Got BlazBlue yesterday and am totally digging it! For some reason, I've never been very much into Guilty Gear, although I've enjoyed Arc System Works' other fighting games. BlazBlue is very much in the same vein as Guilty Gear, right down to the spiky-haired main character (but with WHITE hair instead of black, huge change!) in red and black with a huge sword, and his rival, the skinny blonde-haired guy with the rapier, or "Ice Ky" as I have seen people call him. But while there are some similarities, most of the characters are pretty different from GG characters, and are pretty unique compared to most other fighting games.
BlazBlue is visually what fans wanted Street Fighter IV to be: Hand-drawn, HD sprites, on top of gorgeous 3D backgrounds. You get stage intros before every fight, and they add a lot of personality to the game. The sprites blend in with the 3D backdrops perfectly. The sound is a mix of GG-style butt rock, but also with some jazz and other flavors. The voices and sound effects are also not muffled, which I think is a first for a sprite-based Arc game. You can choose to have either English or Japanese voices, although this only affects your character, so if your opponent has a different language setting, their characters will speak in their alternate voices!
The game offers arcade, versus, training, score attack, online versus, and story modes. Story mode seems to be pretty big; it seems similar to the GG series' story modes, but is fully-voiced.
As for online options, here is a listing of all the options/preference markers you can set when creating a room in player match. This beats the pants off any other fighter on 360/PS3 that I can think of!
-Room Name
-Capacity (Up to 6 players)
-Spectators (Up to 4; you can set 1 if you have a 3 man room, 2 if it's 4, etc.)
-Friend Invitations
-Rotation Type (3 types)
-Number Of Rounds (Up to 5)
-Round Time
-Astral Heat (On or Off)
-Unlimited Characters (The default setting is on disabled)
-Easy Specials
-Voice Chat
-Room Level (Unspecified, Beginner, or Expert)
-Connection Quality
You can also save replays after every match, and upload replays in ranked matches!
The U.S. versions hit next week...gonna double-dip and get the PS3 version too, which has PSP remote play! The first run of the game is the LE version, which among other things will come with a tutorial DVD with tips and strategies for beginners...and it's all freebies since the game will be sold at the regular $59.99 price!
