BlazBlue Entropy Effect

Review

Welcome to the Ace Mind training facility. As of today, you’ll be referred to as an Acer, and before taking part in any training, you’ll be free to move around our facility. You’ll look like a small rectangular floating robot with two large arms attached to your head - you definitely can’t be missed. When you are ready, please proceed to the activation room, select a character, and let's see what your mind is made of in BlazBlue Entropy Effect.

BlazBlue Entropy Effect is an action roguelike platformer game developed and self-published by 91Act on the 16^th of August, 2023, on the Steam platform.

I must admit that I don’t know much about the BlazBlue game series apart from the fact that they are mostly 2D fighting games, so I can’t comment on how true the characters and their moves, skills and weapons are represented in this game compared to the 2D fighting games.

The game consists of five levels with multiple short, hectic combat stages, and also includes a stop where you select new techniques to add to your characters and a few other things, which I will discuss further in this review. At the end of each level, you’ll face one of the several bosses available in the game.

As you launch the game for the first time, all nine characters will be locked. You’ll need an Analyzer to unlock each of the characters. You’ll receive an Analyzer each time you complete an ace mind challenge (a boss fight) - located on the third floor - or finish a quest. However, the third floor will not be accessible for a while, and luckily, you’ll have an Analyser in hand to unlock your first character. Before selecting your character, you can watch a video of each character's move and access a bio which will inform you about his or her basic abilities, potential and potential synergies.   

As mentioned, there are multiple short stages per level. Some will only take 30 seconds, while others will take over a couple of minutes, and that is basically what you’ll be facing on the first four levels. In the combat phase, you’ll gain different types of coins: entropy and exchange points coins. You’ll also gain experience points, which go toward the technique gauge, and when it reaches 100, you’ll be able to select a new technique out of three displayed for the character on that run. When you finish a stage, you’ll be presented with one to three random options; it could be to continue your training or jump on extensive training, but it might include a stopover - as I like to call it - where you can choose to either improve your character or give him/her a rest to get your health back. So, the next selection after having finished a stage could be rest, exchange and training. If you choose training, you’ll be back fighting. If you have enough entropy coins, you can rest and use these coins to get your health back. If you select the exchange, you’ll get another selection display, but this time, you’ll have four options, and you’ll need exchange points to purchase one or more options. There are other stops, such as the Black Market, Event, and Potential, where you can choose new moves and sortition, which is like a random draw.

The boss fights are really hectic, and even when you understand their moves and sequences, some are super hard to beat. The good news is that it will get easier as you unlock new characters and save prototypes. When you die, your character will be ranked, and his or her prototype will be saved, along with any new techniques acquired during that run. When you have unlocked three characters, you can combine their prototypes to gain an advantage on your next run, as long as they receive a similar ranking.

In terms of enemies, I like the variety between all the levels. They are fun, and each enemy has its own moves and attacks. The AI is pretty good as well. But what I find staggering is the number of techniques and moves available in this game - it keeps you entertained and makes you want to find new combinations to beat the last boss on the fifth level.

The big difference between the first four levels and the fifth level is that the last one has more of an exploration platformer approach - you explore the level, fighting enemies all the way through, and trying to locate the room where the final boss is located.

There is an ongoing story while you move around the facility, but I must admit that I totally switched off after listening to Chinese dialogue for a while. Yes, you can mute it and only read the English translation instead. What I don’t get is that, given that the system voice-over - which includes the video of each character - can be changed to English or Japanese, why don’t we have the ability to listen to English or Japanese dialogue instead of Chinese? If you go to the trouble to do an English voice-over for the system, why don’t you do the same for the story?

The controls are super responsive, and I had absolutely no issues using my Microsoft cordless gamepad. However, I did encounter a few issues with the actual game, such as occasional frame drops and a couple of crashes to the desktop. Thankfully, I didn’t lose anything as the autosaving sent me back to that stage after reloading it.

Great graphics and animations all around, and the soundtrack is more than adequate for the style of the game without being heavy techno or rock.  It is a very addictive and fun game to play.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

BlazBlue Entropy Effect Steam Store page