion: Story, Mission and Soul Attack. The story mode puts you in the shoes of multiple different characters throughout its duration such as Ichigo, Uryu Ishida and Rukia Kuchiki. Each character has their own unique set of attacks that match ones performed in the show or comic. Each character has a basic combo attack, a special attack and an Ignition attack that can be activated once a bar is filled on the side of the screen by defeating enemies. All of the attacks have a huge amount of flair to them that make this look like a true anime title. Each character has their own upgrade tree as well that allows you to upgrade their vitality, damage and defense.
The mission mode has you choose one of its many stages with each stage having its own certain objective to meet such as defeating a boss character along with other things. The sheer number of missions in this mode add to the replayability of the game. This mode lets you choose which character you want to play as before you begin each mission. The final mode that comes along with the game is Soul Attack mode which has you which has you playing certain missions in the game for a high score. There is also an option to submit your score onto a leaderboard to see how you stack up against other players around the globe.
NOT
Not For Newcomers
If you have interest in this game and would like to be able to follow the story and characters, but you know little to none about the series, then I would suggest steering clear until you have read and watched some of the stuff for Bleach. It will be easy for newcomers to get lost in the backstory and the relationships between the characters if they know nothing about Bleach in general.
Repetitive
While the combat does start out as a fun and entertaining part of the game, it slowly starts to grow into a single button mashing experience against hordes of enemies that look the same. It would be nice to see more color variations at least between the enemies but instead you only get a few different palette swaps. The ability to customize your characters stats does add a fresh perspective, it would have been nice to have been able to unlock a new combo move or something.
Verdict
Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a game that fans of the anime and manga will find tons of joy in playing. It stays true to the series, has plenty of replay content and the gameplay is fun for awhile but will eventually get repetitive. Those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the series will find yourselves lost in the story from the get-go and may be put off by the game. But in the end I believe this game was made for the fans of Bleach rather than the masses of gamers who enjoy hack and slash titles.
[Editor’s Note: Bleach Resurrecion was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
