Customer Reviews

Bleach: Dark Souls

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Nintendo DS is definitely lacking in the fighting department, the only other DS fighter that is remotely as good as this is it's predecessor, Bleach: The Blade of Fate. This installment in the Bleach series is not too different from The Blade of Fate to be honest, but it has enough additions to make it a worthy purchase, especially if you are a fan of the Manga/Anime. There is an expanded cast of playable characters, 44 in total. That being said, there are way too many joke characters in this game. Several characters are totally useless, and really, who would want to play as a Hollow when you can be one of the Elite Soul Reapers? The only real benefit of the expanded roster in comparison to The Blade of Fate is having a greater variety of characters to beat on. Overall this game seems faster to me than the previous game, which is definitely a plus. When 4 players are in a free-for-all, you will not see a hint of slowdown, definitely a plus. Story Mode has a decent length and will definitely take you awhile to achieve 100% completion on all difficulties. You no longer have to play through every single mission again in order to unlock everything, once you beat the game you can skip over missions that you have already completed. The card system is better, you can now have 4 cards to choose from at once instead of just 2. The Reiju crystals add a bit to the character balance, you can take a painfully slow character like Sajin Komamura and make him fast enough to keep up with the likes of Ichigo, which makes Komamura nearly unstoppable (huge plus for me as he is my favorite character). For those of you that are into wifi gaming, you'll have to buy this version since everyone playing Bleach online will be playing Dark Souls as opposed to the Blade of Fate. In short, this is more like Blade of Fate version 1.5, but it's the best Bleach game you can get and definitely the best DS fighter that you can buy short of importing the Jump! games.

This is the best fighting game for the DS I've played to date. Its easy to pickup and just jump right into, but also has the tutorials, guides, and in-game store to expand your gameplay experience.

On the upside, it gives you what you want in a fighting game. Wide range of characters to choose from, with a variety of abilities (different offensive, defensive, speed, and special capabilities). Play is smooth and surprisingly responsive for a handheld. Also the touch-screen special moves is implemented very well. If you use the touch-screen to make a special attack that same special locks out for about 3 seconds to prevent spamming (button-masher syndrome), but if you take the time to learn the actual direction-pad input for the move (ie down, forward, attack) you can use the special freely. Also the inclusion of the spirit cards lets you further customize your play.

On the downside, story mode is kinda short. Further, to complete the game 100% you need to go back and beat each mission 3 times (on each difficulty, Easy, Medium, and Hard). Some of the missions are ridiculous on Hard.

DS download play does let you play with 3 other people who don't own the cartridge, but load times are slow (1-2 minutes per load). It has to load before you select characters, and again after character select/before match start. At the end of the match it offers you "replay yes/no". If you hit "yes" everyone plays again immediately with the same characters, if you hit "no" it loads again and you're back at character select.

The second DS game based on the popular action anime, "Dark Souls" feels more like a thinly-disguised extension of the original game than a true sequel (like "Street Fighter II" or "Tekken 5"). If you played "Blade of Fate," you'll instantly recognize the different game modes, the original character roster, the Touch Screen controls that activate both special moves and Spirit Cards, and even the battlegrounds. But this installment adds just enough to make the purchase/trade-in worth your while. In fact, you could say "Dark Souls" fixes everything that was wrong with "Blade of Fate."

For example, in Story Mode--focusing on an original plot penned by "Bleach" creator Tite Kubo--you play through dozens of mini games instead of fights using every single character. While the rewards you earn include new fighters and cards, you also get to fight--and play as--the soul-eating Hollows. And though the Touch Screen lets you use more Spirit Cards at once, limitations have been placed on deck construction and hot keys to prevent abuse. The folks at Sega even throw in a special encyclopedia with character profiles and a glossary of terms from the show. And the sounds of the game--including voices from the show--are as sharp and crisp as ever. So if you can overcome that feeling of déjà vu, you'll see that "Dark Souls" is merely icing on the cake.

This game is rated T for Teen: Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, References to Alcohol.

After eagerly snapping up Blade of Fate (the first Bleach DS fighting game) and thoroughly enjoying it, I was determined to buy all other Bleach DS games by Treasure that would be published in the U.S. After buying and playing Dark Souls, however, I couldn't believe how much Treasure had dropped the ball: The character roster might be bigger, and the card system might be better, but I was otherwise sorely disappointed in the quality of this game. I was even more disappointed when I couldn't find reviews of the game that recognized its many glaring flaws, which is why I'm writing this (this may be only my first or second game review, so that's saying something).

Pros:
1. Larger character roster, and with no clones this time (Hollow Ichigo has a different move set, and Komamura doesn't have a duplicate)
2. Better card system (which I never use, since it feels like cheating to me)
3. I've heard the Wi-Fi battles are better somehow, but haven't been able to check it out.
4. Several returning characters' Super attacks have been improved or added to (hint: Try Hitsugaya's shikai Super attack with all three attack buttons). Byakuya's Super (B, I think), in which he surrounds the battlefield with swords, is much better than in Blade of Fate. Ichigo's Bankai has been improved.
5. A few returning characters have been improved in other areas: Hitsugyaga is now an extremely effective character... almost too effective. Hollow Ichigo is also really good.
6. Line jumping no longer costs anything.
7. There is now more variety in attack types. Urahara summons people from his in-story shop to perform attacks at different positions on the screen.

Cons:
1. The character roster is chock full of joke characters. Some of them are horrible and many are just downright cheap. This makes choosing Random for Versus play incredibly irritating. Out of the 44 fighters, I count 15 as joke characters. It's ludicrous, especially... the Menos Grande, which is incredibly belligerent despite the low HP given to joke characters. Imagine the serious characters that could have been put in the game in place of these jokers: Espada, for example (there's even a picture of Grimmjow in the picture gallery!).
2. Survival Mode is broken. At some point, your opponent will be "No Entry", and you'll be stuck on the screen that announces said "opponent". Since saving your progress is only done when you die, you could have defeated 1 opponent or 100 opponents before this glitch occurs; but in neither case will your progress be saved -- it will be as if you hadn't even done Survival Mode.
3. This game's version of "story mode" is gimmicky and frustrating in places. Use battlefields for battles, not for collecting crap or seeing if you can beat someone in line jumping!
4. Voice volume and quality are horrific. Some of Byakuya's battle cries grate on the ears. Otherwise, everyone's pre-battle and victory lines are nearly incomprehensible, since their volume, even maxed out in the sound options, is very low (despite whatever the music volume is at).
5. Many moves are way too slow (much slower than in Blade of Fate), either prior to execution (after button input but before the animation) or afterward. Two glaring offenders are Ikkaku and Don Kanonji (a joke character). This applies to both returning and new characters.
6. Yachiru, a returning character, has been given Smash Bros. Brawl syndrome -- she trips randomly while running.
7. Some moves that were apparently too good to keep as they were in Blade of Fate were made Reinforced (I think that's the right word) no matter the attack button you press, whereas in BoF, only using the A button with a special attack would execute its Reinforced version. Byakuya's Senbonzakura (away, down, toward, attack) is like this. While I hate it when game-breaking moves are made easy to execute, I suppose I dislike even more compromising a good system to solve this issue. They should have given Byakuya a different move for that button combo, especially since one of his Supers is so similar. Or, they could have toned down the existing move's damage. In case you're unaware, Reinforced moves cause the gauge you use for flash stepping to regenerate much slower.
8. It might just be me, but Super attacks are highly inconsistent in their damage. Some do almost no damage. Others do way too much.
9. When going through the sound files (music, character voices, etc.) there are a few that, while being labeled with a number like the rest, don't exist.
10. A fairly large amount of the new music isn't very good, which reduce's the overall soundtrack's quality.

Neutral:
1. The button input for throwing has been changed. It used to be a single attack button, but now is two buttons pressed simultaneously. Thus, throws are now more difficult to execute, but it means you won't accidentally throw someone when you meant to do a normal attack.

I'm sure there's some more I'm missing, but you should be able to get the picture. I love Blade of Fate. If Treasure had only copied that game while adding new characters, tweaking Supers and damage, and swapping in a new story mode of a similar type to that of BoF, this game would have been much better than it ended up being.

Fun: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3/5

I changed Fun from a 3 to a 4 (for some reason, it's showing the change on the edit page, but not on the preview or actual posting). If it had performed as well as BoF, I would have given it a 5. However, battles are almost the same as before, so I couldn't justify a two-star reduction from what I'd give BoF.
Overall sits at a 3, however, because so many bad choices and apparent oversights/accidents were made in the game's development (just look at my Cons list again).

If you enjoy fighting games then this one needs to be in your library. The 4 player multiplayer is great in this game. They threw in plenty of extras through the Uruhara shop for fans of the series in the form of sound bites and stills from the show. The ability to customize your spirit deck is a nice touch too. Once I convinced my friends to buy it we,ve been playing it non-stop for the past two months.

this game stays faithful to the original source material and offers some depth in its own way... it's perfect as a brawler a-la-SSBB, but it falls flat in its quest mode. Perhaps the next iteration of this game will fix this with a style reminiscent of those over world maps like in RPG games minus the random battles.
I definitely recommend this game to fans of the anime and fans of great portable brawlers.

I would have reviewed this sooner, but I mistakenly assumed there would be a million reviews of it. I'm surprised to find there are only five as of today, since it was released back in October of 08.

That said, though the game will largely appeal to fans of the anime, the fact that this is often referred to as "the best U.S. fighting game for the DS" should be a sign that even if you're not a fan of the show, this is a worthy addition to your collection, particlarly now that it's priced so low.

The fighting is 2-D, but can take place on two different planes. (You can switch between the up or down part of the environment on most levels.) The battles are fast paced, and the moves and combo possibilities are almost endless. The flash step add another layer to the combat.

The graphics and sound are good by DS standards, and fans of the show will get to hear the same English voice actors as the series (which is good or bad depending on your opinion of the dubbing.)

Although they are totally different games, I have to say, for a fighter, this is sort of like "Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo" with swords. (I make that comparison, based on pacing, "style" of fighting game, combo system, super/specials, etc.) In fact, the Bleach DS games and the old school SF games are my personal favorite fighting games.

The game is easy to learn and there are touch screen controls for special moves and the equivelent of "super" moves (like "bankai") so for some of the trickier d-pad/button combos, it's nice to have the option of touch screen controls. Also, the spirit cards, which are used to enhance your fighting or hinder your opponents, is touch screen. That said, while it's easy to pick up, there is enough depth and variety that it may take a while to "master."

This is essentially a revamped, expanded, more balanced version of the previous Bleach game for the DS. There are 44 characters, and while many are lame to the point of being virtually unplayable, it does make for more varied opponents (particularly story and arcade modes) and some interesting fights can happen when it's 2-on-2 or 1-on-3.

The story mode is much longer here than in the first game, with high replay value to get 100% completion and unlock everything, but the flip side is that the "original" story written for the game is disjointed and rather flimsy.

A bonus for those so inclined, is wi-fi support on the Nintendo network.

Don't let the reputation of anime games being lame (as they often are) or the fact that it's based on an anime disuade you if you are unfamiliar with the series. It's a big bonus if you're a Bleach fan, but I had never seen the show before playing the first game, and I still thoroughly enjoyed both games. (I enjoy it even a tad bit more now that I watch the series.)

Bleach: Dark Souls is a superb fighting game for the DS--or any system for that matter.

When blade of fate came out I played it all day, twice of that can be said for bleach dark souls. Amazing game with many characters (44) to play as, even though those are mostly just for beating up. Even after you beat it it's still a fun arcard style fighting game. The only thing I didn't like was the password system, which didn't recognize paw's pawprint but recognized a jesus fish.

this is the latest of two bleach DS games. with various improvements including new characters and storyline. if you are big into fighting games this is really your only choice besides importing. fun all around with no previous knowledge of the first game or anime series needed. only downside is some of the challenges like keep your ally alive can seem cheap and one sided. 4 out of 5.

At first, I was trying to figure out If this was a cardgame or not, but, In fact it was one of the best combat games for the nintendo
DS system. Bleach: Dark souls has a wide variety of characters to play as in arcade mode,a great storyline, but the whole spiritcard
thing is confusing. But I went on and beat the whole game in one day without them. Even though this game is really easy, it is fun to play. Even if one has already beaten the game, he/she will enjoy playing arcade mode, where you can earn extra money so that you can
purchase items at the Urahara shop. I would reccomend this game to anyone who likes manga/anime. If your'e reading this, Bleach: Dark souls is for you.
MC