Calamity Trigger
For this release, in addition to a few updates, BlazBlue Entropy Effect adds four characters to its already substantial roster, for a total which now stands at 16 fighters. If the majority of the cast comes from the combat license, we will note two bonus guests: the Prisoner of Dead Cellsas well as Icey, from the eponymous hack’n’ slash. More than ten fighters, for unique archetypes that will please everyone. No duplicates, only pleasure at your fingertips. Connoisseurs of the series will be happy to find popular faces and gameplay. Compared to other software of the genre, in particular among roguelite-oriented beat’em alls, the roster of this BlazBlue is generous.
So many fighters mean so many different ways to play. Changing characters means summoning other sensations as Arc System Works knows how to do so well in these games, even if, this time, the success of the game design is due to the 91Act studio. The gameplay will develop and enrich over the course of the games. We will unlock additional moves, elemental effects and other skills to help us complete the levels. You have to play, again and again, in order to achieve ever more impressive and devastating combos. Because, at the beginning, our range of moves will be limited.
The roguelite formula here is simple and effective. Each end of the zone will require you to choose between several options: you will be able to improve your Potential (i.e. enrich your moves and techniques), choose a new Tactic (elemental powers and effects), rest to recover life, spend in-game currency or interact with a lottery to obtain a random bonus. The subtlety that we discover while playing is that elemental synergies exist and offer new effects. It is recommended to combine the elements to explore the potential. As is often the case in a roguelite, especially with a game like BlazBlue Entropy Effect and its gameplay drawing on versus fighting, several hours are necessary to discover its full depth.
After playing for a sufficient amount of time we discover and learn new things about the game. We then experiment with them, which never fails to keep us hooked. Not to mention the purely addictive side of the experience. We imagine ourselves launching a short gaming session lasting no more than half an hour, except that we quickly find ourselves caught up in the proposition, by the visual and audio feedback that tickles our senses. And so, with each defeat, we want to get back there as quickly as possible. Also because we know, unless we are mistaken, that the next part will be better. The minutes and hours spent are never in vain in BlazBlue Entropy Effect.
Blue Cells
The care given to the animations, the visual and audio feedback, the impacts of the blows: everything works and leaves no one indifferent. It grabs us, seduces us and we return to it tirelessly. For a run, a dive as defined by the game, ten minutes or more, it doesn’t matter, we’ll go back. And then, if a character gets us drunk, the casting is calibrated to vary the pleasures and satisfy the eclectic tastes of the players. Each part will make us stronger. By developing our knowledge of one or more fighters, by sharpening our reflexes, but also thanks to the inheritance system.
Indeed, at the end of each dive, just before being extracted to re-enter the main hub, we can keep the skills obtained during our game. The idea being that another character could inherit it. The next character will begin their dive with said skills and powers bequeathed to facilitate their dive, in addition to being narratively justified. Therefore, a poorly negotiated game due to a fighter archetype that does not suit us will not be completely useless. The next attempts will be less complicated. On this point, BlazBlue Entropy Effect works well and the feeling of progress is constant and immediate.
Furthermore, the learning curve seems satisfactory to keep us for several hours on a single character. From there to rolling on the game? Not really, because if the first levels are rather easy, once the real game mode is unlocked, things will get tougher. Already because we have to deal with the entropy system from which the software takes its name. The principle can recall the system of modifiers in Borderlands 3. In both games, the principle is similar; we are invited to give ourselves penalties, to offer bonuses to enemies, in order to increase the difficulty of the games in return for better rewards. There is reason to be violent if the game seems too easy. Because as it stands, we can’t really talk about a challenge being overcome. Our characters are very well armed to fight and defend themselves.
The handling and movement are also very precise. It’s exhilarating to control your character and the keys respond without problematic latency. BlazBlue Entropy Effect is not difficult to learn. On the contrary. The keys are kept to a minimum and most of the time we will stuff one button, sometimes two without forgetting the trigger for dodging. Don’t expect complex manipulations or combos requiring several key combinations, nor a sense of timing worthy of the license. In fact, the gameplay is affordable and you can perform satisfactory sequences without any particular effort. The game does not skimp on pyrotechnics and takes advantage of the quality of its animations to charm us as it should.
Entropy Fiction
A more welcoming approach than a fighting game, including for the Arc System Works license which, legacy Guilty Gear is not known for its accessibility. Unfortunately, for us at least, this choice takes away from the appeal of the gameplay and, therefore, of the game. We would have appreciated finding the same key mapping as in the Versus Fighting versions. Find a closer feeling in the action, even if the fighters are perfectly transcribed and use their signature techniques from fighting games. In reality, it is the impression, which is no longer an impression at this stage, of stupidly stuffing the same key, tirelessly, which ends up affecting our pleasure. An unwelcome redundancy which, in the long term, tarnishes our love for software a little. This takes away some of the flavor that comes from the technique, from a certain complexity.
But this was probably not the objective of the studio, nor of Arc System Works if we refer to the decisions taken on its fighting game licenses, testimony to more pronounced accessibility. On the other hand, despite beautiful visuals, the game lacks inspiration for its level design and its aesthetic part. The futuristic and urban atmosphere fits the license BlazBlue and the very electronic soundtrack guarantees this coherence. A really successful soundtrack by the way. However, environments are struggling to renew themselves. A pitfall which also applies to the bestiary which is too limited not to, here again, further accentuate the already unpleasant, although avoidable, redundancy felt as the games multiply. Not everyone will be offended, and rightly so. However, for us, it’s fewer hours to spend in BlazBlue Entropy Effect.
Of course, this decision by the studios removes complexity from the gameplay to open up to an audience perhaps less comfortable with the genre, or even not familiar with the series at all. This probably explains it. As for the level design, let’s say that it remains functional and that we are willing to be lenient given the video game proposition, although a little additional creativity would not have been too much. The 91Act software would probably have benefited by exchanging a few fighters in favor of more aesthetic diversity. So many playable characters for so few different enemies and settings generates a touch of disappointment that is difficult to contain.
At least, BlazBlue Entropy Effect remains fun and engaging. Losing is never really frustrating, even when readability becomes critical on screen. It will be often, too often. It is entropy which also manifests itself in game with the overloaded screen and our character impossible to detect. We are far from being able to react with the thoroughness and precision of a fighting game BlazBlue. Fortunately, mechanical nagging allows you to come out of it with your head held high, via misunderstandings. Paradoxically, this chaos, this entropy, brings its share of visual enjoyment as we briefly mentioned earlier. At the cost of any understanding of what can unfold before our eyes, it goes without saying.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a constant pleasure whose faults are ultimately not very annoying. There are some, starting with its artistic direction and its too basic level design. The levels don’t have much ambition, either in their construction or in their design. The settings lack variety, as does the bestiary which is also quite limited. This does not always help to get away from this redundancy which can be off-putting in the long run. What’s more is the simplicity of the gameplay, despite its richness, which will not please everyone. There is no doubt that depending on the player profiles, the feeling about the experience will not be the same. The main thing being that the software, without warning, establishes itself as a safe bet for BTA mixed with roguelite. BlazBlue Entropy Effect gives hope to see other fighting game licenses at least try beat’em all. Because the genre can, and in our opinion must, marry more with the fighting game. Arc System Works and 91Act show us that there is something to play for in this area. And if the narration proposed in the game does not really work (less than in the other opuses) the effort is there, and deserves to be praised.