Info about Anime
Bleach: The 3rd Phantom
Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is the third installment the DS series, but the forth Bleach title overall. Fans of the anime series will certainly appreciate this title… it’s undoubtedly the best of the bunch.
The Bleach story is all about spirits of the dead. Some people have left their spirits behind after dying, and it is the job of the Spirit Reapers to guide souls to the afterlife, or destroy evil souls (called hollows) and send them to their rightful place. Hollows do not pose a danger to the living but rather consume and destroy innocent spirits.
The Soul Reapers’ job is like that of the “grim reaper” only there is a lot more of them. Ichigo Kurosaki, the star of the anime show, accidentally became a Soul Reaper when using his great amount of spirit power to help defend his sisters from being destroyed by a hollow… and an injured soul reaper present needed help.
This is where the anime series starts and the movies follow soon after. The 3rd Phantom starts before this point and jumps to just after it, and continues the saga. Most fans of the anime will love the title based on the fact that they will be told more of the Bleach story, particularly before Ichigo became a Soul Reaper.
This is a turn based strategy game where the player controls Soul Reapers in order to fight against the growing hollow threat. New Soul Reaper abilities are revealed to the player as the story progresses, and extra character slots are also unlocked. Only after finishing the title does Bleach Tower mode become unlocked, in which the squad is able to continue leveling and the player can unlock more special characters.
The game draws the story out and, although there is no Japanese dialogue, the player is still required to read everything that is said in the game. It shouldn’t bother anime-lovers too much, but may prove irksome to others. Not taking advantage of the specific save opportunities may add to any frustration this result in. If one of the members in the party dies, then all the reading that was covered will be required again, not to mention that unsaved fights will have to be fought again.
It does get a bit much, so to save the player from committing Zanpakuto suicide, a press of the X button during the conversations will skip sections. One thing that the game must be praised for is the fact that the characters are the same as the anime, even down to the bankai and their attack motions. Even the voice excerpts used in the game are from the original characters. To make things better, all the characters from the first 100 episodes are available to be unlocked and added to the player’s squad.
Despite the fact that the graphics are good, the same cut scene stills are used repeatedly and, sadly, they get a bit tired before long.
With over 30 hours of game play, the story is long and engrossing. However, most of this time is taken up by reading, and most players will only take on the story mode in order to unlock new characters and items. Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is a must-have for any fan of the anime… and who knows, it might even get the series new viewers.
At A Glance
A surprising deep game, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is a must-have title for fans of the anime series.
Developer: SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Distributor: Nu Metro
Platform:
DS