Who among us has not watched Bleach? This anime series, which has won the hearts of millions of fans around the world, has become a true cultural phenomenon, immersing viewers in the world of souls, shinigami and exciting battles.
Since its debut, Bleach has not only gained popularity on TV screens, but has also inspired numerous games, comics and other media projects. This brings us to this review and Bleach: Rebirth of Souls, a title that promises to return us to a familiar world filled with dynamic battles and exciting plot twists. Developed by Bandai Namco, known for its high-quality games based on popular anime and manga, Bleach: Rebirth of Souls offers players a unique opportunity to meet their favorite characters again and relive their adventures.
Bandai Namco has long since established itself as one of the leading developers and publishers in the video game industry, releasing such hits as Tekken, Dragon Ball and Naruto. Now they’re turning to the world of Bleach to give fans a new dose of adrenaline and nostalgia. Let’s take a closer look at what this game offers and how it fits into the franchise’s rich history.
And right away, the launch of Bleach: Rebirth of Souls has turned out to be one of the most disastrous in the history of Bandai Namco games. This is a fact that is hard to dispute. However, let’s look at the aspects of the game itself, despite the problematic launch and the eternally yelling Ichigo.
The story in Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is presented miles better than, for example, in Naruto’s Storm series. While the latter games used screenshots from the anime to fill in the gaps, Bleach offers players beautifully directed animations that help you stay immersed in the atmosphere. Yes, the game has its own “flashbacks” that essentially complement the story, but they are hand-drawn and created specifically for this game, and not simply copied from the anime. This certainly sparks joy.
However, like many games based on anime and manga, Bleach: Rebirth of Souls suffers in cutscenes. When the Rukia Rescue arc began, I was expecting to see Ichigo training with Urahara and Yoruichi, and meeting the mustachioed dude and busty Kuukaku. Instead, we are immediately teleported to Seireitei, and thrown into the thick of battle, with no explanation of how Ichigo regained his Shinigami powers, no meeting with Hichigo, no first look at gigachad Chad. It’s all presented just in the form of still images… and this certainly does not spark joy.
The developers took numerous arcs, but cut so much out of them that the sense of story, characters’ rise and their powers’ growth is lost completely. It’s understandable that some scenes needed to be cut for the sake of time, but the developers could have still added at least a couple of fights with Urahara and Hichigo.
Bleach: Rebirth of Souls leaves an aftertaste of incompleteness, which is quite disappointing.
The first thing that catches your eye when you launch Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is the “impressive” graphics, which successfully combines elements of anime and modern 3D design. The characters look recognizable and “detailed”, and the surrounding locations convey the atmosphere of the original anime. Each battle is accompanied by bright effects that make the action even more exciting. Did you notice the brackets? They are here for a reason. The graphics are at the level of Naruto games from 10 years ago. The animations, alas, leave much to be desired.
This is especially true for the characters’ gait – watching them glide along the asphalt as if on oil is quite strange. The controls are not particularly enjoyable, either. Remembering the first “Storm”, which was released in 2009, it can be noted that there you could really feel every step of your shinobi, but here it is just… depressing. I will not say that the animations of fighting are at such a low level, no. On the contrary – the hits and techniques themselves look quite nice, they are both impactful and beautiful. And some Bankai and Arrancar techniques… Wow. I could watch and watch.
The characters themselves are done at a good level. True, Ichigo spends half the game time with VERY strange emotions on his face, I would even say that they are a weak point. But let’s talk about the characters’ looks – this is a separate topic. In a good way, of course. Although they cannot avoid woodenness completely, the eyes and the emotions they convey deserve respect. You really see a living person, and not just a doll, although these emotions are not quite appropriate at times.
And finally, it is worth noting that the characters have become more voluminous. No longer do you have to suffer looking at Ishida, who looked like he was suffering from third-degree anorexia. Now they all have muscles and look much more realistic.
There is music in this game. That is about all I can say about it. I didn’t come across any tracks from the original Bleach, and that’s a big negative point. I would like to hear that same “Will Of The Heart” in the scene where Ichigo is going through serious mental anguish, for “Requiem For The Lost Ones” to be heard in the scenes with the Captains, or the good old “Destiny Awaits”, or the astonishing “Nothing can be Explained”… I was extremely upset by the lack of original music.
Even in the scenes where they SHOULD BE. And there are quite a few such scenes in the game, for example the scene with the story at Ichigo’s mother’s grave… which takes place without music.
Still, I will say that some of the battle themes are nice, the theme of Final Getsuga Tenshou is wonderful. But not all music tracks suit their heroes, which is, of course, my personal opinion. I’ll be honest – I turned off the game’s music and turned on the Original Bleach Soundtrack, and it became MUCH better – after all, fighting with Espada under La Distancia Para Un Duelo is much more enjoyable.
As for the gameplay, it may seem quite complicated for those who are new to the anime fighting genre. Understanding which button does what, except for X and Y, can sometimes be confusing, and sometimes the commands don’t work as expected. However, it’s worth noting that blinking behind the enemy’s back looks very impressive and stylish, especially with the unique emotions of each character – it really creates an atmosphere, as if you were watching an anime. But sometimes such maneuvers happen at the wrong time. Nevertheless, after a couple of hours of active battles, you begin to get used to the mechanics, and many techniques begin to be performed automatically on sheer muscle memory.
I am especially pleased that the developers were able to convey the drive of this franchise, where the characters yell at each other, wave around swords and Bankais, and throw out pompous phrases. Personally, I was struck by the color palette and Bleach aesthetics with screensavers and texts on half the screen – this adds a special charm and atmosphere to the game. The game has Rock-Paper-Scissors + Shield and Shield Break attacks. These are the basic X-Y B attacks and triggers on the gamepad (I beg you, play on the gamepad, don’t break your hands with the keyboard controls!), which are responsible for attack chains.
As for the battles themselves, one thing can be said here: both in “Storm” and in this game, battles come down to the usual spam of combinations from the enemy. Yes, this is quite unexpected for a fighting game. I can’t say that there is anything innovative or something that would make players exclaim “wow”. In general, the fight comes down to the same pattern: block, strike, block, strike, retreat, dodge, strike, break and again spam combos, and when the enemy’s defense is broken through, a special move. In long battles, you will be able to use Bankai.
Bankai is a spectacular and powerful technique that can end a fight in seconds. There are several scales in the game, a health and Life scale – to win you need to lower the enemy’s health to the red sector and break through the lives with a special technique, reducing their number.
As an example, when Ichigo uses the basic attack, he simply hits the enemy hard. However, in the Strengthening mode, his Zanpakuto in the form of Old Man Zangetsu appears behind him. Of course, there are soul stones that can give you an advantage in battle, that give minor bonuses for certain techniques and strikes. As a result, battles can seem monotonous, and this, unfortunately, does not add depth to the game. There is only so much fun in repeatedly punching an enemy for 2-3-5 minutes.
After completing the story (or not – for someone, the standard training will be enough) and getting acquainted and accustomed to the gameplay and controls, you can go to the Online Battles against other players.
This is where the real battles unfold: you have access to a roster of characters, with various costume options to boot (though most are simple uninspired recolors), choose the one you like and… voilà, you fight against a living opponent.
This is where the main strength of the game is revealed, fights against human opponents are very interesting. Here, certain tactics actually take place, and the strengths and weaknesses of the characters can be seen and exploited in battle, or you can even learn something interesting from the fighting techniques of your opponent.
The game’s price is too high for a rough PC port. In the Deluxe Edition you get 4 costumes from the anime arc “Thousand Year War”, which is not even present in the game since it is essentially the finale of the anime itself. The game crashes. Constantly. Endlessly. Do you know how to fix this? Set the interface language to Japanese in your system and play without crashes. For the price of a AAA RPG like Metamorph Refantazio, players instead get a buggy piece of code that you have to change the interface language of Windows to fix.
As a fighting game, the game will do just about fine. The narrative and plot part of the game is very average, and so is the music that lacks the inspired touch of the original. The gameplay process is enjoyable, the animations of attacks and techniques are colorful and spectacular.
The graphics are at a good level, not without complaints, but still more enjoyable than not. For non-fans, those not familiar with the anime series, it is an extremely controversial purchase. For fans of fighting, it is simply okay once you overcome the entry threshold.
