Bleach: Dark Souls (Nintendo DS)

Technically, I’m supposed to review both Bleach: Blade of Fate and its sequel, Dark Souls. But after getting my hands on both, I realized that it’s essentially the same game, with Dark Souls getting minor upgrades such as a new story and additional characters. Unless you’re collecting every Bleach game in existence, there’s really no point in getting Blade of Fate when you can get Dark Souls instead.

As for the game itself, Bleach: Dark Souls is a 2D fighting game made by the same people behind Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters for the Sega Megadrive, and it shows not just in the level of polish but also in the game design. For instance, the 4-way free for all fights through the use of foreground and background stages (granted, this mechanic has been around before Sunset Fighters, and has been around in many fighters since then).

Bleach: Dark Souls is a little bit hard to objectively review due to the timing of its release. On its own merits, the game is well-designed and will give you hours of fun. It features a ton of fighters based on Tite Kubo’s hit shonen franchise, and the graphics do a good enough job of letting you know which character is which, as well as showing off some of the trademark attacks and moves you’ll see on the anime/manga. It uses 2D spritework, so the Nintendo DS’s limited 3D capabilities is not a factor. The 2D graphics are as good as you’re going to get on the handheld.

Bleach Heat the Soul 7 (PSP)

Bleach: Heat the Soul 7, as the name indicates, is the 7th (and possibly the last) installment in the ‘Heat the Soul’ line of Bleach fighting games on the PSP. There’s no need to do an introduction of the earlier installments of the series as the games have mostly stayed the same except for additional content (in order to keep them up to date with the manga/anime) and a few tweaks to the combat mechanics. All-in-all, it’s still a 3D cel-shaded fighting game featuring your favorite characters from Bleach (also, Sado.)

Changes, in a Nutshell

If you’re already familiar with the series and just want a quick rundown of what you can expect with HTS 7 compared to its predecessor, there are minor tweaks to the combat that, sadly, tend to slow down the pacing of the matches a bit. But it’s still enjoyable so don’t fret. It still runs in 30 frames per second - if you want smooth as butter 60 fps, you have to go back to Heat the Soul 4 and older, back when the games still lacked in-game transformations. Speaking of transformations, Ulquiorra now has one, so does Harribel and Ichigo can now turn into full Hollow. Additionally, there are now 4-way free for all (as opposed to 2 vs 2 tag) matches and special matches against giants, namely Allon and Yammy’s ressurecion.