Bleach Rebirth of Souls

Welp…

I played Bleach Rebirth of Souls for about a month now, and all I have to genuinely say is – I am kinda disappointed.
Bleach RoS is a 3D OPS, I mean 2D fighting, unique among the various anime fighting games out there.

It was market to have unique characters with unique play styles
It was a fresh Bleach game we haven’t had for a long time.
And most importantly, the game was set to be a balance between technical & casual friendly.

But the thing is, this game has some serious issues with its basic controls, and it restricts players way too much.
Not to mention, it has a critical bug when you try to remap your special move (or “Spiritual Pressure move”) into a different button, that special move’s alternative move (by holding the button) won’t work.
I spotted it in version 1.03 and it’s still in their in version 1.05.

But I am getting nitpicky on the small stuff. So here’s my list of problems with this game

As an Anime Game, it’s not serviceable

An Anime fighting game, in my humble opinion, should allow players to play as any character from the game’s roster.
But, just like Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 and onwards, you can’t.

Wanna play (from the start) final form Ulquiorra vs Vasto Lorde Ichigo?
Yea buddy, mod that shit.

There’s nothing more annoying than an Anime game that doesn’t let you go all out against your friends.
I get it, they’re overpowered, but that’s the point of an Anime game, they’re fun because they’re overpowered.
I don’t wanna wait 5+ minutes to awaken to beast mode with Vasto Lorder Ichigo, F-that!

The other thing that bores me is the story.
Unless you’re gonna make some open world like Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 1 and bosses like in Storm 2, then please, don’t re-tell the whole story of Bleach.

I hate when Anime games do this to attract a new audience instead of letting the developers build their own story with the help of the Mangaka.
That way, Anime fans and new, can enjoy a fresh new story.
And if newcomers want to know more about Ichigo’s backstory, they can watch the show.

The only good thing about the game are the secret missions, which are additional stories from different characters’ perspectives.
But sadly, you need to unlock it by playing the mainline BORING story.

As a fight- WAIT, the hell is that movement control 🕹?

It’s funny how I made a post about the “Importance of Control” and specifically made a sub-post about movement, which can greatly affect the feel of the game.

This game’s movement is utterly bizarre and not justified.
Traditional battle arena anime fighters like the Storm games, Budokai Tenkaichi, and Demon Slayer implement a well-designed movement for the players to move around with the left analog stick.

If you see you’re character’s back,
Then, to go forward, simply hold “up” with the analog stick.

i.e. 🎮⬆

If you see your character’s face,
Then, to go forward, hold down the stick instead

i.e. 🎮⬇

This general rule is also applied in basic 2D as well.
If your Opponent is on the left side of the screen, then hold the stick left ⬅; if right, then hold right ➡.

However, in Bleach RoS, they implemented one of the most unpolished movements I have ever experienced.
No matter where your character is positioned on screen, to move towards your opponent, you need to press up ⬆.
If you’re controlling P2 and you wanna side step to the left, you’ll need to hold the stick right ➡ 😂.
Why? because it’s the left from your character’s perspective of view 🤣.

Are you kidding me?
And I know, it’s not that big of a deal once you get used to it, but come on! What kind of control is this?
You honestly wanna tell me that this was by design?
Not in a million years would I believe this is legit.

And it’s kinda weird because it’s not like Tamsoft is some mobile game studio, they have some fighting games and hack and slash games under their belt, although they are not famous or even known to me or other action game enthusiasts.

And it’s even worse when the game doesn’t interpret my side step as a forward dash because who knows why.

No Jump button? 🤨
Fake 3D Fighter

This is probably the weirdest thing about this Bleach game, where the characters literally walk, run, dash, and JUMP while in the air like nothing.
But you wanna tell me I can’t do a flying kick with Soi Fon and Yoruichi?

Some characters can jump attack you, but you can’t jump in this game.
You wanna tell me that Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash has a Jump button, but a technical fighting game like Bleach RoS does not?

HOW⁉ Like that’s what makes the combat more interesting, by default.
It’s just like GoW 2018, where it “tries” to be different for the wrong reasons.

As a fighting game

It feels stiff and overally restrictive

This is probably the most ironic part about this game, because it was marketed heavily as a unique, advanced fighting game.
And yet, I feel like I have already experienced everything the game has to offer.

Here are the following moves you can do

You’ve got your basic light and heavy attacks, which can be mixed together
You’ve got a “signature” move, which can be very different for each character
2 Special moves, aka “Spiritual Pressure” moves.
A teleport move, aka “Flash Step”
“Kikon” move, which is a slow attack used for VERY SPECIFIC purposes

Some moves might seem like you can chain them together, like Ichigo (Bankai ver) light combo followed up with SP1 move (upper slash), but you can’t.

Others can only be cancelled after ending a basic hit string with the Light/Heavy attack.
The only guaranteed cancel in this game is “Reverse Action”, which boosts your spiritual pressure.
This can also act as a combo breaker, which is nice.

But the combat overall feels stiff, like I am playing a Dynasty Warriors game.
It’s not as smooth as Naruto Storm or Sparking Zero.
Side-stepping feels like trying to side-step inside a pool IRL, and overall, the game feels like I am fighting on the moon.

Scissors ✂ (Grab) beat Rock 🌑 (attack)

The in-game tutorial describes the core combat as a Rock, Paper, Scissors system

Rock (attack) can’t be blocked by Paper (Block, duh)
Paper can be ripped by scissors (i.e., Grab)
And Rock beats Scissors

Yet for some god forsaken reason, grabs are either faster or have a better priority than attacks, because my god, they are instantaneous!

Go into an online match and see the number of times players either try to dash-grab, or trap you in a block hit-string to follow up with a grab.
Don’t you dare try anything besides cancelling his grab with another grab, because the game will punish you for even attempting to slash him.

And this wouldn’t really be an issue if the throws weren’t instantaneous like in Tekken or any other fighting game anime.
Or… how about you give me the option to jump to make the grab useless, because, you know, it’s F-ing Bleach, we fight in the air dammit!

This game’s meta is comprised of 50% mind games with the grab alone.

That repetitive “Kikon move”

The Kikon move is a cool when you first hear about it, but it’s actuallity, it’s just a 10 second of a played animation which you can’t speed up.

And it’s not like an optional move you can use when you want to. No, this move’s animation will be played for at least 2-3 times a match.

So what’s a Kikon exactly? A super move that is basically a one-hit that leads to a big damage animation attack like in any other Anime arena fighter?

Well, not exactly, you see, the regular HP serves as a shield to your actual HP, which is a bunch of numbered blocks.

Once you destroy the shield or damage it to a critical state, the Kikon moves become available for usage.

In either way, to take HP from your opponent, you’re forced to use the Kikon, which means the game is paused for 10 seconds.

And to give credit, the animation played was well made, but why am I forced to watch this every match?

It’s not like it’s used to mask loading times between rounds. No! Instead, if you wanna quickly rematch your friend, you’re gonna:

Watch 10 10-second animation Kikon
Watch a 5-second win pose animation
And then, you can select a new character or rematch.

And no, you can’t skip anything

P.S. Kikon meta

So, besides being a long forced animation, the Kikon move does at least have one gamey aspect to it.

Depending on the animation played, the Kikon can remove from 2-6 bars of HP. Each character usually has about 9 bars, so the total rounds can change depending on the Kikon used.

The thing is, the powerful Kikon moves are only available as a comeback mechanic, which basically renders aggressive play style useless.

Say you defeated your opponents 2 times and he only did once, welp, he needs to defeat you once with a full shield, but you stay with the same damaged shield because, in actuality, there’s no round reset.

So sometimes, you would actually want your opponent to kikon you, so that you come back with a full shield with the comeback Kikon move.
It’s unique, but it discourages players who excel at maintaining pressure

Wake me up

An anime games stop catering towards the competitive scene and fully embraces the ridiculous wacky nature of Shonen anime.

And my god, if I find another fighting game with this type of movement, I’ll truly give up on the gaming industry.