I have a confession to make. I have not played a lot of BlazBlue. I am familiar with the games, but have never really been into the series. Still with BlazBlue: Central Fiction, I went into the experience with an open mind and decided to just try and have some fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t what I experienced.
BlazBlue is well known to be a spiritual successor to the Guilty Gear series, but a lot has been done to differentiate the two series. The game seems like it would be too intense for newcomers to fighting games, but it actually is very welcoming. There are multiple game modes that help ease you into the gameplay but there are also two main ways to play. You can play a Technical route which is a traditional fighting game style of gameplay that regular fighting game players will be familiar with. There is also Style, which makes things easier to pull off major attacks. That said Style still requires timing and skill and isn’t a simple button mashing mode. I had a lot of fun with the multiplayer and feel confident in saying that this game is Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator on speed…and I love it for that. It just comes off as an extremely well designed experience that is also insane at the same time. You always hear the expression, “Capture Lighting In A Bottle” and that is just what Arc System Works has done with this game.
That said, it is not perfect and there have been a series of issues I have found while playing. First, I have experienced a few issues with the online and while I hope it has been fixed since I last played ( or will be soon) it did take away from the experience a bit. Second, the story is just extremely confusing and takes up so much of the game. I admit it could be it is because I haven’t played much of the series, but I had a very difficult time following what was going on. Lastly, the game is a little too bright and flashy and I found myself getting some headaches from it. I do not usually have these problems (except with some games) but it really did bother me several times here.
On the plus side, BlazBlue: Central Fiction is absolutely gorgeous beyond belief, more so than Guilty Gear’s recent games. The art is amazing and the visuals when not straining me, were amazing. The music was also excellent and a great soundtrack to get you pumped for combat. There is a slight issues with no English dubbing. From the experience I have had with Blazblue, the dubbing was excellent, and so this is missed. It isn’t that the Japanese voice acting isn’t good, but the English dub for the series was just very well done.
Overall, I did like BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and I would recommend it to fans of fighting games. That said, for first time players of the genre, this might not be the game you want to start with.
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy of the game for this review