We're big fans of evolution. Evolution is life, and when anything ceases to change or grow, stick a fork in it – it's done. Everything needs a direction to be moving in, and that's particularly true in gaming. Thanks to retro gaming nothing ever really disappears, it just becomes the purview of a dedicated group of fans. And if you're not a part of that group, you sympathise but can't quite fathom why they haven't moved out of their gaming dead end.

All your whoop-ass are belong to me.

Until the release and huge mainstream success of Street Fighter IV last year, you'd have been forgiven (by others at least) for thinking 2D fighting games had taken a detour down that genre cul-de-sac, with their glory days far behind them. But thanks to Capcom's brilliant gamble we've seen a genre resurgence, with both classic games like Marvel VS Capcom 2 returning and new iterations of old favourites like The King of Fighters XII appearing. But we honestly weren't quite ready to fully accept the return of 2D fighters as enduring until we played BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. And that's because in many ways it represents forward direction in the resurrected genre; a sure sign of health.

Street Fighter IV brought a good number of innovations to the genre, and in its wake Arc System Works (the developer behind the Guilty Gear series) has crafted a fun, fast and fluid fighting game that will be a natural step up for 2D fighting fans. There's no way BlazBlue will ever have quite the same wide appeal of Capcom's seminal fighter, but that isn't its role. Its role is to teach the faithful how to kick 2D fighting ass in a deep-but-accessible game. And look good doing it.

The great thing about BlazBlue is that it's a complete package, and its beautiful character design (married with quite simply the best 2D animation we've ever seen) is equally matched by a deep fighting system playing to those strengths. With 12 eclectic fighters to choose from, BlazBlue's roster looks like a bunch of escapees from a Studio Ghibli movie crossed with a Guilty Gear game cast (a series whose influence is felt here in myriad ways) sporting some of the most beautiful anime designs we've seen in ages. You'd be hard pressed to point out a more diverse set of characters anywhere. From angry sword-wielding 'protagonist' Ragna the Bloodedge to the creepy living shadow tribute to No Face from Spirited Away called Arakune, each of the 12 looks and plays very differently according to their character design.

Can I finish? Can I finish? Can I? Can I? Okay, I'm finished.

But it's also the crazy little Japanese touches to BlazBlue that fill us with such affection for it. Just as an example, a round is called a ‘rebel’ and matches consist of one to five ‘rebels’, commencing after the announcer screams “Action!”. BlazBlue truly marches to its own drum, but that's reflected even more in the game’s combat itself.

Thankfully, BlazBlue's combat is the epitome of the old 'easy to learn but hard to master' philosophy with only four buttons. The first three are graded as light, medium and heavy attacks, but it's the Drive attack that is key to both BlazBlue's simple nature and its advanced techniques. It's a special attack specific to each character that's key to opening up a whole can of tactical whoop-ass.

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