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BlazBlue Calamity Trigger: Review for Xbox 360

If you’re into fighting games, then you might know about a little nugget known as Guilty Gear. The team that brought that 2D fighting game to players was Arc System Works, and they’ve released a new fighter in the same vein with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. This game has a whole new group of characters, and a fighting system that has evolved from the original in Guilty Gear. There are twelve playable characters, and they all have very different styles of combat from each other. One thing that Arc System Works has brought back with this new iteration is the craziness of the characters, as well as gameplay nuances that can lead to absolutely insane battles. There are a number of different offline games, and a very strong online play system. Even though BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger might not be the easiest game to pick up, it has a lot to offer fans of 2D fighting games.

Much like the original Guilty Gear games, this new version has three attack buttons as well as a fourth attack button that performs the ‘drive’ attack, a special move that is different for every character. The character Ragna steals the enemy’s health with their attacks, and the character Jin freezes the enemy in place. In fact, each of the characters looks, acts, and plays completely differently. This can be something of a difficulty for the beginner, as skills learned on one character won’t necessarily transfer to another character. Still, overcoming that high learning curve opens up one of the most intricate fighting games on the market today.

Just like the original Guilty Gear games, the fighting mechanics in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger are fast and intense. Tactics for overcoming the enemy include chaining together multiple attacks, performing juggle attacks that will keep your opponents in the air, and dashing forward and backward on the 2D battlefield. Many of the characters have strong offensive talents, and this is the sort of game where a strong offense can serve you well.

On the defensive end of the spectrum, there is the standard block, which has a meter that indicates the power remaining on your block before it fails that is different for each character. There are also a number of counter moves that can decrease the amount of damage that is done from attacks. These include timing your defensive button push to decrease the amount of time that your character actually spends blocking if you push it at the perfect time, a defense system that actively protects you that is called ‘barrier’, and a defensive counter system that allows you to perform a counterattack that can completely change the status of a battle.

All told, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is a strong title from a company with a history in the genre. They have taken the best of their previous games and expanded them into a game that has the flavor of the originals, but takes the actual gameplay to a whole new level. As if that wasn’t enough, the online play component makes this game one for anyone’s collection.

Original: http://asia.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/blazbluecalamitytrigger/review.html?tag=summary%3Bread-review

2011
05/19
CATEGORY
Game Reviews (Rewrite)
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Crackdown: Review for Xbox 360

A new game from Microsoft and Real Time Worlds, called Crackdown, is a game that is based on the open-world style of video games. First played in Grand Theft Auto III, these “sandbox” games, as they’re called, allow a player a large degree of customization as to what they would like to do in the world. There are usually a few options available that have to do with missions, and then a large number of other things possible in the game that have absolutely nothing to do with beating the story, and are instead all about having fun playing the game. That’s how this game is.

Crackdown is about a supercop, you, who can evolve their skills very quickly. These skills are improved by merely playing the game, leading to a situation where just going around in the city and having fun actually improves your skills over the course of time. This will come in handy, because there is a story in Crackdown that has to do with you having your supercop skills because you have to take down three different gangs that have taken over the city. Building your skills up some in the early parts of the game can really make it much easier to handle getting through the gang leaders’ bodyguards to be able to kill the leaders themselves. Unfortunately, when you have finally taken down all three gangs in the city, the game is over.

That’s unfortunate, because there is a lot going on in this open-ended city. Your character can increase their skills in a number of ways, all of which have real-life impact on your gameplay. By practicing using a gun, you can lock-on faster and more effectively. Practice driving a car, and your maximum speed and handling ability will improve over time, as well as the car eventually morphing special weapons and skills. As you progress through the game, there is the capability to increase your agility by collecting orbs strewn about the rooftops of the city. Increasing your character’s agility increases your jump height and distance. This means that your character will end up being able to leap from rooftop to rooftop, or scale walls by jumping from window ledge to window ledge. All told, there are an impressive number of skills that will improve as you play through the game.

The city itself looks incredible. There are names to many of the buildings, and the camera is able to actually see far, far into the distance.  Once you gain a certain level of stamina, traveling using the rooftops of buildings will become second nature, allowing you to completely change your point of view as you travel, and opening up the city to you in a whole new way.

All told, Crackdown is the beginning to a great game. It has an expansive, fun, action-based gameplay system that makes players want to play the game to improve their character’s abilities. But, by there being only one mission in the game, to kill all seven leaders of three different gangs, the open-world capability is lost, and unfortunately it makes learning the skills a waste of time.

Original: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/crackdown/review.html

2011
05/19
CATEGORY
Game Reviews (Rewrite)
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