Hi all! In 2007, illustrator Ryohei Fukuya posted on his blog an image of the character that spawned an entire franchise called Black Rock Shooter. To date, a video, one OVA, two manga and two series have been released, with the latter broadcasting from April 3 this year. But now I would like to focus on the game Black Rock Shooter: The Game, released in Japan on August 25, 2011 for PlayStation Portable. Two years later, it even received an additional release in the USA and Europe and thus entered the list of games released at the end of sales of PlayStation Portable consoles.
12 is better than 0
As for the plot of Black Rock Shooter: The Game, there is a style characteristic of this franchise, when the story is original and connected with previous works only by the image of the main character. So, in 2032 AD, the Earth was captured by mechanical aliens led by a group of 15 creatures, which became known as the apostles. Various scientists came together and created creatures called Black Rock Shooter, which were able to resist the alien army. Unfortunately, many of them turned out to be defective, and the last unit was awakened from stasis in 2051 by special forces soldiers who had already fought for a long time in this hopeless war. There were only 12 men, and they were the last representatives of humanity.
The squad believed and hoped that the main character BRS could free their world. True, at first she was not aware of the events taking place and did not even understand who the enemies were: people or robots, because no one purposefully attacked her. As the plot progresses, BRS, as far as possible, joins the team of brave soldiers and tries to help, using all his firepower. In addition, BRS is interested in events before suspended animation, and at a certain point in the story she finds someone who helps her answer all her questions.
The game quite competently showed how the character of the main character changes. After communicating with the squad, BRS turns from an emotionless creature into a more interactive and sociable one, trying to take care of her allies. At some points he even jokes, and it turns out beautifully and not far-fetched.
During the passage the player will visit six locations: San Francisco, New York, Moscow, Aokigahara, Tokyo and the Moon. Each of them represents one chapter, in turn divided into several missions. Despite the fact that Black Rock Shooter: The Game is approximately 10-12 hours long, it has multiple endings. Moreover, to achieve a good one you need to complete certain tasks that are given before the start of each mission. Some of them can be closed in one go, while others require a repeated run through the location. Fortunately, here the developers made concessions and cut out all the dialogues, thereby reducing the time for various loadings.
With her sliding gait she broke everyone’s blocks
Outside of battles, the player can explore the territory at the current location. Although the maps are corridor maps, there are hidden places. Basically, they hide chests with various first aid kits or save beacons, which also restore all health after interacting with them.
The battle itself begins when the BRS collides with an enemy model. Battles take place in real time. In the lower right corner are the health and overheating bars for BRS weapons. Once the last bar is filled to 100%, the BRS will go into a stupor and will not be able to move, defend or attack until the gun cools down to 0%. So it’s better not to bring it to the maximum value, because the enemies hit quite painfully.
In addition, the game rewards you if you dodge rather than block. The first method completely eliminates any incoming damage, so it is better to use it, but it is worth remembering that such maneuvers also cause overheating. However, there are additional complications. BRS movements are limited to jerking left and right. There are no jumps or forward lunges here. Well, since you don’t go towards the enemies, they will gradually approach your position.
The number of attackers https://lionslotsonlinecasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ varies from one to three, and if there is an enemy special device in the form of a tower, then the dead are replaced with a new batch of exactly the same type. All ordinary units can be divided into the following types:
The latter include both mini bosses (whose size is not so small) and the main antagonists, the apostles. And if ordinary opponents may seem weak, then the higher the rank of the apostle, the harder you will have to work.
Each of them has original techniques and attacks. Fights with them are much more dynamic, and it is often difficult to guess which skill will be used against the main character. Plus, all apostles are able to move to the next stage of strengthening when they are about to give up their soul. So you won’t get bored with them, and some characters were prescribed for them to increase the atmosphere.
Achievements for promotion
In the upper right part of the screen are the names of super moves used during the battle. You can equip a maximum of four varieties. Some super moves activate a powerful blow or shot, while the rest increase attack, defense, enable regeneration or slow down the overheating process. In addition to them, there are also passive skills based on randomness. For example, there is a 10% chance that attacks or dodges will not cause subsequent overheating, or with a 15% chance the BRS will restore 25% of its health.
What active and passive skills can be obtained by completing the special achievements that I previously mentioned. For the most part they are simple, but tedious. The player will be ordered to kill the nth number of monsters, and after completing this order a certain reward will be given. Fully leveling up BRS will require going through some chapters several times, but if you don’t want to do this, then a standard set of equipment will be more than enough.
It is also worth noting that before the start of the mission you can choose one of the costumes that increases some of the main character’s parameters, and in the middle of the battle the player is allowed to call up a small inventory menu. At the same time, a pause is turned on, and no one will stop you from choosing this or that first aid kit or amplifier that is worth using in the current battle.
The game also has a motorcycle ride mode. The funny thing is that it is very similar to the pursuit race from Tiger & Bunny On Air Jack! Let me make a small analogy. In Tiger & Bunny, the heroes chase a criminal along a three-lane highway, while simultaneously dodging cars and shots from the person being pursued. Moreover, it is necessary to avoid collisions almost to the millimeter. For such risks they give high rating points, and energy is accumulated for acceleration.
Black Rock Shooter: The Game has the same three-lane track, cars are replaced with robots, and acceleration and rating are replaced with animation of shooting from a machine gun. There is no need to chase anyone, but time is limited, so you definitely need to save up energy for a super move, destroying enemies at the moment of evasion from a very close distance.
So we get a full-fledged redesign of an already finished product. And that’s not bad at all. The motorcycle mode refreshes the game, and it’s even a pity that they didn’t do something similar with the plane that was piloted by BRS in some animated cutscenes.
Graphically the game is quite good. There are many videos on the game engine itself, the animations are high-quality and smooth. Even in battles with apostles, special finishing techniques are activated, allowing you to effectively put an end to the confrontation. The earthly world is gloomy and destroyed, which is inherent in the apocalypse. Against the background, the main characters and apostles stand out with the help of bright colors on their clothes, thereby expressing their difference from earthly people.
The musical component also does not disappoint. The compositions do not get boring and are used exactly in the form in which the environment requires. All dialogues are fully voiced, and the seiyuus act out emotions as closely as possible, so even in short dialogues there is no falsity or overacting.
It’s nicer in Antarctica than in the forest
Well, if you pay attention to the disadvantages, the first thing that catches your eye is the design of ordinary aliens. Most units differ only in color. They didn’t even try to diversify their attacks. This can lead to the player quickly becoming bored with repetitive tasks of destroying aliens to unlock new skills.
It’s funny, but the first half of the plot is not particularly compelling, and somehow it’s more interesting to watch the story of the main character than the soldiers of the special squad. They tried to make them alive by adding a large number of dialogues about their past life, preferences and plans for the future. Even in one of the missions it is mandatory to approach and talk to each comrade in arms.
And the main problem here is that their already small screen time is biased towards only one soldier, who communicates with the BRS most often. Perhaps, when choosing a partner for a mission, there would be a chance to remember other characters. By the way, they also have template features. There is a silent man, an Asian and, of course, a Russian named Alexey. It’s a pity that the latter has few lines when the squad arrives in snowy Moscow, which looks more like Antarctica.
And if you don’t have time to really become attached to the characters, then what will definitely be remembered is the dreary and stupid location in the Japanese forest. Corridor locations have been turned into a labyrinth, where you first need to run in one direction, then go back and move in the other direction. Feel free to multiply all this by three and add constantly appearing enemies.
After this mission, all desire to play further may disappear. The only thing that saves you from this disaster is dodging enemies before the battle screen loads. That is, the player can simply run past unnecessary battles and go purposefully to the point where the plot will advance.
The last minus should be attributed to the choice of lines in dialogues. It doesn’t affect anything at all. There are at most a couple of funny moments when BRS, instead of giving a serious answer, starts pretending or making fun. The importance of choice is completely absent here
In conclusion, we can say that at the end of the PlayStation Portable sales, players received a pretty good product of above average quality. If you don’t bother with unlocking all the skills and just ride the wave that moves the plot, then you won’t have time to get bored of Black Rock Shooter: The Game. For such a short running time, everything in it works correctly and smoothly. This game is especially suitable for an evening distraction when you don’t want to dive into a deep story, and the gameplay is structured in such a way that you don’t need to use high skills to complete.
