BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend Out Now
Mouthful of melee
BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend [official site] is the video game equivalent of She Sells Sea-shells on the Seashore. Go on, say it three times out loud as fast as you can without tripping over your tongue - it's Friday, I'm sure your boss/teacher/lecturer/cat will understand. And while you struggle with that let me tell you that Arc's revised fighting game is now out on PC, bringing with it a new exclusive mode and a fistful of features previously sold as DLC on its console and handheld editions.
BlazBlue, for those unawares, is made by Arc System Works - they of Guilty Gear fame - and does a splendid job of merging lightning-fast, combo-heavy fisticuffs, with some wonderful anime cutscenes.
Chronophantasma Extend adds to the story of the original Chrono Phantasma with balancing across all modes, tweaks to its network system, updates to the in-fight Barrier Gauge meter, and the introduction of two new fighters, bringing the total number of playable characters up to 28, among other things which can all be found here. One of the newbs, Celica A. Mercury, comes with a brand new stage named Ishana, the land of memories. Should all that serve to overwhelm, though, the PC-exclusive CP Mode lets you play under the original Chronophantasma's balance the versus, Training and Network player match modes.
I've only ever dipped in and out of BlazBlue over the years however have always had fun - both in understanding its fighting mechanics and in trying to work out exactly what's going on. Which is pretty much how I feel about this lovely trailer:
Oh, and for even more BlazBlue-ness, a prequel visual novel thingymajig also popped up recently, should that be something you're interested in.
BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend is out now on Steam for the reduced price of £20.69.