Game review: Bleach rebirth of souls (Xbox Series X)

Bleach has existed as both a manga and an anime for many years now; however, it's a franchise that I haven't taken notice of much until now. I knew about the franchise, but I never watched an episode of the anime and didn't bother picking up any of its games too. 

As a complete novice of Bleach, I am glad to say though that Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a good entry point for beginners like me to finally become a fan of the franchise. This is mainly because this game has an excellent story mode that summarises the events of the franchise's most important story arcs. 

I remember not liking some Dragon Ball games in the past because they featured the same old story from the anime all of the time. It wasn't until recently that Dragon Ball games finally featured the newer stories from the likes of Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima. 

I cannot comment on what the story mode is like for veteran Bleach fans, but I was instantly hooked. I'm pretty sure the game skips over some of the manga/anime filler episodes, but the story is told well enough in the game for someone like me to understand the characters and their motivations. 

If you are unfamiliar with Bleach, the series centres around a 15-year-old Japanese student named Ichigo Kurosaki who is a normal human, but he has the ability to see demons. He doesn't gain powers until a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki gifts him her abilities to kill a huge demon named a 'Hollow' attacking his family and neighbourhood. 

I've been talking about Bleach itself, but I forgot to mention what type of game Bleach Rebirth of Souls is. Well, Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a one-on-one fighting game similar to that of the recently released Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero because both titles focus on over-the-shoulder gameplay. 

Another thing both games share in common is that there are no rounds and each fighter does not have only one life bar. Instead, there's only one long round taking place because each fighter has multiple life bars. Some fights can take a long time to finish, but the fights are always exhilarating if you're playing against another skilled player. 

The key to winning this game is to use basic skills to deplete your enemy's life bar until you get a chance to initiate something called a 'Soul Break' by pressing the right trigger on Xbox consoles. When you use a 'Soul Break', this permanently depletes a large amount of the enemy's life bar. 

Each character has different sorts of abilities that range from attacks or even reversals. The reversal I love to use most is the one where you can teleport behind the opponent. Not to mention you don't have to remember complicated combos or button combinations because many of the characters all have the same controls most of the time. 

This game is also generous with the number of people you can play because there is a total of 32 playable characters at launch. The characters have different weapons and abilities so you won't get bored with trying all of them out. I cannot comment on which characters are missing from the game, but future DLC may be coming.

In terms of game modes, Bleach Rebirth of Souls has enough content to satisfy both offline and online gamers. There's Tutorial, Training, Versus, Missions, and Story for offline content. Online multiplayer includes Free Match and Room Match too. 

There's even a Store where you can purchase upgrades to use during the Story mode. Lastly, there's Extras which has an Achievement list, Movie Gallery, Sound Gallery, and even a Glossary. 

While Bleach Rebirth of Souls is mostly an enjoyable fighting game, some glaring flaws are hard to ignore. For one thing, this game looks horribly outdated for an anime game especially when compared to Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. 

The background items look pixelated and some of the story cutscenes are of a low quality. The story animation lacks the detail and finesse that I've seen other anime video games have used in the past. I also played this game on Xbox Series X, so I expect much better graphics!

I also did some research and found out that the game has many technical issues and bugs if you are playing the Steam version of the game. Thankfully, the Xbox Series X version is mostly fine aside from one crash that I experienced. If you are playing on PC, it's best to wait until future patches fix up the game. 

Some online players will also hate the fact that there's no crossplay and a ranked mode either. People like playing Ranked if they want to only play against skilled players. As for crossplay, this has become a universal standard with most other recent video games. 

Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a fine one-on-one fighting game that summarises some of the best parts of the franchise's story. The gameplay is also engaging and fun to play once you get accustomed to its combat system. It's just sad to mention that some glaring flaws somewhat ruin the whole experience. 

Verdict: 7.0/10