Bleach: Heat the Soul (series)

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Cover for Bleach: Heat the Soul.
Cover for Bleach: Heat the Soul.

The Bleach: Heat the Soul (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル?) series is a series of 3-D cel-shaded fighting games based on the popular manga and anime series Bleach by Tite Kubo. Each installment is developed by Eighting and published by SCEI. All installments have been released only in Japan.

Each installment has several methods of play, each with different types of game modes. New games have introduced additional modes that usually carry over to the sequels. Using characters taken directly from Bleach manga,[1] the player uses each character's unique abilities to battle and defeat an opponent. New games expand on the series' plotline in "Story Mode" or, as it's known in Heat the Soul 3 and 4, "Mission Mode," which generally stays true to the source material. Because of this, the character roster increases with each installment.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

An example of gameplay from Bleach: Heat the Soul 3.
An example of gameplay from Bleach: Heat the Soul 3.

In each game of the series, the player controls one of many characters directly based upon their Bleach manga counterparts.[1] The player then pits their character against another, usually controlled by the game but this can also be another player depending on the mode being used. The objective of each match is to reduce the opponent's health to zero using basic attacks and special techniques unique to each character and derived from techniques they use in the source material. For instance, Ichigo Kurosaki's use of his Black Getsuga Tenshō (though only while using Ichigo's bankai form) and Rukia Kuchiki's utilization of kidō. For some techniques, characters have available a "spirit gauge," which depletes upon execution. Most techniques are not executed in real time, and instead have an accompanying cinematic that takes place. Furthermore, some characters can transform into certain alternative forms mid-battle, albeit until their spirit gauge is fully drained or the player cancels the transformation. As of Heat the Soul 3, the player may select partner characters to help aid them in battle. Each partner character has different abilities based on their skills from the series. Whereas Heat the Soul 3 allows the selection of up to three partner characters, Heat the Soul 4 only allows two at a time, though the abilities of both can be combined to create more powerful effects.

Each installment introduces new ways of playing through Story Mode. Heat the Soul features a classic story mode, allowing the player to simply relive all the important battles from the beginning of the series. Heat the Soul 2 adds a bit of variety to the original story mode, allowing players to play through each character's individual story.[2] For example, if Ichigo Kurosaki is selected, the player must fight all his battles with the shinigami; if Byakuya Kuchiki is selected, the player must stop Ichigo and his friends from saving Rukia Kuchiki.[2] Heat the Soul 3 no longer uses "Story Mode" but rather "Mission Mode." In Mission Mode, the player must relive the battles of the series, though must meet certain conditions, such as a time limit, before being able to move on. Heat the Soul 4 also uses Mission Mode. Depending on completion time and remaining stamina, the player is awarded a rank of "S" through "C," S being the highest ranking possible.[3] If awarded S or A, a scenario branching occurs.[3]

[edit] Installments

[edit] Bleach: Heat the Soul

Bleach: Heat the Soul (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル?) is the first installment in the Heat the Soul fighting game series, released on March 24, 2005.[4] The theme song for the game is *~Asterisk~ by Orange Range,[citation needed] which also happens to be the original opening theme for the anime. The game has a total of six characters, all of which derived from the Agent of the Shinigami arc. One thing critics seemed to like were the authentic voice-overs during both gameplay and conversation sequences.[5] The voice actors themselves also appeared at the Jump Fiesta event for a live talk show appearance on a mock radio station just months before the game's release.[5] In recent video game books released in North America, tips for this game are here, as well as 2, 3, 4.

[edit] Bleach: Heat the Soul 2

Bleach: Heat the Soul 2 (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル２?) is the second installment in the Heat the Soul series, released on September 1, 2005.[6] The theme song for this game is CHANCE! by UVERworld.[citation needed] Continuing where Heat the Soul left off, the story mode of Heat the Soul 2 ranges from the Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc to the end of the Soul Society: The Rescue arc[2] and features 12 playable characters. As opposed to Heat the Soul's story mode, however, this game allows you to follow the story of the selected character rather than a single, designated plot. For example, if you were to choose Ichigo Kurosaki, you would fight all his battles with the shinigami, whereas if you chose to play as Byakuya Kuchiki, you must stop Ichigo and his friends from saving Rukia Kuchiki.

[edit] Bleach: Heat the Soul 3

Bleach: Heat the Soul 3 (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル３?) is the third installment in the Heat the Soul series, released on July 20, 2006.[7] The game features 34 characters, covering events from the Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc to Ulquiorra Schiffer's introduction at the beginning of The Arrancar arc. Unique to Heat the Soul 3 are "Soul Road" and "Karakura Heroes." In Soul Road, the player is to select the desired character and partner character. Afterwards, the player is set on a board game-like map where the goal is to pass through markers in order to fight enemies. After each match, the player is given an amount of "Trust points" (how many received depends on the mode's difficulty) which go towards leveling up partner characters and unlocking bonuses, such as alternate costumes and new partners.[citation needed] To unlock these bonuses, the player must find a blue marker to turn in their points; however, before doing so, the player must answer a multiple choice question.[citation needed] In Karakura Heroes, the player is put into a humorous side-story, with some extra anime scenes added.[citation needed] Don Kanonji leads a group of shinigami, initially Byakuya Kuchiki and Tōshirō Hitsugaya, on some sort of wacky adventure which involves battling several other characters. At the mode's completion, a scene shows the gang relaxing at an expensive hotel, doing activities that in some way fit their personalities and/or abilities (for example, Hitsugaya snowboarding).

[edit] Bleach: Heat the Soul 4

Example gameplay from Heat the Soul 4.
Example gameplay from Heat the Soul 4.

Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル４?) is the fourth installment in the Heat the Soul series, released on May 24, 2007.[8] The game features 51 characters, covering events from The Arrancar arc to the entrance into Hueco Mundo.

Unlike its predecessors, Heat the Soul 4 features a "Character Master" mode. In it, the player chooses a character and goes through a series of five battles and is usually faced with certain conditions, such as using only grab to inflict damage, in order to finish the battle. After the third and final battles, a multiple answer question posed by the character must be answered. Depending on the answer, the player is either rewarded 200 points, 50 points, or nothing. For each battle won, a random number of experience points will be added to the character's total. As the level grows higher, bonuses such as voice tests and alternate costumes can be unlocked.[3] The player is also given 100 points per battle; these go towards unlocking more characters and stages.


[edit] Bleach: Heat the Soul 5

Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 (ＢＬＥＡＣＨ：ヒート・ザ・ソウル５?) is the latest installment in the Heat the Soul series based on Tite Kubo's Bleach, released on May, 15th 2008 in Japan.[citation needed] New features include a "Tag Action" system and a new way for releasing zanpakutō. Transformations such as bankai are now made when 2 bars of reiatsu is obtained and then pressing the L button, rather than selecting a characters Bankai form before a fight. There also seems to be 3 styles of tag action: offensive, defensive and technical. There is also a game mode called Tag Master, which lets you choose 2 characters to fight with in a series of fights. The system also includes specials which use the tagged partner's abilities.

The game features 31 characters usable in Tag Battle mode, while extra characters can be obtained with Bleach: heat the soul 4 game save through game convertion. However, these characters are only usable in single mode with no in-game transformation. They are selected through a separate menu accessible by pressing L/R in the normal character menu.

[edit] Playable characters

The characters in the Heat the Soul series are directly based upon characters taken from Bleach. As a new installment is released, new characters are added to the character selection. With Heat the Soul 4 set between Shinji Hirako's introduction and the entrance into Hueco Mundo, "normal" characters originate from The Arrancar arc and later, while "EX" forms, as they're known in the game, are from the Soul Society: The Rescue arc.

To avoid confusion, all characters will be referred to as they are in the most recent installment in the series, Heat the Soul 5. It also appears that most (if not all) characters can change forms during battle. For example, Hollow Ichigo and Ichigo can start out a match with shikai and end it with bankai when they have enough spiritual pressure.

Fighter 1 2 3 4 5
Aaroniero Arruruerie NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[9]
Byakuya Kuchiki (bankai) NoN NoN YesY[10] YesY[11] YesY[9]
Byakuya Kuchiki (shikai) NoN YesY[2] YesY YesY YesY[9]
Cirucci Thunderwitch NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[9]
Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio NoN NoN NoN NoN[12] YesY
Gantenbainne Mosqueda NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[13]
Gin Ichimaru NoN NoN NoN YesY[14] YesY
Gin Ichimaru EX NoN YesY[15] YesY YesY NoN
Grimmjow Jeagerjaques NoN NoN NoN YesY[12] YesY
Grimmjow Jeagerjaques (Pantera) NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[16]
Hiyori Sarugaki NoN NoN NoN YesY[17] YesY[9]
Hiyori Sarugaki(with Vizard's mask) NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY
Ichigo Kurosaki (bankai) NoN NoN YesY[10] YesY[14] YesY
Ichigo Kurosaki (inner hollow shikai) NoN NoN NoN[10] NoN[14] YesY
Ichigo Kurosaki (inner hollow bankai) NoN NoN YesY[10] YesY[14] YesY
Ichigo Kurosaki (shikai) NoN YesY[2] YesY[10] YesY YesY
Ichigo Kurosaki (substitute shinigami) YesY[18] NoN YesY YesY NoN
Ikkaku Madarame NoN NoN NoN YesY[19] YesY[9]
Ikkaku Madarame (bankai) NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[9]
Izuru Kira NoN NoN YesY[1] YesY[20] YesY
Jūshirō Ukitake NoN NoN YesY YesY[20] YesY
Kaname Tōsen NoN NoN NoN YesY[14] YesY
Kenpachi Zaraki NoN NoN YesY YesY[11] YesY
Kisuke Urahara NoN YesY YesY YesY[21] YesY
Kensei Muguruma NoN NoN NoN YesY[17] YesY
Lisa Yadōmaru NoN NoN NoN YesY[17] YesY
Luppi NoN NoN NoN YesY[12] YesY
Mayuri Kurotsuchi NoN YesY YesY YesY[11] YesY
Momo Hinamori NoN NoN YesY[1] YesY[20] YesY
Nanao Ise NoN NoN YesY YesY[20] YesY
Nel Tu NoN NoN NoN YesY[12] YesY[22]
Neliel Tu Oderschvank NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY
Nemu Kurotsuchi NoN NoN YesY YesY[20] YesY
Nnoitra Jiruga NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[23]
Orihime Inoue NoN NoN NoN YesY[19] YesY[9]
Orihime Inoue EX YesY[18] YesY YesY YesY NoN
Rangiku Matsumoto NoN NoN YesY YesY[21] YesY[9]
Renji Abarai (bankai) NoN NoN YesY[10] YesY[21] YesY
Renji Abarai (shikai) YesY[18] YesY YesY YesY YesY
Rukia Kuchiki (gigai) YesY[18] YesY YesY YesY YesY
Rukia Kuchiki (shikai) NoN NoN YesY YesY[19] YesY
Sajin Komamura NoN NoN YesY YesY[11] YesY
Szayel Aporro Granz NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[9]
Senna NoN NoN NoN NoN[11] YesY
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai NoN NoN YesY YesY[11] YesY
Shinji Hirako NoN NoN NoN YesY[17] YesY[9]
Shinji Hirako (with Vizard's mask) NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY
Shunsui Kyōraku NoN NoN YesY YesY[11] YesY
Shūhei Hisagi NoN NoN YesY YesY[20] YesY
Soifon NoN NoN YesY[1] YesY[11] YesY
Sōjirō Kusaka NoN NoN NoN NoN[11] YesY
Sōsuke Aizen NoN NoN NoN YesY[14] YesY
Sōsuke Aizen EX NoN NoN YesY YesY NoN
Tōshirō Hitsugaya (bankai) NoN NoN YesY YesY[21] YesY
Tōshirō Hitsugaya (shikai) NoN YesY[2] YesY YesY YesY
Ulquiorra Schiffer NoN NoN YesY YesY[12] YesY
Uryū Ishida NoN NoN NoN YesY[19] YesY
Uryū Ishida Seele Schneider NoN NoN NoN NoN[19] YesY
Uryū Ishida EX YesY[18] YesY[15] YesY YesY NoN
Uryū Ishida Final Form NoN NoN YesY YesY NoN
Yammy NoN NoN NoN YesY[12] YesY
Yasutora Sado NoN NoN NoN YesY[19] YesY
Yasutora Sado (Brazo Izquierda del Diablo ) NoN NoN NoN NoN YesY[13]
Yasutora Sado EX YesY[18] YesY[15] YesY YesY NoN
Yachiru Kusajishi NoN NoN YesY YesY[20] YesY
Yoruichi Shihouin NoN YesY YesY[1] YesY[21] YesY
Yumichika Ayasegawa NoN NoN NoN YesY[19] YesY

[edit] Reception

Since the series has yet to see a release date outside of Japan, reviews on the Heat the Soul series from major English video game publications are scarce.

Heat the Soul has received mixed reactions from both critics and fans, some praising the likeness to the original media while others lambasting the limited character selection. IGN, a major English video game publication, refers to the fighting as "pretty basic stuff," though enjoys seeing the similarity to the series and hearing the original voice actors.[5] While GameSpot has not reviewed and rated Heat the Soul themselves, several members of the site have taken the liberty, their ratings averaging up to 8.3/10.[24] Most members criticise the short story mode and limited character selection, but otherwise give the game above-average reviews.[24] Though an official rating has not been posted on the site due to lack of reviews received, Metacritic, a website that compiles scores from numerous video game publications, gave Heat the Soul an average score of 60/100 based on a single review from ComputerAndVideoGames.com.[25][26] In the full review, they praise the visuals as being "at least superficially impressive," though were disappointed with the in-game cutscenes as they "tend to shimmer and pixellate as you zoom out."[27] Another problem they had was the lack of a big interest in the fighting, claiming "[fans] won't be massively impressed with the underpowered altercations" when comparing Heat the Soul to other fighting games, such as Soul Calibur II.[27]

Reviews for Heat the Soul 2 were a bit more positive than those for Heat the Soul. GameBrink gave Heat the Soul 2 a 77/100, giving all fields (gameplay, graphics, sound, and overall, respectively) a 7.75/10.[15] They praised the game's larger character roster and more appealing graphics, though were somewhat disappointed at the similar gameplay and sound, claiming "[s]ound should affect the gameplay so that it feels fast and on the edge."[2]

[edit] See also

Anime and manga Portal
Video games Portal

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f Alfonso, Andrew (2006-08-01). Bleach: Heat The Soul 3 Hands-on - Page 1. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bleach Heat the Soul 2 (Japan) - Page 2. GameBrink. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  3. ^ a b c (2007) Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 control guide (in Japanese, English). SCEI. 
  4. ^ Bleach: Heat the Soul. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  5. ^ a b c Hands On: Bleach. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  6. ^ Bleach: Heat the Soul 2. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  7. ^ Bleach: Heat the Soul 3. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  8. ^ Bleach: Heat the Soul 4. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k {{cite web|url=http://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/bleach/heat5.htm|title=Bleach: Heat The Soul 5 Official Roster Page (Rukia video)>
  10. ^ a b c d e f Alfonso, Andrew (2006-08-01). Bleach: Heat The Soul 3 Hands-on - Page 2. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 46. 
  12. ^ a b c d e f (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 38-39. 
  13. ^ a b {{cite web|url=http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s315/destinatorMH/Bleach%20HTS5/bleachsj3.jpg|title=Bleach: Heat The Soul 5>
  14. ^ a b c d e f (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 36-37. 
  15. ^ a b c d Bleach Heat the Soul 2 (Japan) - Page 1. GameBrink. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  16. ^ {{cite web|url=http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9940/dsc00006we3.jpg|title=Bleach: Heat The Soul 5>
  17. ^ a b c d (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 40-41. 
  18. ^ a b c d e f Bleach: Heat the Soul official site (Japanese). SCEI. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 42-43. 
  20. ^ a b c d e f g (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 47. 
  21. ^ a b c d e (2007) in SCEI: Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 Japanese instruction manual (in Japanese). SCEI, 44-45. 
  22. ^ {{cite web|url=hhttp://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t318/HolyDragonFire/?action=view&current=snap084.jpg|title=Neliel in Bleach: Heat The Soul 5>
  23. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/bleach/heat5/ |title="Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 Official Website">
  24. ^ a b Bleach: Heat the Soul. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  25. ^ Bleach: Heat the Soul (psp: 2005): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  26. ^ While two reviews are listed for Bleach: Heat the Soul, the first is for its sequel, Bleach: Heat the Soul 2, and thus should not count towards the total average.
  27. ^ a b Bleach: Beat the Soul. Computer and Video Games (2005-08-19). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.

[edit] External links

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