I’m not the biggest fan of fighting titles. In fact, most of my time playing titles within the fighting genre I’m enjoying some rather old school titles games. I’m referring to the early years of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat for video game systems such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis.
As a result, I’m very much out of the loop to fighting titles released today. Perhaps it’s the lack of couch gaming with my clique or just slowly losing touch of the genre, but I still enjoy watching matches of the big franchise releases. Being that I haven’t really played too many fighting games since back in the 1990s, I began to get the urge to enjoy a fighting title in my life once again after being presented with the opportunity of checking out BlazBlue: Central Fiction.
This might not be Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but visually, this game really stood out to me. Developed by Arc System Works, BlazBlue: Central Fiction actually first hit the market back in 2015 at the arcades with consoles receiving ports of the title a year later in 2016.
Now the most recent platform to receive the latest edition to the BlazBlue franchise is the PC. This is the platform I’m enjoying the game on today. Unfortunately, I really can’t say much when it comes to the narrative. BlazBlue: Central Fiction is part of an on—going series with this being the fourth installment, taking place after the events of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma.
Visually, the story looks similar to an anime series with the western release lacking an English voice over. As a result, gamers will have to read the English subtitles, but again, unless you played the previous installments, you’ll likely be just as lost as I was when first starting it up.
That really didn’t deter me much as when it comes to fighting titles, I’m clearly not interested in the narrative, but enjoy throwing down with a friend or two. Luckily, BlazBlue: Central Fiction offers a number of game modes for players to enjoy that doesn’t deal with any of the story narrative.
Game modes range from a variety of gameplay such as fighting against a wave of enemies or going through an arcade mode. Likewise, you’ll find that there is a wide range of characters to choose from within the roster.
Players will even find the online game mode is still going on with matches to this day, despite first releasing into the market back in 2016. The game franchise seems to be somewhat niche though, which is both a good and bad thing.
For one, I found that the community was more than helpful when trying to get me going with the gameplay and battles. However, the same community was also very skilled at the game and likely full of players who is already familiar with the game mechanics. Needless to say, I was left with a number of defeated matches, but it was still a blast to play.
The characters are bright and vivid with the backgrounds that are familiar of the older Street Fighter titles I mentioned before mixed with beautiful works of something you would see from Studio Ghibli. Furthermore, if you’re a noob like I was going into BlazBlue: Central Fiction, there is a controller scheme that is aimed at more beginner players allowing even the most rudimentary button mashing to result in a string of combo hits.
With all that said, I would recommend the title for gamers interested in a new fighting game. Visually the game looked great, there’s a wide range of interesting characters, and a series of game modes to go through. However, you’ll want to read over some past title recaps if you wish to enjoy the overall narrative.
Disclosure: A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for purpose of this review.
