First of all I’d like to state that I was a huge fan of Calamity Trigger. This game single-handedly revived my long-lost passion for fighting games. I don’t know what it was, but I’ve logged at least 1,000 hours into both 360 and PS3 versions of that game in the year’s time it’s been out. If you haven’t played it, chances are you’re going to be a little lost in my comparisons… so to at least try to follow along, maybe check out my review for Blazblue: Calamity Trigger; if you’ve played it, don’t worry.

My first destination was, of course, watching the intro. Subpar animation going on here, but I’m a big fan of Kotoko, so the song made up for it. From there it was Story. You begin by watching quite a bit of backstory (most of which you’ll know if you’ve beaten the first game, but if you haven’t, don’t worry…all the important stuff is outlined). Then you’re off to the main story menu. You’ll only be able to play as one character at first, the main character Ragna. However, once you go through his story, more characters’ story modes unlock, mostly the characters he encounters. Then you play through those characters to unlock more. Each story mode has 3 endings. The actual ending, an “alternate” non-canon ending, and a complete joke ending that will make even the most serious of characters face some ridiculous shenanigans (the ever-destructive Ragna’s fear of ghosts is taken full advantage of for this effect in his, for example). Clearing all 14 stories followed by the True ending will take anywhere between 10-20 hours if you’re actually reading all the dialogue. Much less if you just mash buttons to skip the dialogue. Much like with Kaepora Gaebora, without the accidental “No, I didn’t get that, could you please repeat that for me” crap.

Score Attack is just what it was in Calamity Trigger. Face all the characters without prominent Unlimited forms, and then the ones with prominent Unlimited forms (Hakumen, Rachel, Hazama, Ragna), on the hardest difficulty setting programmed in the game. Be forewarned however that Unlimited forms have been upgraded since Calamity Trigger, and the hardest of these is the easiest back then: Hakumen. Chances are you will want to strangle someone upon reaching him, especially if you main someone like Tager (hey, guess who I main!)… but it’s your only way to unlock a character’s Unlimited form without buying them, so practice up! Arcade is… well, just that. 10 fights, with the last two being Unlimited characters, usually Hakumen and Hazama. Nothing’s changed here.

For beginners to fighting games and Blazblue itself is the new Tutortial mode, narrated and instructed by none other than everyone’s favorite Touhou-inspired vampire, Rachel Alucard. Staying in-character, she will make sure you feel inferior for using it, but the reward for surviving it is actually learning how to play the game. Once you hit that up, take on Challenge mode, which is a mode even those of us that are already quite skilled at the game can enjoy. Typical of its name and use in recent fighting games (most notably Super Street Fighter IV), Challenge mode has a series of character-specific challenges for you to learn, understand, and execute. Initial challenges often include special attacks, Distortion Drives and Astral Heats, go over a few simple combos and then go immediately into more complex combo moves. Given practice and a lot of patience, you’ll be up to speed in no time. Of course, if you still want to be a loser about it, you have Beginner mode, a control scheme that allows you to kinda BS it all, though it won’t allow you to do any effective combos with it.

Legion mode is taken straight from Blazblue Portable, a rather simple “map domination” mode that requires both some strategy and a good know-how of the game. Starting with a character of your choice you will encounter many multi-man matches and, after each fight, you will be able to draft one of your fallen opponents into your army. Keep in mind, however, all damage you take cannot be cured, unless of course said character is Ragna, or you obtain a Health Potion item on the map, which fully cures 2 random members of your party; the locations of this item can be determined by the word “bonus” being shown on the bottom right. This is also your only chance to get some playtime with the Unlimited characters if you don’t want to buy them, or take on Score Attack with everybody; in some cases even early on the map you will fight teams with Unlimited characters on them. Just like regular characters you may choose to draft them in after defeating them, and they will retain Unlimited status.

Now, onto the new characters. First of which, Tsubaki Yayoi. She hits lightly but has unrivaled combo potential, easily stringing her special moves one after another. Again, however, her damage output is ridiculously low. This is balanced out by her Drive function, which allows the button to be pressed in order to begin charging up energy by reading a magical tome; this fills a bar at the bottom that allows her to use powered-up versions of her moves, as well as makes her Distortions that much more powerful. Hazama is the next new character, something of a Smooth Criminal inspired character with horrible mobility in regular movement, but can zip across the screen with ease with his Ouroboro snakes, his Drive function. For the Guilty Gear fans his moveset can be considered a mix of Axl Low and Slayer, if that wasn’t apparent enough by his appearance. Then of course, there’s a console-exclusive character named Mu-12. Unlocked by fully completing Story mode, Mu is something of a counterpart to Dizzy from Guilty Gear. Though she’s similar to both Nu and Lambda in appearance, she relies of close and mid range attacks, and her Drive function sends out laser-shooting turrets that can be manipulated through special moves and one of her Distortions.

All existing characters from Calamity Trigger got quite a few changes to them, too! Some moves were altered and new moves were added. For example, Ragna obtained the new Belial Edge, an aerial sword dive attack. His input for the downwards kick following Inferno Divider has also changed, instead of quarter circle back C it ends in D, and has even become a health-draining move. Many of these changes are for balance issues (go ahead, just play Rachel… from top-tier to bottom-tier, even casual players will feel the difference), but new moves are always welcome. Even Rachel got a new Distortion, even if it is kind of… well, you know. Also, Unlimited forms are now actually, well, unlimited! Unlike Calamity Trigger’s hastily added Unlimited forms, Continuum Shift’s actually bring about the same feeling of being screwed that Unlimited Ragna brought along in Calamity Trigger, without the death metal theme songs of course. Even if that was the main thing that caused that feeling, but whatever.

Also, a fighting game first. Actual post-development character DLC! We’re not talking “oh fine here have Vader/Yoda in your 360/PS3″. No, as in they’re still working on it. First character to be up for download will be Makoto Nanaya, a squirrel girl who plays her own role in the story mode, scheduled for download this week or next sometime, in August. Also Valkenhayn Hellsing, Rachel’s most humble butler, who apparently is a werewolf (cue Twilight references), along with fellow Six Heroes counterpart Platinum the Trinity will be arriving as DLC in coming time, along with the good old alternate color DLC and unlock codes for those too lazy to play the game (or that just can’t beat Score Attack). After it’s all said and done expect it to be around $30 worth of content, and before you start complaining this $40 game has more stuff in it than its $60 predecessor, and it’s not required purchase to enjoy the game thoroughly. Though I mean hey new characters, hell yeah. Go Team Valkenhayn!

Anyway, this game is amazing, and a worthy successor to a game that slapped me in the face and made me start obsessing over fighting games like I did when I was a younger lad. I dare say it’s generally better, that with a much stronger sense of balance and there were only changes and additions, and nothing was really taken out. It’s very accessible for newbie and pro alike, and these days? That’s a good thing. As a side note, if you want a sparring partner, feel free to add me on PSN or XBL, name’s kaosuroi.