Bleach: Dark Souls Review (Nintendo DS)

What do you get when you take a pristine fighting game and infuse it with 17 new characters, more of the same gameplay, and heftier Bankai attacks? You get Bleach: Dark Souls, aka Bleach 2nd, for the Nintendo DS.

If you played last year’s original Bleach DS title, “Blade of Fate,” then you can expect more of the same intense fighting you’ve come to love from a Sega Produced/Treasure Developed game. Unfortunately, that is also a problem among different versions of a fighting-game series – developers rarely achieve a level of true uniqueness that warrants upgrading to the latest version.

Bleach: Dark Souls, based off of the popular Japanese Anime series, kicks off sometime between the cartoon’s first and second season. At first glance, the story isn’t much to raise your adrenaline level. The story between fights doesn’t really do justice to the Anime series nor to the amazing fighting game that lies at the core of this title. Now, you may consider just diving head first into a knuckle-blazing Bankai fight but take a step deeper and you’ll find that there are some cool side missions that will help boost your interest in sitting through the story mode. Also, you’ll unlock characters as you go through the story as well as different clothes and spirit cards.

The graphics and sound haven’t changed much from the original installment. You still get superb 2D animation that pushes the limits of the DS. The sound score and effects put you in the heat of the battle, all voiced by the American Dub Voice Actors. The VO may by a negative to Anime fan-boys who want the original Japanese VO, but those fans will probably buy the import anyway just to rack up cool points.

The gameplay is more of the same awesome fighting that the first title had. You’ve got your standard set of Bleach tricks to work with: double jumps, air dashes, Bankai attacks, and touch-screen spirit card upgrades that allow you to inflict some neat maneuvers. Admittedly, some of the card upgrades are bizarre (but hey, there are also bizarre cards in the Chance and Community Chest decks in Monopoly, so who cares).

Oh, and it’s worth noting that Treasure has taken some time to re-balance the fighters, which prevents any useless “cheese” attacks against an unwitting AI opponent.

The online is much better than “Blade of Fate.” For starters, you don’t have as many lag issues as you did in the original title. Depending on your connection there will be times when lag will hit you, most likely at the worst possible time, but you’ll be able to live through them.

Bleach: Dark Souls is easily the best fighting game out for the Nintendo DS. The Sega-Treasure alliance reminds everyone that the DS isn’t just for kiddies and people wanting to raise an AI pet. Although, not much has been introduced to persuade owners of “Blade of Fate” to upgrade, Bleach Dark Souls is a buy for any DS owner looking to test their fighting skills.