Bleach Shattered Blade Review

Publisher: Sega
Creator: Polygon Magic
Genre: Fighting
Platform: Wii

Release date: 2007-10-09

Review

Bleach Shattered Blade takes the Bleach name into a soul caliber rip off to bring button mashing fun to the Wii. The shining errors shine like a polished turd because of the Wii Remote swinging action. The fact of putting it on the Wii was brilliant move on Polygon Magic's part. Most of the the button mash fighting that relies heavily on swinging Wii remote to attack simplified for fun and ease. The repetitive action an ease becomes a disease of loathing when the loading screen rears it’s ugly face.

Since the simplistic fun of flailing the Wii Remote about like a monkey throw poo gets rudely interrupted by loading screens, last longer then the fights do. The loading screen is longer then any action or fun. Add in the annoyance of looped four images over and over makes Russian Roulette with bullets in each caliber more fun in comparison. Something that should be left to the family gatherings so there is some worth while reward.

The game tries to reward the player with the monetary worth based on the crappy stuffed soul dumm, Kon, has little to no worth. It only lets you buy items that you've seen threw the episode mode. The episode mode is a drawn stilled filled storyline of 4 battles with any meaning and some random battles of who gives a crap thrown in for spice. The episode mode seems to be thrown at the last minute to come up with a reason to play more then the arcade mode. Arcade being the standard beat the enemy to death with your special powered up move, it gets old fast. The BANKI mode, which it loosely sticks to, are unlocked by press of the button after hitting the guy enough. The same amount of hits never will equal the same amount. So just wailling the knumbchunks about till BANKI can be unleased to win.

The arcade is where the game shines because there is two matches between the god awful loading screens instead of one in the abstract episode mode that seems like some ass had the Bleach artist to draw some stills for the new game. This feels tacked on for the fact it goes into a short cinematic is stock art. Not even really cool art, its where two people done by the dub voices before you can kick some ass. The dub done horribly and can feel that most were just there for the pay cheek with mispronouncing of the characters they are playing. With some it is understandable since Rangiku gets mangled up in the dub, but even Ichigo's name gets messed up here when it in the dub of the anime it didn't. So playing the characters don't really matter.

Playing the characters dpes fallow the series mythos for moves, so there was some care involved. Each move matches the squad and type of character there were in the anime, problem is that some characters such as Rangiku for example her Banki has not been reviled so there regular moves just get a power burst which Banki is in the anime. Just seems out of place since it does so by looking like a Super Saiyan power up rip up with fire about. It does fallow up with the visual represent of the spiritual pressure being released which works with the anime. The rip off is apparent with the fire around the character when you have to shake one of the knumcuck to power up. The Banki mode wouldn’t be a pain visually if it wasn’t the same old background over and over again. Doesn’t matter how the background is or how good it looks, it gets smashed away for the deserted area that tries to give the look of being crushed by your power. It is temporary and then reverts to the old background when done. Depending on the character the Banki mode doesn’t matter with a fast enough repetitive swing work. For many character all it will do is little damage very flashy. When going against powerful enemies it doesn’t make sense to have just a flashy move that does little damage.

Powerful enemies aren’t in plenty just maybe one or two character are all powerful against your character. For the most part it is an attempt to shake the knumbcuck like a chicken’s neck to knock someone down so enough so you can win rather then have something powerful. The fighters are balanced so fights are interesting, and fun. The problem is that when the fighting gets good it is over too quickly with a 60 second clock that isn’t editable. So the desire of being good with graphics that would be expected on the N64 rather then a Wii are cut down. Even if a fan finds enjoyment of playing the characters they love it is short lived. So there isn’t a great demand since the fan boys and girls can’t get the fix worth the price tag at 2 cents.

Conclusion

Bleach Shattered Blade is a game that could have been good, for the most part they went out of there way to make it so that it couldn’t be. The Episode Mode that should appeal to fans that pick it up has nothing a true fan would want with dub only voices that is too short to give any deliverance. A toy with the character’s voice in it would have more to say then the story do. Though it is a fun game on the Wii it is interrupted by the own game too much for it to be enjoyed. For a die hard fan of Bleach this game is a good rent since they get some fun with there favorite characters even if it is momentary. Anyone else this wouldn’t even be a rent, not because the game isn’t fun. It does give out fun like a slut gives out sex, the frustration of the loading screen interrupts it is just the STDs for it. A fan of Bleach would have a payout and can go threw the pain since there is something worth while to get. Anyone else probably wouldn’t want to even deal with it long enough to get the joy of swinging maniacally as monkey and poo.
Pros

*Swinging fun
*Button Mashing combat
*Fan favorites

Cons

*Loading Screen that is longer then the fights
*Rock, Paper, Succors luck in combat
*Music so bad it makes Johnny Bosch sound good


Gameplay 12/25
Fun 18/25
Sound 3/25
Graphics 5/25
Total 38/100