It seems like only yesterday that I played the demo for Bleach: Soul Ignition, and cringed at nearly every aspect of it. Now that it hit stateside,(and named Soul Resurreccion in the US,) I let my inner fanboy take over and decided to give the game a second chance. Fans have been waiting for a good Bleach game to come out on consoles, but is Soul Resurreccion the game we've all been asking for? Find out right here!

First of all, Soul Resurreccion isn't a fighting game like most people would expect. Instead, NIS brought us a hack n' slash action game very similar to Dynasty Warriors or Sengoku Basara, and in that genre, Bleach holds its own very well. A lot of gamers look down on those games and don't give them a second look. But there's also a large amount that absolutely love them, and if you're one of those gamers, then Soul Resurreccion just might be a gift from Soul Society.


The presentation and menus are very well designed in Bleach. They all look very good with nice animations, and easy to navigate. Another nice feature is the lack of a mandatory installation. There's also a TON of stuff to do and unlock in the game. There are 21 total playable characters, and a handful of different gameplay modes to use them in. They all add a bit of variety to the otherwise bland repetition of farming souls (experience points) to max out your favorite characters. If you plan on going for the Platinum in this game, be prepared to devote some hardcore hours. That being said, leveling up characters is extremely addictive with the level up system they've implemented. Very similar to Final Fantasy X's sphere grid, (almost to the point of copy and paste) aquiring souls to build up your characters' stats and learning new abilities will keep players interested for many, many hours. That's usually a good thing for a game to do.


The graphics in Bleach are a bit of a mixed bag. The main character models look good, and have fluid animations for all their super attacks. Some of the enemies look a somewhat uninspired, however. The environments look decent, and most of them are recognizable from episodes of the anime, but they tend to be recycled a little too much. They do get the job done, however, since the story from the anime doesn't exactly have a wide variety of backdrops to choose from. The maps are mostly straightforward corridors with very few branching paths. The music also leaves a little to be desired. It's a very easily forgotten soundtrack, with generic rock rhythms. It just ends up being background noise as you hack your way through the stages. A nice feature is the option to pick between english or japanese dialogue. I think it's safe to say most fans don't care for the english dub.



With this type of game, what really matters (aside from all the awesome Bleach characters and fan service) is the gameplay, and Soul Resurreccion delivers on that. You plow through each level trying to keep your Slash meter up as high as possible, then come to a boss fight at the end. The better you are at combos, the more Ignition you'll build up to unleash more devastating attacks, and better rankings for your missions. Simple concept, but mindless fun is still fun. Controls are responsive, and combos and movement feel as fast as you'd expect in the Bleach universe. Expect to get A LOT of use out of your Square button with this game. Along with your primary combo attacks, you have access to different variations of spirit pressure attacks, and ignition (super mode). As you level up, you'll learn combo cancels, triple jump, counter attacks, etc. NIS did a very good job adding depth to the combat, even if most players will tend to lean on spamming one button throughout the entire experience. Either way, the option to mix things up is there for you.



My only complaints with Bleach: Soul Resurreccion really go hand in hand. The story mode leaves quite a lot of details out. No real mention of the Vizards, or half of the fights that happened in the town before the major battles started. With the addition of a few more story missions, along with the characters that would need to be included in those missions, Soul Resurreccion could have had a very solid story mode experience. Instead, it ends up being the weakest part of the game. NIS is notorious for major support for their games when it comes to downloadable content, so time will tell on that. Overall, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is an enjoyable game for something to pass the time and has the potential to keep gamers interested for endless hours. It may not be for everybody, but it's definitely worth a try, especially for fans of the series. BANKAI!

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I've been waiting for a Bleach game to be released on the PS3 pretty much since the PS3 has been out. With numerous releases of the franchise on the PSP, I knew it only had to be a matter of time before one would get thrown in the home console's direction. Well, that time has finally come. Bleach: Soul Ignition is on its way, with a demo available on the Japanese PSN, but is this game going to be the one we've been waiting for?

No Ichigo, it's not cool.

First off, I'd like to say that I am a fan of the Bleach anime and manga, so my opinion of some of the game releases may be slightly biased. I've found enjoyment in pretty much every Bleach game I have played, from the Heat the Soul and Soul Carnival series' on PSP, to the two games released on Wii. Blade Battlers 2 on PS2 was by far the most fun to me, and I could go back to it even now and have countless hours of fun playing it with friends. That being said, the Bleach: Soul Ignition demo is one of the worst things I have ever experienced. It almost made me physically ill to play through it.

To start with, the graphics are horrid. Everything looks washed out, and enemies have hardly any detail at all. Ichigo's character model and animations are passable at best, but that's the only positive thing I could find in this department. They honestly could have just ported the latest Heat the Soul game over, and it would have looked better than this. I realize that anime based games don't really have that high standards, but come on. This is almost 2011, the era of Hi-Definition for crying out loud. This wouldn't even be mediocre standards if it were on Wii. Even so, I can deal with bad graphics. It's Bleach, so I'm willing to overlook lackluster visuals if the gameplay is decent.

Saying the gameplay is "decent" would be a huge overstatement for this game, however. Hell, saying it plays like crap would be a compliment. Soul Ignition is a hack and slash action game, putting you against hordes of mindless enemies and slightly smarter bosses. Playing Soul Ignition consists of mashing the Square button frantically while Ichigo performs the same combo over and over, while fighting the clunky camera simultaneously. I tried mixing up the button presses, delaying attacks in hopes that I would see a different animation, but there were none. You can chain a ground combo into a jump, and continue with an air combo, though! Neat, right? Aside from standard square button attacks, you have ranged fireball type attacks on triangle which seem pretty worthless. There's also a guard, dash, and auto lock-on button, which for some reason auto unlocks when you get knocked down. You also have a special attack that consumes a blue meter at the bottom of the screen, which is decent for taking down multiple enemies at once. There's another meter around Ichigo's portrait that you can use to become more powerful and unleash a more devastating attack.



All of this is presented in a very sub-par package, and the enemy AI doesn't force you to use any of these extra attacks. The hordes of hollow monsters are dumb. Dumb and docile. Not only that, but none of these abilities are Ichigo's signature attacks. This is probably the biggest disappointment at all for me. This demo has failed in delivering any fan service at all, which is a huge problem. An anime based game that doesn't feel like the actual anime is like a filler episode, and a lot of people skip those for a reason.

Now I realize that this is just a demo. It's not fair to judge a game based purely on a demo, even though it's not very often that the final product is a vastly improved. There are also supposed to be multiple characters to play with, and I'm betting there will even be other versions of Ichigo to play as that will feature his traditional moves and Bankai. But from what the demo indicates, adding more playable characters is only a drop in the bucket of things this game will need to succeed. I'm sorry to say it, but the long wait for a Bleach game on PS3 looks like it may have been for nothing. This game would sooner extinguish your soul, rather than ignite it.

The PS2 is simply amazing.  Not only is it the best selling console of all time, it's arguably the best gaming system period.  With 10 years of games being released for the PS2, it has a massive library of games to choose from.  By popular request from a previous article: Best Samurai Games this Generation, it's time to take a look back at some of the best samurai games last gen.  I decided to choose mostly games for PS2 because the majority of the best samurai games last gen were for PS2 only.  Not only that, but what I consider some of the best samurai games of all time were on the PS2.

 

Genji: Dawn of the Samurai is loosely based off an old Japanese story.  It's full of demons, mythological beasts, and of course samurai.  You get to play as two different characters: Yoshitsune and Benkei.  Yoshitsune dual wields swords and is the most agile of the two.  Benkei lacks in speed, but makes up for it in power wielding huge club like weapons.

You're able to level up your characters and equip lots of different weapons.  Aside from the great boss battles; one of the coolest things about the game is using kamui.  When you use kamui time slows down so you can focus on the attacks coming at you.  If you time your strikes correctly you'll deliver a devastating counter strike that will one-shot most enemies. 

 The Onimusha series is one of Capcom's biggest franchises.  Once you get used to the tank-like controls (similar to the Resident Evil series) you're in for a treat.  The controls aren't as bad as you might think, and is much improved in part 3 and 4.  All four of the main Onimusha games are great, and I can highly recommend them.  Although the main character and story is different in each game; you generally play a samurai that fights demons and has demon powers.  You also get to fight against Japan's favorite villian that they love to hate: Nobunaga.  I'm really hoping there will be news soon on Onimusha 5, I'll keep you updated.





Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is a beat-em-up based off the manga/anime.  If you're a Kenshin fan you'll enjoy this game a lot, it's pretty faithful to the anime.  You get to learn and use all of Kenshin's signature attacks, and fight all of the memorable battles from the show.  You'll also get to play as 3 other characters: Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi which is great fun.  If you're not a fan of Kenshin this is a great samurai game, and after playing this I'm sure it'll make a fan outta you yet.


Like the Bleach game this one also hasn't had a Western Release which is unfortunate.  I was still able to enjoy the game and understood most of it from being a Kenshin fan.  There are online faqs and tutorials to help you play this game, so if you don't understand Japanese it's not much of a problem.
Samurai Showdown Anthology consists of parts 1-6 on one disc which is an amazing deal.  The Samurai Showdown series is one of my favorite fighting game franchises.  There is a lot of variety to the types of samurai that is in this game.  If you're a fighting game fan, and like samurai or ninjas you gotta check this game out.  I hope that the next game they come out with is another 2D one and that they learned from their mistakes from the latest one on 360. 

Samurai Champloo - This one is loosely based on the Anime, but not as good.  It's not a bad game, it's very stylish and fun to play.  I just can't recommend it to everyone, even if you're a samurai fan. 

Code of the Samurai - A hack-n-slash samurai game that focuses on counters and combos.  It looks pretty cool, unfortunately I haven't had the chance to play it.

Kengo: Legacy of the Blade - This game was labeled the spiritual successor to Bushido Blade.  While I don't find it as fun as Bushido Blade, I do see similarities.  Kengo has a lot of depth behind it, and is definitely not a button masher.

Seven Samurai 20XX - A hack-n-slash game set in the future where samurai slice down cyborgs with katana.  This game is basically mindless fun, but is that so wrong?

Mushashi: Samurai Legend  - This is the sequel to Brave Fencer Mushashi for the PS.  It's a bit different from the first game and takes more of an action approach.  Being able to learn lots of new attacks from your enemies was addicting to me.

Blood Will Tell - It's an action game based off of the manga/anime Dororo.  You play as a samurai that lost 48 body parts to demons and is out to get them back.  Believe it or not the story is actually really interesting, and it's worth playing just for that.  The game does have some problems, but if you're able to look past them, it's a pretty good game.

That about does it for the best samurai games last gen, hope you enjoyed reading.  If you're still hungry for more samurai games, check out this article:  Best Samurai Games this Generation  Be sure to comment below and tell me which samurai games are your favorite and why.