Bleach: Soul Carnival 2 (PSP)

Bleach: Soul Carnival 2 is an enjoyable – if somewhat relatively short – sidescrolling action RPG for the PSP, based on Tite Kubo’s Bleach franchise. The game looks visually appealing and goes for a “cute” look by using chibi versions of the characters. Despite the simplistic visuals, there’s depth in the gameplay and you’ll be amazed at the kind of fights that you’ll take part in as a bobble head-like version of Ichigo hacks, slashes, busts out getsuga tenshous, and even transforms into hollow mode while mowing down armies of hollows and the occasional Arrancar.

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne (PS2)

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is a 3rd person action adventure game for the Playstation 2, based on Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga and anime franchise, Rurouni Kenshin. The story follows the series closely, taking you from the start of the series (with Kenshin’s fight against Jin-E serving as the tutorial) all the way to Makoto Shishio’s defeat.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is quite possibly the best Rurouni Kenshin title to date (even besting the two PSP fighters) when it comes to adapting the series into game format. However, it can also be inaccessible to people who can’t read Japanese, despite being an action title. The reason lies in the fact that the fights are framed by a story mode that requires you to walk around town and talk to people, with some parts of the story requiring you to talk to the right NPC and say the right thing in order to advance. Saitou Hajime’s story mode, for instance, will stump non-Japanese speakers because it requires you to solve a murder mystery.

Thankfully, there are translations and FAQs floating all over the net, or if you just want to unlock the survival and boss rush mode, you can just download/copy a save with all the characters unlocked (since the game is playable on PCSX2, this becomes an easy task.)

When it comes to gameplay, once you get past the story parts, you can start enjoying the meat of the game. As mentioned above, it’s a third person action game that puts you in control of either Himura Kenshin, Saitou Hajime, or Sanosuke Sagara (with Aoshi Shinomori also available as an unlockable character.)