Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend is a 2D fighting game for Arcade, PS Vita, PS3, X360 and PC, which was developed by Arc System Works and published by PQube (UK release) or Aksys Games (US release). It is a sequel to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and extended version of original 2010's game.
Last year ago, I've already reviewed Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma Extend for my PS4, so I have praised the game for revamped fighting mechanics, anime style animations, impressive visual novel presentation with detailed storyline and memorable characters, excellent soundtrack, and epic game modes that really makes the game so much fun than the previous installiment. I decided to pick up another Blazblue game for my PS Vita because I haven't owned any of 2D fighting game titles for PS Vita, so I did really mention on my last year review that the Continuum Shift are might be played too similar with Calamity Trigger, but I have started to change my mind by getting this game for my PS Vita just to see if this game are turns out to be actually good as the first original game. So far, I really liked the game for storyline, characters, fighting style, animations, soundtrack and of course it has more extra content for the extended version with four new stories, more playable rosters, and the updated version of Blazblue Calamity Trigger's story. I also enjoyed the several of game modes such as story mode, arcade mode, abyss mode, challenge mode, score attack mode, 2-player versus mode including online battles and unlimited mars mode are definitely top-notch for fighting game titles.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The story mode has various selection of chapters depending which character you're playing. 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 four new stories for certain characters such as Makoto, Valkenhayn, Relius and Platinum. You can also find out the backstory from the previous game by selecting Calamity Trigger scenario which gives a recap of the first Blazblue game and you can also get the tips by selecting Teach Me Miss Litchi which gives you all information about the Blazblue universe.
Unlike the later Blazblue game such as Chrono Phastasma which divided the different story scenarios, you have to select any of these two decision choices during the story slideshow. If you picked the wrong ending then you will get advice from Professor Kokonoe to give you a helpful hint to get the right ending via Help Me Professor Kokonoe, while other choices will lead you to gags reels which has nothing to do with main storyplot of the game, but it does have some funny moments during the gag reel. Unfortunely the gag reels doesn't really help on the main story scenario because it causes confusion to understand the main plot of the game if the players picked the odd choices during the story presentation, so it should have been better if the gag reels are on separate scenarios just like how the Chono Phastasma have divided the original and non-original scenarios on story menu.
I really liked the main story of the game which is just sounds good as the first installiment and I also liked the FMV cutscenes with kickass anime style animation. The story presentation has magnificent visual novel slideshow design which looked amazing for most of the scenery backgrounds and character's design. I say the length of the story presentation are still bit overdone just like the Chrono Phastasma, but still there's options to skip the cutscenes if you still don't to watch the whole things. It has amazing rosters in the game like Ragna, Jin, Noel, Mokoto, Taokaka, Bang, and Litchi, while Terumi is still quite insane main villains in the series.
Overall, I did like the main story, characters, visual novel design and epic cutscenes.
Gameplay
This game still retains the traditional 2D fighting gameplay as the first game, but features balanced tweaks and improvements over the originals. 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.
Your goal is to beat your opponent through each rounds until their life meter is completely down to win the match.
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, which performs weaker and stronger attacks 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 two different special moves such as distortion and astral, when the special meter reaches between half or full meter of levels, so using the distortion special moves will give higher damage attacks to the opponent, while astral performing an instant finishing moves to the opponent.
I believe the fighting style plays lot better than the first original game especially with PS Vita controls are much easier to play because it's highly designed for most of the PS Vita's fighting game titles making it feel more accessible and responsive. The hit detection has the great range of collisions which fixes the design of fighting gameplay and I also liked the variety of basic and special moves which worked really well. I really enjoyed playing different kinds of game modes such as story mode, arcade mode, versus mode featuring both local and online match, abyss mode, and unlimited mars mode because of the challenge difficulty and increasing player's experiences.
Overall, it has great fighting style, responsive controls, excellent special moves and enjoyable game modes.
Graphics
I really liked the anime art-style look of the game's presentation. The character's design is looking well drawn with impressive facial expressions and body language which really expressed the character's personality and it has really nice scenery choices on backgrounds, colourful details on whole scenes to make the visual novel looked marvellous for the game especially with epic FMV cutscenes animation. I also liked the look of the 3D backgrounds in gameplay stages are looked absolutely gorgeous with awesome special effects and the character's animations are looking spectacular in 2D gameplay battles.
This game runs really well on PS Vita system with no stuttering slow downs at all, so I'm very glad that the game developer teams have managed the PS Vita system well to show how amazing the 2D fighting game looked and it's just looked good as the console versions.
Overall, it has cool character's animations, stunning 3D backgrounds stages and spectacular anime art-style presentation.
Music and Sounds
It does have similar soundtrack as the originals, but still Daisuke Ishiwatari 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. It still has the same voice cast for most of the characters, but still they did a professional job with their 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.
Special Features
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 still quite overpriced, but you can still carry on playing some of the game mode to earn enough money to able unlock all the stuff in the reward menu.
Overall, it has all completed contents such as more playable characters, stages, games modes, and plenty more unlockable stuff on reward menu.
Advantages
Amazing presentation
Great gameplay
Spectacular graphics
Excellent music and sounds
Completed special features
Disadvantages
Gag reels may cause confusion on main plot of the game
Overdone story length
Overpriced unlockables on reward menu
Final Verdict
Presentation 7.5/10 - impressive main story, memorable characters, great visual novel design and epic cutscenes.
Gameplay 8/10 - great fighting style, responsive controls, excellent special moves and enjoyable game modes.
Graphics 8.5/10 - cool character's animations, stunning 3D backgrounds stages and spectacular anime art-style presentation.
Music and Sounds 9/10 - excellent soundtrack, impressive sound effects and good voice cast in the game.
Special Features 9/10 - more playable characters, stages, games modes, and plenty more unlockable stuff on reward menu.
Overall 8.5/10 - Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend is a solid 2D fighting game for PS Vita. This game features great story development, cool character rosters, incredible game modes, unique fighting mechanics, steallar animations and badass soundtrack that made the game so entertaining to play. It's another impressive sequel that really shows the bit of improvements over the first Blazblue game, so if you're the fan of the series then this is definitely must pick up and play.
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