The Last Blade ~Beyond the Destiny~ review by Bluefour

I've been wanting this one for a while and now I've got it. The second NGPC (well 3rd if you count SS!1) slasher bears some resemblences to SS!2 but is overall quite different and a bit more polished. There are 14 characters, many scrolls to unlock, and two mini-games to up the replay value. Scrolls unlock texts, endings, power ups, characters, artwork, and 2 mini-games.

Note: This is a review of the Japanese version

Graphics:B+
The graphics are good. As usual the characters animate well. There are many different character animations, several win poses, etc, but the characters in this game aren't very colorfull. (A bit too much blue and red for me) The backgrounds are great. They are well detailed and some even animate. My favorite has to be the waterfall stage with the water rushing in the background. The non animated stages are well done too. They have nice detail. The backgrounds aren't quite as big as in some NGPC fighters though. There are some cool effects when you do some supers, and other special moves.

Gameplay:A
Some people are saying that this game plays slowly, but I disagree. The action seems to move pretty fast. The parry system is more effecient than the one in SS!2 and therefor plays a bigger role in the gameplay. After you choose your character you choose speed, or power mode. (There is also a hidden EX mode) Speed mode puts more emphasis on stringing together combos. You can do regular supers (DMs), a special super combo chain, and overhead attacks in this mode. Power mode is less comboable, but lets you do unblockable attacks, Super Desperation Moves (SDMs), and super cancels. (where you cancel a special into a super) The 14 characters and different modes provide a nice variety in gameplay. The two minigames are a fun diversion. One is a baseball game and the other a strange flying game.

Sound: B-
The effects seem to be borrowed from SS!2. I like the music, its nice and suits the game perfectly.

Importability: B-
The regular menus are all in english, (1 Player, Story, Options, etc) but the scroll menus are in Japanes, so its a guessing game as to what scrolls you are buying. No where in the game does it say the characters' names so I suggest you look at their gifs over a S:NGP to figure them out. Remember that red is power mode, blue is speed, and green is EX. As usual you lose the story, but since its a fighter thats not particularly important.

Overall: A
Another fighter you can't go wrong with. Great gameplay, nice graphics, and plenty of extras. The only problem is the lack of a English mode. You can either go to a lot of trouble and get the European English version, or easily get the Japanese version.