Each character you play as receives a storyline based around them having amnesia and battling different foes to learn about themselves. When you start a battle you are treated with a short cutscene of your character confronting the foe you’re about to fight. The cutscenes are in Japanese with English subtitles. Unfortunately the subtitles do not continue during battle where your character tends to mock their foe at the end of each round which I would have liked to have understood. This is but a minor complaint, however. Each character interacts with one another differently, which keeps individuality in the game and encourages replay value. As someone with no knowledge of Nitroplus I found that upon completing one story with a character, you’ll want to play as someone else to piece together the whole story. It’s a good introduction to the company if you are unfamiliar with the characters. The difficulty of the foes you fight in the story mode starts off fairly easy, but quickly becomes very challenging. You do receive unlimited continues, however, which is an added bonus if you are like myself and tend to lack strategy in fighting games thus failing on a number of times. You can tell Nitroplus Blasterz originated as an arcade fighter due to the simple 2D animation throughout the game. There were points in the game where I felt it would work quite well on a mobile platform as some of the fighter animations would skip between frames, looking a little choppy. You really get a grasp of traditional Japanese anime in this game. Cutscenes are made up of still images with voice overs played over the top. As I mentioned before the voice overs are in Japanese, so you receive English or Japanese subtitles depending on what you select upon start-up of the game. The narrator at the start of battle sounds like a child and I assume it’s meant to be Super Sonico introducing the fighters to the round. During battle gameplay the fighters stand out vividly against the dark-toned scenery of the backgrounds, which play homage to company Nitroplus’ dark style of games that they are renowned for. Nitroplus Blasterz also offers a two player and online mode alongside the story which allows you to play with friends and strangers across the world. It’s always entertaining to play with friends. The battles can become pretty intense and overcrowded when you and your partner decide to use an assist move at the same time. Considering some of the assist characters summon a band of four or more people to start messing with your fighter it can be very entertaining to watch!! As well as fighting online you also have the opportunity to post your ranking from the Story mode online to boast to everyone about how good a fighter you are. Overall Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel is easy enough for anyone to pick up and play. For those knowing the series you will have the upper hand upon knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each character and get the most out of the game, however for anyone looking for a quick beat ‘em up to have a go at, don’t be deterred away from this fighter. It is thoroughly entertaining and will keep you busy for many hours. If you are looking for a reasonably priced fighter game, then don’t hesitate to consider this title.
By @MadHatLuce 07/04/16
Originating as an arcade fighter in Japan, Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel has now been ported onto PS3 and PS4. The anime beat ‘em up was developed by the company Examu, whom are better known for their work on the Arcana Heart series. Nitroplus brings a collaboration of characters from the Japanese video game company of the same name together in one game to duel out against one another. The game starts out with an introductory music video which you can skip over to get to the menu if you wish. On my first run through the game I decided to watch the video, as I’m a bit of a fan of J-Pop music. The opening credits play out like the opening to any popular anime and introduces you to the individual characters you’ll get to play as along the way. Nitroplus Blasterz plays as many fighters before it- you select a fighter in story mode and progress through each opponent to claim highest rank overall. Nitroplus Blasterz allows you to play two character’s story modes at the same time, however, which is useful. You can easily flip between the two stories you are playing out on the main menu screen. As the game’s title suggests the character roster is made up of all female fighters. There are 14 main fighters to choose from as well as 19 sub-characters, who act as summon characters that aid you during. Upon dabbling at some research, I learnt that one of the main fighters you can choose from is a girl called Super Sonico whom originated as a mascot character for Nitroplus. Until this point in her gaming history, she was not ever available as a playable character. She also pops up from time to time throughout the game to give hints and tops. After selecting your main fighter you have the benefit of choosing an outfit for your character to wear. There are at least ten different outfits per fighter to choose from. They don’t change the style of fighting for that character but merely act as a form of aesthetics. The gameplay is simple and invites anyone to pick up and play. You have basic buttons to control listed from light, medium and heavy attacks with the use of escape actions also. When playing I found myself using a combination of medium attacks and escape actions, which would unlock your chosen sub-characters’ assist moves. You can only select assist moves once your secondary character’s charge meter fills, however. This fills up pretty quickly, however, and there is no limit to the amount of times you can summon them.
Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel is out now on PS4, & PS3