Blazblue has become relatively popular as of the last couple years. Even though its original incarnation only flaunted 12 characters (10 in the arcade; the other 2 were bosses), it has since become well-known within the fighting game community, and generally welcomed as Guilty Gear’s spiritual successor. So the “sequel” to the sequel, Continuum Shift 2, carries about all the features of the original sequel Continuum Shift. It brings all 15 characters plus the 3 DLC characters, an updated Legion mode, and an all-new Abyss mode, all packed onto the 3DS and PSP. I got the 3DS version, so let’s see what we got.

Gameplay is the same as the CS2 patch on the console versions. You can read my review of both Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shit (link the respective reviews) on this site to get a general idea of what to expect, if you’re a newcomer to the series; this review will mostly cover the differences and new modes. A big difference is that formerly existing modes allowing the use of DLC characters. In the console versions, Makoto, Valkenhayn and Platinum are unable to take part in some of the modes; they now can. They can also be fought as opponents, as well. They do not have their own Story modes, however.

Legion 1.5 plays similar to regular Legion. The difference is that there is no difficulty setting, and instead has stages. The stages start small and progressively get larger. You start with a character of your choice and fight a series of enemy characters in each level; you then choose one of your fallen foes to recruit into your army for future use against your foes. There are out-of-the-way bonuses that can revitalize your characters or weaken your opponents, if you feel outmatched by goal “boss” levels.

Abyss plays exactly like Survival from Guilty Gear. While you can start the mode and shop for level-ups for your characters to raise max health, attack, speed, and Heat levels, you will progressively fight enemy characters and gain “depth” as you constantly strike your opponent. For every 20 points of depth, you will run into a new challenger, a powered-up enemy with a dark aura, basically the “Daredevil” characters from Guilty Gear. These characters are leveled up in the stats beyond the normal opponents, and on top of that, your health doesn’t recover until after defeating one. You’ll generally go two opponents in between each “Daredevil” character, and similar to Legion, difficulty starts easy and progressively gets harder in terms of both levels and AI.

The Network mode allows for local wireless play; unfortunately it does not support online play. Fortunately, the game plays quite nicely wirelessly, with lag not being an issue whatsoever. However, the framerate is noticeably worse than the console ports. Even if the 3D is turned off (which would otherwise fix it no problem in Super Street Fighter IV 3D or Dead or Alive Dimensions), the framerate stutters. Shame, considering it’s sprite-based unlike its existing 3DS fighter brethren.

Another huge thing I really don’t like is that the analog stick is restricted as 4 other inputs, and can’t be used to move your character, instead forcing you to use the D-Pad. It might just be mine, but my D-Pad is also fairly unresponsive in quarter-circle inputs, especially down-to-left inputs. This serves as quite a barrier for me to really pursue this game like I have in the console versions. It just seems like they weren’t really trying with this release. It should be noted that this is not a problem with the PSP version, as the D-Pad is superior on that system.

As you play the game’s different modes, you gain experience points and currency. The experience points level you up, and allow you access to new features to purchase; the currency actually purchases the items. Some of these include things that were otherwise downloaded content in the console versions. Alternate color schemes, announcers, and unlimited character forms are unlocked from the revamped Gallery, which now doubles as a content store.

3D effects are present during gameplay and menus (not cutscenes, naturally). They’re a nice touch, and unlike SSF43D and DOAD they won’t really take away from the framerate. They are just thrown in, however. The characters are in the foreground, the stages are in the background, and the effects take advantage of it quite well. It’s a nice optional touch, but I’d be pushing it to say it makes up for forced D-Pad use against the PSP version.

It should be reestablished that this game has most of the features of BBCS’ console version, as outlined in my previously linked review, such as Arcade, Story, Challenge and Score Attack (which has been made much easier, unfortunately). Only things it really lacks are online modes as well as a store. All in all, it’s a nice game. If you want to practice Blazblue on the go, like fighting games but never really got into Blazblue, or just want more games for the 3DS? Hey, I won’t say it’s a bad purchase. Despite the very apparent flaws, I don’t regret putting $40 into it. Just don’t expect to really be able to get into it as well as you would on a console, or even on the PSP. The D-Pad is just too rough to really use with any good measure, and with a lack of online play, your competition will be restricted to people you know with the game and the AI. If you’re a fan, though, you should pick one of them up. I got the 3DS version, but I can see where the PSP version might have its advantages.