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Game review: Bleach: Soul Resurreccion
Wed, 31st Aug 2011
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a hack-n-slash title in the same fashion as the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise. That is to say, you get to control a plethora of different characters in the game, all with different weapons, to dispose of waves of numerous demons and other like-minded baddies.

As some of you might know, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is based on the popular anime and cartoon series called Bleach. Bleach is about a young ginger teenager by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki who is given powers by an entity known as a Soul Reaper. With these new-found powers, he can protect humans from the menacing demons that congregate on earth during their afterlife.

The game itself fails to explain the story behind Bleach, so anybody who is new to the Bleach franchise will instantly be lost in the game's cutscenes and story. As soon as you start the game, Ichigo Kurosaki is already in the middle of the desert, forced to fight demons all by himself.  

Much like every other video game, the first level serves as the tutorial to teach you the basics of combat. Thankfully, the hack-n-slash gameplay is very easy to learn and the game runs smoothly even when there are dozens of bad guys on the screen at one time.

Players get a chance to control multiple characters from the Bleach universe, and each of them has access to different powers and styles of combat. However, in the game's main story mode, you are unable to choose the character you want to be, and you're forced to play out different characters' storyline arcs.

This isn't all bad, as some of the characters are really fun to be. There are two female characters that fight without any weapons and let their fists and feet do all the talking, while another character has access to ice-style magic attacks. Level design is very monotonous to say the least, with every environment looking pretty familiar. There are several levels set in the same desert and city and it gets very boring to look at after a few hours. The game's structure is also very linear, with each level offering one straight line, with the sole objective of killing all the enemies in the vicinity before moving onto the next area. Not only that, but every level ends with a boss that you have to defeat. The game's structure is highly formulaic and will get repetitive for some players.

Having said that, the developer does include a few side missions in the game for players bored with the main story mode. Although the side missions are similar to the story mode, it is here where you can choose which character you'd like to be and even earn some bonuses in the game's gallery for you to view later. I remember fondly playing this mode as a cool-looking Grim Reaper-like character that had the ability to conjure up ghosts to defeat his enemies. It's sad to note that the game, criminally, has no multiplayer mode. A game like this could have easily had both co-op and versus modes.

As mentioned above, the level design is rather dull, but the 2D cel-shaded graphics themselves are beautiful to look at. The character models accurately resemble the anime cartoon and I'm sure Bleach fans won't be disappointed by the way it looks. Quite frankly, I would go as far to say that Bleach: Soul Resurreccion looks better than the anime itself – this is because the game is rendered in HD thanks to the power of the PS3.

The weakest aspect of the entire game is the audio. The soundtrack is just cheap generic rock music and the characters can get annoying when they announce their special moves all the time while you fight. Sometimes characters even talk when you're still busy killing all the enemies. It would have been better if they left out the petty chit chat during gameplay as it may annoy some people. Hardcore fans of Bleach will be happy to know you can change the voices to the original Japanese voice actors.  Still, this doesn't hide the fact that the audio is as uninspired as the game's level design.

Bleach: Soul Resurrecccion is far from a mediocre game. The graphics are great to look at and the gameplay can get chaotically fun – especially when you are being your favourite character. However, the level design is dull and non hack-n-slash fans may find the game to be too repetitive. Bleach and hack-n-slash fans alike, however, should definitely check this game out.

Graphics: 8.5Sound: 7Gameplay: 7.5Lasting Appeal: 7.0Overall: 7.5

Available on PS3.