Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel (PlayStation 4) Review

On the surface, Nitroplus Blasterz is a 2D fighter in the vein of series such as Street Fighter and BlazBlue, with each character having their own fighting styles, special moves, etc. During fights, a meter fills up in the bottom left corner indicating three separate levels of energy. When a meter has filled up, a special attack can be performed, but if the meter is filled up to three levels, then a much more devastating move can be pulled off. However, certain aspects, including the usage of characters and energy acquirement, help the game stand apart from other titles of this type.

Before a fight begins, a combatant must be chosen; afterwards, two other characters have to be selected, and these act as assistants for the player during combat. One character is reserved for the "A" slot and the other for the "B" slot; a character in the "A" slot takes longer to call in, but a character reserved for the "B" slot doesn't take as long. With fourteen primary fighters to choose from and over thirty-two to be selected for help, there is a lot of room for experimentation. Additionally, while most secondary characters assist the player by performing an attack, certain characters, such as Sonico, can provide random benefits to the fighter.

Although a character's special meter can be filled up by fighting and secondary characters' call-in meter takes time to fill up, one way to make things happen more quickly is through the Blast gauge. By pressing R2, this allows the different meters to charge up faster; the catch, however, is that the ability is a one-time technique, and it is rendered unavailable until the next round.

As a whole, the fighting feels solid; as stated earlier, each of the selectable fighters is varied in all of their attacks and abilities. Besides using fists, they may also use different forms of weaponry, including guns, swords, chainsaws, or, for some strange reason, cats. The selection of modes to choose from is fairly standard; there's the story, as well as a secondary story mode that can be unlocked, plus versus, training, and online multiplayer.

Unfortunately, where Nitroplus Blasterz falters the most has to do with its source material, which is both a positive and a detriment. The positive is that the visuals are nice and colourful, but the bad lies in the fact that some of the dialogue and character designs are fairly suggestive, and that the characters, all of which are female, are in the age range of 7-21, doesn't help things at all. This aspect of the game may make some people wary over whether or not they should check it out, but if they are able to look over this one factor, they will discover a relatively enjoyable title.