Post by Iyouboushi on May 1, 2008 16:40:39 GMT -6
Zomg another BBB game??? Yes, folks, it's true. There is a second one. Naturally I got it when it first came out, it's just taken me awhile to write a review due to life and other things.
The Story
Once again, like the first one, there is a story mode. And while it may, at first, seemingly follow the series, it changes dramatically and goes off into its own little world. It's still quite funny and there's a lot more scenarios this time.
Graphics
It's basically the same graphics at the first one. They're a little touched up but overall it's the same. This game also suffers from the camera flaws of the first one. I can't believe they haven't figured out a way to fix that yet.
Gameplay & The Game
Hey guess what guys. If you figured out the controls for the first one you really only have to learn one or two more things for this one! It's basically the same controls. There is one addition though: while in bankai, some characters have an extra special that they can do on top of it. Ichigo has the ability to use his hollow mask for a few seconds, for example. You activate it the same way you activate bankai though, so it's no biggie.
The game itself has some neat additions. First off, most specials (bankai, reiatsu, etc) now have stage-modifying abilities. Using Rukia's shikai, for example, will turn the stage into ice (where the floor will become slippery). Using Chad's will cause meteors to drop out of the sky and randomly hit people. Even Ichigo's bankai will cause shadows of him to run around the stage and break things/attack people. Overall it's a nice improvement except for when you have to fight some of these guys on hard mode. It makes it a lot more difficult.
Next up: mission mode. In the first game you had a score card with missions on them. You picked your mission and did it then got rated on it for various things. This game throws that out the window and puts you into a board game looking area. There's a ton of squares, most of which contain your missions. Each mission has 3 tasks you need to do in order to earn full marks (which are represented this time by crowns). The only thing I don't really like about this mode is that you can't see what your tasks are until AFTER you do the mission one time. So 99% of the time you're going to have to repeat the mission at least twice in order to get full marks. Sometimes it becomes impossible to do all three tasks in one or two tries, so you might end up doing it multiple times.
Characters.. there's a lot more characters this time. And they're all true to their series counter parts. They're also a lot harder to unlock, since you have to play the board game mode to get them (most of which require a certain number of crowns to reach). Other than that, there's not much to say here.
I have yet to see anything similar to the "sword hunting mode" of the previous game. That saddens me.
Urahara Shouten (Urahara's Store) is still there and there's more additions to it. Now you can buy equipment for your characters. For example, you can unlock and then buy Urahara's hat and put it onto any of the characters. I'm pretty sure the clothing are just for looks, though, but it's still kind of funny to see what weird combinations you can make and how the characters will look. Operators and pictures are still there. There's an addition called "Radio Kon Golden" which are short animated sketches revolving around Kon and mishaps that happen to him. "Radio Kon" actually has a foundation in a few other Bleach games, and "Golden" is just this game's version/addition of/to it.
Once again, there's a ton of stuff to unlock. Most of it is unlocked through the board game mode, to which I say: good luck.
The Good
+ There's a lot to unlock -- almost too much.
+ There's a good number of characters (more than the first one)
+ The bankais are even better this time around
+ The missions are challenging and fun, almost to the point of annoyance but its guarantees you'll be playing it for awhile.
The Bad
+ THE CAMERA
Again. This part kills me.
+ Board game mission objections being hidden until you do it once
It gets old reaaaaaaaally quick and artificially makes the game longer since you have to do each mission at least twice.
Last Thoughts
If you liked the first game and have the money to spare, I say pick this one up. Personally, I think the first game might be a little better with the mission mode it has and the sword hunting mode. Yeah, this game has some really cool specials and additions to bankais, but it's not enough to me. Don't get me wrong though, this game is still fun and will last you ages before you can beat/unlock everything.
This game is also slightly (though not by much) more English friendly. The main menu has English on it so you can navigate a little easier.
As an added bonus:
Radio Kon Golden - Episode 01
It's the only one I've unlocked so far, but it'll give you an idea of what it is. Enjoy!
The Story
Once again, like the first one, there is a story mode. And while it may, at first, seemingly follow the series, it changes dramatically and goes off into its own little world. It's still quite funny and there's a lot more scenarios this time.
Graphics
It's basically the same graphics at the first one. They're a little touched up but overall it's the same. This game also suffers from the camera flaws of the first one. I can't believe they haven't figured out a way to fix that yet.
Gameplay & The Game
Hey guess what guys. If you figured out the controls for the first one you really only have to learn one or two more things for this one! It's basically the same controls. There is one addition though: while in bankai, some characters have an extra special that they can do on top of it. Ichigo has the ability to use his hollow mask for a few seconds, for example. You activate it the same way you activate bankai though, so it's no biggie.
The game itself has some neat additions. First off, most specials (bankai, reiatsu, etc) now have stage-modifying abilities. Using Rukia's shikai, for example, will turn the stage into ice (where the floor will become slippery). Using Chad's will cause meteors to drop out of the sky and randomly hit people. Even Ichigo's bankai will cause shadows of him to run around the stage and break things/attack people. Overall it's a nice improvement except for when you have to fight some of these guys on hard mode. It makes it a lot more difficult.
Next up: mission mode. In the first game you had a score card with missions on them. You picked your mission and did it then got rated on it for various things. This game throws that out the window and puts you into a board game looking area. There's a ton of squares, most of which contain your missions. Each mission has 3 tasks you need to do in order to earn full marks (which are represented this time by crowns). The only thing I don't really like about this mode is that you can't see what your tasks are until AFTER you do the mission one time. So 99% of the time you're going to have to repeat the mission at least twice in order to get full marks. Sometimes it becomes impossible to do all three tasks in one or two tries, so you might end up doing it multiple times.
Characters.. there's a lot more characters this time. And they're all true to their series counter parts. They're also a lot harder to unlock, since you have to play the board game mode to get them (most of which require a certain number of crowns to reach). Other than that, there's not much to say here.
I have yet to see anything similar to the "sword hunting mode" of the previous game. That saddens me.
Urahara Shouten (Urahara's Store) is still there and there's more additions to it. Now you can buy equipment for your characters. For example, you can unlock and then buy Urahara's hat and put it onto any of the characters. I'm pretty sure the clothing are just for looks, though, but it's still kind of funny to see what weird combinations you can make and how the characters will look. Operators and pictures are still there. There's an addition called "Radio Kon Golden" which are short animated sketches revolving around Kon and mishaps that happen to him. "Radio Kon" actually has a foundation in a few other Bleach games, and "Golden" is just this game's version/addition of/to it.
Once again, there's a ton of stuff to unlock. Most of it is unlocked through the board game mode, to which I say: good luck.
The Good
+ There's a lot to unlock -- almost too much.
+ There's a good number of characters (more than the first one)
+ The bankais are even better this time around
+ The missions are challenging and fun, almost to the point of annoyance but its guarantees you'll be playing it for awhile.
The Bad
+ THE CAMERA
Again. This part kills me.
+ Board game mission objections being hidden until you do it once
It gets old reaaaaaaaally quick and artificially makes the game longer since you have to do each mission at least twice.
Last Thoughts
If you liked the first game and have the money to spare, I say pick this one up. Personally, I think the first game might be a little better with the mission mode it has and the sword hunting mode. Yeah, this game has some really cool specials and additions to bankais, but it's not enough to me. Don't get me wrong though, this game is still fun and will last you ages before you can beat/unlock everything.
This game is also slightly (though not by much) more English friendly. The main menu has English on it so you can navigate a little easier.
As an added bonus:
Radio Kon Golden - Episode 01
It's the only one I've unlocked so far, but it'll give you an idea of what it is. Enjoy!