The Guilty Gear franchise is known and well-loved in some gaming circles, representing some of the most solid game mechanics and off-the-wall characters of just about any fighting franchise out there. While definitely a niche brawler, the series was fun and frantic and did a great job of proving that the 2D fighting genre is alive and well, even in the face of some lofty 3D competition. Fortunately, the team behind the Guilty Gear franchise is carrying its legacy to high-def consoles with their spiritual successor, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.

BlazBlue takes the bizarre characters and unique combat of Guilty Gear and updates it for modern hardware, while still keeping the gorgeous 2D sprites and environments that the aforementioned series has become known for. Even on its own merits, BlazBlue is a very solid 2D fighter, with deep and visually impressive combat and does well to capitalize on some interesting characters.

BlazBlue presents some new features over its arcade iteration, including a new story mode, online play, and some new music tracks and stages. The game’s combat is deceptively complex, but newcomers should be able to get the basic mechanics pretty quickly. The game uses the four face buttons for attacks and it’s quite easy to pull off some sweet looking combos, but coupling them together can open up some great technical moves, like Rapid Cancels, which basically stops your fighter from performing a special move and lets them launch into something else to get the drop on their opponent. It’s tricky to pull off, but very rewarding.

The game’s combat system banks heavily on a system of gauges and special attacks. In order to pull off some of the more visually impressive moves, you’ll have to fill up your bars by fighting well. The game has a pretty awesome Drive system, allowing you to pull off some spectacular combos, specific to your character.

The game’s characters border on the very bizarre, albeit not quite as kooky as Guilty Gear. There are still some weirdoes in the mix, including a vampire girl, named Rachel Alucard, a smooth-talking badass named Ragna the Bloodedge, and several others. Each one has a backstory that you can check out as you play through their specific story mode. This unveils not only each one’s personality quite a bit, but also helps to solidify relationships that the characters have with the other fighters as rivalries and friendships emerge. The game’s story elements are very deep, but unfortunately can be quite convoluted and difficult to follow as a result.

Graphically, BlazBlue looks awesome. The game’s aesthetic represents some of the best 2D graphics that you’ll likely find on any platform, with gorgeously rendered character models, superb animations, and some excellent environments, each one teeming with tons of details. The special moves are also great looking and add a nice element to the game’s look. This is definitely one of the best looking 2D games around.

The sound is also quite good. The music is very well done and the sound effects are solid. The English voice acting is a bit on the hammy side, but the game does give you the option of using the Japanese voicework, which is a nice touch.

The confusing story elements and kooky characters mean that the game definitely isn’t for everyone, as mainstream fighter fans used to games like Street Fighter might be a little alienated. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is a great fighter, and definitely one that fans of Guilty Gear will want to check out.

Gameplay: 9.0
The game is very easy to pick up and play, and novices will find it pretty easy to pull off combos and basic special moves from the get-go. However, it does get very complex for gamers looking to put the time into learning the counter and Rapid Cancel system.

Graphics: 9.5
BlazBlue is a 2D tour de force, with excellent sprites, very detailed environments, and fantastic animation. For high-def 2D sprites, this is as good as it gets.

Sound: 8.5
The English voice work is a little cheesy (you can also switch it to Japanese voice acting if that’s more to your liking), but the fast-paced tunes and solid sound effects sound great.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.5
A natural progression from the Guilty Gear franchise, BlazBlue’s story elements may be a little incoherent at times, but the game offers plenty of deep combat and wild characters.

Multiplayer: 8.5
BlazBlue offers some solid online play, and even offers a Replay Theater where players can check out replays of their favorite matches.

Overall: 8.5
Even though the game doesn’t really do much to bust out of the niche mold created by Guilty Gear, fans of the series will find a lot to love in BlazBlue.