Bleach: Dark Soul

Saying Bleach: Dark Souls has arrived in the UK a little late is something of an understatement. When we received its predecessor, The Blade Of Fate, this sequel had already been out for over a year in Japan. However, Dark Souls’ overall tardiness in Britain lies somewhere around the two-year mark, making this a somewhat belated review for avid DS importers. Still, despite its lateness, a few hours in the company of Dark Souls and its colourful cast of characters reveals a game that remains the best fighter DS has to offer. Not that it has much in the way of competition. Jump Superstars, Draglade, Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers and, indeed, Bleach’s progenitor itself are some of the only titles that offer anything resembling a similar experience.

Nevertheless, Dark Souls stands out as a great example of what can be achieved within the genre, particularly as it’s managed to cram a deep and rewarding system into the DS architecture. It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that it’s the ever-inventive Treasure working away behind the scenes to create a simple setup that gives way to complexity the more you experiment with the game’s higher levels of play.

Dark Souls deviates little from the foundations set down by its predecessor, with most changes taking place beneath the bodywork. The balance has been refined and the movesets tweaked to offer a better experience in general. The combat itself remains a fastpaced bout of double jumps, dashes, guard cancels, and screenfilling Bankai specials. The card system also returns, allowing you to change your character’s condition on the fly, with stat boosts and various attacks achieved with a quick tap of the touch screen.

Multiplayer, which supports up to four players over Wi-Fior DS download play, is where Dark Souls shines, but the single-player isn’t without its merits. The story mode, aside from its bizarre and disjointed narrative, provides plenty of varying challenges, from the usual battles to objective-based tasks such as catching butterflies or grabbing food – exercises that will help new players grasp Dark Souls’ underlying game mechanics through a steady and gradual learning curve. It’s as straightforward or as deep as you want it to be. You can use the Dpad to input special moves and delve into the intricacies of the card system, or you can ignore the deck-construction kit and make use of the touch screen to unleash your character’s power.

Dark Souls’ interesting mechanics and exciting split-second decision making will still be there for those willing to explore. So, Bleach: Dark Souls may well be late to our shores, and little more than an incremental update to The Blade Of Fate, but it does still prove that you don’t necessarily need the graphical grunt of more powerful hardware to make a solid, entertaining and technical fighter.