During its two year run in the US, Aksys Games’ BlazBlue (BB) franchise has already had multiple iterations across several platforms. Between the release of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (CT) in 2008, a PSP port of CT, and the recent release of the Continuum Shift update, fighting fans have been able to enjoy the high-quality 2D fighter on all systems save for the Wii and DS. Now Aksys Games has brought a miniaturized version of BlazBlue to the DS in the form of the DSi Ware title BlazyBloo: Super Melee Fighters.
BlayzBloo, as one can tell by its odd title, is very different from its home console counterpart. The game is isn’t so much a faithful BB port than it is a stripped-down version of the Dreamcast classic Power Stone. Combat takes place across three modes based on getting points, knocking out opponents, or capturing flags. Five characters from the BlazBlue cast return to duke it out in ho-hum, square box arenas loosely based on stages from the home version. These versions of the fan-favorite characters only include a very small handful of their moves as the game itself is only played with four buttons – touch screen and shoulder buttons need not apply. Fighters can jump, pick up about four types of usable items, use one type of attack and a special drive move. Considering that there is no way to block at all, this all results in the combat boiling down to button mashing in every one of the three nearly-identical battle royal modes the game offers.
BlayzBloo is a very lean experience which does not offer much at all to either loyal fans of the franchise or casual DSi owners looking for a quick fighting game fix. Although the game only costs a meager 500 Nintendo points, even the most devout of fans will be buying it more so for portable fan service than the game play itself.
[nggallery id=21]
