Bleach Soul Resurreccion

Anime series and Musou games go together like bread and butter. It seems to be the executed formula when franchise owners need to capitalize on their popularity. The framework is already in place, and all that the developers need to add is a skin to match the franchise's look and feel. At first glance - this seems to be what's happened with Bleach: Soul Resurreccion.

Admittedly I am not too inclined with the Bleach series, so it's hard to gauge how well the anime's events translate into a video game. It will be judged from a purely game analysis perspective. We'll hint here and there where mechanics and aesthetics are in line with the big picture. Let's have this Bleach video game then!

Basic Barry Does Musou

About an hour into the game - the whole concept of reskinning a generic Musou game becomes apparent. The formula remains the same as just every other offering of the same genre - start level, kill hundreds of enemies, fight a boss, repeat. Sometimes this is acceptable to franchise fans if there are more intricacies than the general mechanics. Arguing in Bleach's favor, some decent aspects make the game playable. The character models and animations look sublime, with a flowing combat flair that keeps things interesting. The level of difficulty in the game is questionable. But there are a couple of hours of fun to be had to hack through hordes of foes.

Then again, the gameplay does start to feel basic rather quickly. Even for a fan of the series, the narrative is extremely complex and not well streamlined. You'll find throes of information catapulted at you before each level in text form, where there is little cinematic or dialogue to maintain an intriguing story - let alone follow it.

Overall, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is about the most basic take on a Musou game you can get. No variation, story lacking but does just enough to keep those keen on fast-paced, satisfying combat with something to do. There's really not much more to take away from it - even if you are one of the most hardcore fans of the Bleach series.

Don't Drink the Bleach

If you had to pick between the godfather of Musou in Dynasty Warriors and Bleach: Soul Resurreccion for an engaging gameplay experience - the former would win every time. Bleach simply does not offer enough in the way of enjoyment - the hacking and slashing come to a bore very quickly without any substance to back it up.

Pros:

• Character models and animations are well crafted
• Combat is gratifying and fluid

Cons:

• The story is erratic and very hard to follow
• Same formula throughout the game
• Becomes boring very quickly