Anime power

If like me you are no stranger to anime or manga, then you will certainly know about the series Bleach. Starting way back in 2002, Kubo Tite's manga of soul reapers (“Shinigami”) and hollows has captured the minds of readers and viewers worldwide. Next to Naruto and One Piece, Bleach is one of the top-selling mangas of all time, with nearly 50 million volumes sold. For a very long period during my college days, Bleach was all everyone would talk about. Although I still read the manga to this day, it is certainly not as stellar as it once was.

But with such popularity, and the old Japanese tradition of making a video-game out of anything, Bleach has been reincarnated into 22 video-games in 9 years. With the latest offering, a PS3 exclusive, coming from Nippon Ichi Software, the creators of the Disgaea series. Bleach: Soul Resurrection is the new hack and slash title that tells the story of the soul reapers' fight against the Arrancar. Focusing mainly on the battle between Kurosaki Ichigo, the series' main protagonist and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, one of the main Arrancar. This part of the story is where my interest in the series diminished. But the fight between these two characters is possibly one of most fantastic battles in any manga. Can the epic fight be transitioned succesfully into a game, though?

Bleach X Dynasty Warriors?

If you have played either the Dynasty Warriors series or the Sengoku Basara games (Devil Kings here in the west), then you will feel right at home playing Bleach: Soul Resurrection. The game boasts serious hack and slash gameplay, with some RPG elements. Perhaps too many anime titles feature similar gameplay, but with Bleach being all about whipping your “Zanpaktou” out and cutting some hollows and foes down, it just wouldn't feel right without this type of gameplay.

The game features a lot of customisation options, with players being able to upgrade character abilities through a sphere-grid system. Much like the grid system featured in Final Fantasy X. Players use Soul Orbs to unlock abilities within the grid. Each character can also level-up throughout the game, and, depending on which characters you use most, some will become more powerful than others.

Although there aren't too many details on what the fighting system will be like, it seems that the game features a combo system similar in style to Devil May Cry. The characters will therefore be able to perform simple combos and launchers and then carry on those combos to different enemies. Each character also has special moves, depending on what their Zanpaktous' abilities are, and some characters do include their famous “Bankai” modes from the anime/manga.

If the game features even half the depth of DMC combos, then it would be worth a play anyway, but add in the mix of playing 21 of your favourite Bleach characters and most fans will be already sold on playing.