VG Review - Bleach: Soul Resurreccion

Well we all have to become Soul Reapers sometime, right? WRONG... YOU NEED TO BECOME ONE NOW!! And your first job is to listen to my review of Bleach: Soul Resurreccion for the Playstation 3... Go! Phew... Where was I? Oh, yes, I'm reviewing Bleach: Soul Resurreccion, which is a video game based off the popular Shonen manga/anime series, BLEACH. It was recently released in Japan on June 23, 2011, though under the moniker 'Soul Ignition', and us Americans are still waiting for the damn game to come here... in August, to be exact. So I know you're gonna ask me: "Ouro, why are you viewing a Bleach game that's still not out in America, yet? We never got one since The 3rd Phantom!"... My answer: "Now, now, pals! I'm only reviewing Soul Resurreccion, speaking for its original release date..."... They say: "Ohh.... 'Bye!"... It's not that hard! Release dates for any Bleach video game in North America is rare, and out in the States, there's only The Shattering Blade, The Blade of Fate, Dark Souls, and of course, The 3rd Phantom... And now we're finally gonna meet Soul Resurreccion! Now time for the real review...

Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a hack-n'-slash action game developed by SCEI and published by NIS America (in Japan, it was just SCEI, again), with the gameplay mechanics looking as if they were borrowed from Dynasty Warriors... Personally, I feel the Bleach games deserve that sort of treatment, as fighting games based on anime/manga would usually work if it was Dragon Ball Z or Naruto. For the most part, this game had a demo back in December of last year, revealing gameplay footage from the fourth film of the series, Bleach the Movie 4: The Hell Verse. Also, there have been scans, teaser trailers, and commercials prior to Soul Resurreccion's release... Most people felt interested in the product, others gave up on it and went back to the Heat the Soul series, or rather another DBZ fighting title. They were either upset about what happened in the majority of the gameplay, or just wanted to see a possible American release... WE GOT ONE, DIDN'T WE!?!? Let's move on to more action...

The game of course plays like any Dynasty Warriors installment, and you are able to play with 18-21 characters from the hit anime/manga series, including Ichigo Kurosaki in his 2nd Bankai form. In the demo, players were using the protagonist (Ichigo, duh!) in his Skullclad form when fighting off hordes of Hollows inside Hell... Once that was finished, you fight one of the antagonists from the fourth movie, an Unforgiven known as Kokuto. Now you may have thought that during hours of gameplay, the storyline would take place in the fourth film... Half incorrect is how right or wrong you are! You will actually encounter up to the end of the Arrancar arc, instead... A few scans quickly revealed it all... Or did they? So far, so good... Next!

There are only two game modes for Soul Resurreccion: you have your standard Story Mode, and a Mission Mode... Story Mode lets you go through the game as a characters's story progresses as it is seen in the anime... You can also choose any number of characters at your own disposal! Satisfying... And as you progress, be prepared to encounter boss battles and earn experience, achieving new abilities for each characters. Mission Mode has you complete various objectives, with each of them having certain restrictions. During the time, you will acquire points that can be used to customize any character you feel free on updating... Now that's what we're talkin' about!

Other than that, though, there isn't much else to do in Soul Resurreccion other than freely witness many hours of gameplay (from SCEI, I heard it was 100 or more) and explore the storyline on its own path. When the North American and European (I forgot to mention that Europe gets this game in September) areas launch this menace, you can switch between Japanese and English voiceovers... Now if set to English, it can make all the haters of the original language resist, and if set to Japanese, it will let the dub haters be unable to resist and listen for more... Honestly, the Dub vs. Sub war is all just opinions, I can see that, but it's just a friggin' anime (or, in this review's case, a game)... Grow some balls for a change and accept that it's just for the entertainment value!

Now does Bleach: Soul Resurreccion exceed my expectations? Personally, I don't own a Playstation 3, so I'd rather not say anything... But overall, after examining few clips of the game on YouTube, it is, of course, a Bleach game, and it's usually bound to be pretty good (not counting The Shattered Blade, which I found to be a bit mediocre :/) If you're a hardcore Bleach fan, then this game is just for you... The same goes if you're a gamer who is interested in hack-n-slash titles! I, Ouroburos, give Soul Resurreccion a 7.5 out of 10! We all went to Hell and back in the real world... AS SOUL REAPERS!!!!!!

Pros

 * A hack-n-slash is a sort of game I would simply choose over any generic FPS any day... Just as long as it satisfies my needs
 * The option to switch from Japanese to English voiceovers is well played... Not that it's important, however
 * Pretty sharp and dynamic visuality, though you would expect this out of a Ps3 or Xbox 360 since they can handle HD resolution... It doesn't matter, though
 * The hours of gameplay are useful, and you can do just that!
 * Boss battles can be amazing at times!

Cons

 * While I do like the animation of the opening cinematic of Soul Resurreccion, I would've said that it needed a bit more spoilers and whatnot
 * Only 21 characters, huh??? If we had about only 18 more characters, then I would be in... Overall, it's simply fine, though.