Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma Extend is a 2D fighting games for PS4, PS3, PSVita, XBONE, PC and Arcade, which developed by Arc System Works and published by PQube (UK release) or Aksys Games (US release). It is sequel to Blazblue: Continuum Shift and of course it is extended version of this game featuring two additional characters, extra story modes, new story based on Blazblue: Remix Heart manga and three additional scenarios.
Before I start the review I need to talk about my history on playing Blazblue series. Three years ago, I have already played the original game called Blazblue: Calamity Trigger for PS3 and what can I say? It is a decent 2D fighting games with excellent fighting rosters, smooth anime style graphics, interesting visual novel story presentation and unique gameplay mechanics that keeps the game worth playing, but it may be not good as the other fighting games like Guilty Gear series, but still the game is played fun and enjoyable. I've never played the second sequel called Blazblue: Continuum Shift because the fighting mechanics are too similar with the Calamity Trigger, but it would have been nice for me to get the game for PS3 or PSVita to play for story presentation, but now I've decided to get Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma Extend for PS4 because I've heard the fighting mechanics are completely revamped to make the gameplay more up to date with different fighting style which makes the gameplay played much better than was before and of course the limited edition comes with nicely done artbook which is quite valuable for my video games collection.
Okay then, lets go back to review this game. After I've played this game, I'm very impressed with the game's overall because the developer teams did a fantastic job by improving the fighting mechanics over the previous game, the graphics are looking amazing with anime style animation and greater stage environment, it still has kickass soundtrack, the story has impressive visual novel presentation and detailed storyline, and of course the game has really fun game modes such as Abyss mode, challenge mode, score attack mode, 2-player versus mode including online battles, and arcade mode which makes the game even more bigger and better fast-paced 2D fighting games.
Presentation
The story mode comes with three main story scenario to complete such as Chrono Phantasma, Six Heroes and Sector Seven. You get to play certain of the rosters such as Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisargi, Noel Vermillion and all others playable roster to complete the story of the game. It is also including three extra story scenarios for curtain characters such as Kagura, Kokonoe and Bullet which gives a game an extra details of the storyline. You can also find out the backstory from the previous game by checking out two of the anthology scenarios on story menu or Teach Me, Miss Litchi section will explain more about story and subjects which is very useful to learn all about the Blazblue series. It does have eight additional gags reels which is completely differently from the main stories and it has the Remix Heart mode which was focused on the events based on manga novels called Blazblue: Remix Heart which are quite a nice edition to the extended version of the game.
I like how the story menu have divided between the original and non-original scenarios to keep the game's story go straightforward without making any complications for players because it is easier to know which story scenarios are part of the main stories and which ones are part of the side stories of the game. Each of the chapters has multiple endings where you have to select any of these two choices which are quite interesting to know how the stories goes and ends during the game's presentation.
I say the game has much better story development because I find the storyplot and the atmosphere are more entertaining to watch especially with FMV cutscenes is looking totally kickass. I say the story presentation length are quite bit overdone which the story mode wanted to focused on more storyline than the gameplay, but that's okay as long as the game needed to have more detailed visual novel story, so you can also skip the scenes if you don't want to watch the whole presentation. It does have amazing characters in the game like Ragna, Jin, Noel, Mokoto, Taokaka, Bang, Litchi, Bullet and others are quite a decent fighters, but I say Terumi and Azrael are the most craziest villains in the series which are also great in the game. I also love the visual novel design of the game which makes the presentation look pretty cool with well drawn characters and well detailed backgrounds.
Overall, I really enjoyed the story presentation and characters in the game especially the additional scenarios are actually good in the game.
Gameplay
The gameplay mechanics are completely revamped which improves the fighting styles overall. On character select, you get to choose two variety of fighting style such as technical mode which are the standard gameplay controls with simple attack moves while the stylish mode are making the fighting mechanics more easier to perform more combo moves which makes the gameplay controls more accurate to play.
During the gameplay, players have life bar on top of the screen which tells the player how much life bar left remaining and you have special meter on bottom of the screen which tells the player how much level you have gained before performing the special moves. You have four basic attack buttons known as A, B, C and D. Four of these attack buttons are working very well in the game because the buttons feels very smooth to perform the combo moves and the hit detections makes the collisions more responsive and playable without having any issues during the battle. It is useful to perform guard crush by pressing A and B button together to break opponent's block and you can grab opponent by pressing B and C button together to perform grabbing attack. The player will also can block moves from the opponent's attack, but the barrier is more likely to get damage when the barrier bar turns red until it reaches empty, but it can also can regenerate back to full green bar slowly. The player can perform special moves when the special meter reaches between half or full meter of levels, so using the special moves will give higher damage attacks to the opponent and you can also activate overdrive by pressing all four buttons, when the opponment's health bar is on low health, which allows players to perform finishing attacks to the opponent which is quite cool in the game.
Overall, the gameplay has better fighting mechanics, responsive game's controls, and more variety of combos and moves makes the game played smooth and more fast-paced for 2D fighting games.
Graphics
Blazblue has the fantastic anime art-style look of the game's presentation. The character's design is looking well drawn with impressive facial expressions and body language. It has really nice scenery choices on backgrounds and it has colourful details on whole scenes to make the visual novel looked marvellous for the game especially with FMV cutscenes are looking pretty cool too as well. The animation runs pretty well on the gameplay with no slow downs issues and it does have really awesome special effects with decent visuals and soothing lighting which makes the game's design just in the right balance.
Overall, the graphics has amazing anime art-style animation, cool looking character's design, great backgrounds, and awesome special effects that makes the game more up to date and more gorgeous.
Music and Sounds
This game has by far the best soundtrack ever made by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who are known for composing soundtrack for Guilty Gear series and Hard Corps: Uprising, did a wonderful job with most of the music with mix between rock and metal genres for most of the character's theme, but it does also have really cherished orchestrated music on game's presentation to fits the mood of the story scenes. It does have impressive sound effects with more atmospheric backgrounds noise and cool hitting sounds effects. The voice actors did a good job on every characters with suitable voices for characters and professional voice acting performances, but you can also change language between English and Japanese voices to see what fits the right for every characters in the game during the story sequences.
Overall it has excellent soundtrack, impressive sound effects and good voice cast in the game are by far the best in the game.
Special Features
The limited edition comes with superb artwork book is such a nice edition for video game collection. The extend version are more of being definitive version of the original game itself because it featuring all completed characters, stages, games modes, and plenty more unlockable stuff on reward menu that the game has to offer. Some of the unlockables on reward menu are quite overpriced (i.e. unlimited character cost $3000), so it would have been better of pricing $1000 instead, but you can still carry on playing arcade mode and abyss mode to earn enough money to able unlock all the stuff in the reward menu.
Advantages
Amazing presentation
Excellent gameplay
Fantastic graphics
Impressive music and sounds
Completed special features
Disadvantages
Overdone story length
Overpriced unlockables on reward menu
Final Verdict
Presentation 8/10 - Really good visual novel presentation, decent storyline, awesome cutscenes and still have memorable characters.
Gameplay 8.5/10 - Better fighting mechanics, responsive game's controls, more variety of combos, and it has really good game's mode.
Graphics 8.8/10 - Amazing anime art-style animation, cool looking character's design, great backgrounds, and awesome special effects.
Music and sounds 9.1/10 - Excellent soundtrack, impressive sound effects and good voice cast in the game.
Special Features 9/10 - Limited edition comes with amazing artbook. Extended version has all completed characters, stages, games modes. It has plenty more unlockable stuff in reward menu which is a fantastic features for this game.
Overall 8.5/10 - Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma Extend is a much better sequel than the previous game even the extended version is a 100% complete edition. The gameplay is fluid fast-paced fighting style, the graphics is looking so gorgeous in whole game, the presentation has impressive story and characters, it has the best music and sounds in fighting game series and it has amazing special features with great offerings for Blazblue fans. This is definitely one of my favourite Blazblue games on the series and I highly recommended to all fighting games fans to pick this game up will able to satisfy them with this awesome game.
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