For newcomers, the introductory voiceover at the beginning of every Bleach: Soul Resureccion level might as well be gibberish. This is a videogame that plunders from a licence with a vast array of characters, plotlines and intertwining worlds, with a tome of narrative intricacies that it does precisely nothing to explain. If the words Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki mean nothing to you, or if you’re baffled by the terms Espadas, Aizen, Hueco Mundo or the Soul Reapers; please look them up before you begin playing. In fact, do whatever you can to watch the Anime or read the Manga, as there’s every chance that the majority of this Dynasty Warriors clone will fall completely flat otherwise.

The story mode takes shape as a series of ‘episodes’ that are set throughout the timeline of the Anime series, with each showcasing a specific battle or defining moment from the narrative. A couple of paragraphs worth of text and the occasional mid-battle voiceover or cutscene advance the action without pause or production value, and it’s usually easier to just give up on the plot altogether and focus on little else but hacking the enemies set before you. For fans, there will be a kick involved with attempting to halt the villainous Aizen from invading the world of the living, but without that all-important grounding, the majority of the content in Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a fast-paced blur without any context.

It can be pretty

Each of those stages revolves around a linear series of sparsely-decorated combat arenas, chained together to form a lengthy map. Wave upon wave of enemies pour into each of these sequences, and dispatching them is pure Dynasty Warriors hack and slash action from beginning to end. All of the characters in Bleach have a face-button control set that maps to jump, attack, and two “pressure” moves that usually correspond to a ranged projectile and an area-damage manoeuvre. Utilising either of those two depletes an ever-refilling spiritual pressure gauge, whilst L2 activates an “ignition” attack, which is the most devastating and visually arresting combat move in the whole experience. Unsurprisingly, those are best used sparingly and saved for boss encounters, as the Ignition meter takes a hell of a long time to refill.

As basic as it is, chaining combo attacks from that moveset is fairly satisfying, with a decent flow to the combat and a good variety of animation on offer. The depth of the system is quickly exposed after an hour’s worth of play however, and a general lack of difficulty means that wailing on the square button is usually the only necessary tactic to proceed. Whilst each of the enemies is beautifully designed and brought to life (ranging from swarms of tiny creatures through to the spectacular three-story tall Menos Grande), they rarely require any action outside of blocking, attacking and waiting for defences to drop. Boss battles are generally simplistic and dependant on similar sequences, and despite a couple of spots that ramp up the challenge, they’re also an easy prospect for the most part.

To counter somewhat for that lack of depth, Bleach also introduces some light RPG elements with which to customise each of your protagonists. Between bouts you’ll be able to spend your experience points on a Final Fantasy X style grid, unlocking attack, defence and other bonuses to squeeze whatever challenge was left into non-existence. There are also various other unlocks placed on the game board to activate with your combo-multiplier driven currency, but even just sticking to the basics results in a vast roster of hugely-powerful combatants with which to polish off the story and eventually tackle the extraneous game modes.

Cutscenes are few and far between

And speaking of which; there aren’t that many. Outside of the campaign, “Mission” mode tasks you with running through difficult standalone battles in the same familiar environments, with the only twist coming in the form of an occasional time limit or gameplay modifier. Blasting through a portion of those challenges eventually unlocks the ability to upload scores online in a separate mode for the hardcore, but - besides the usual gallery of character models and unlocks - that’s about it for Soul Resurreccion’s long-term appeal.

Despite those drawbacks however, Bleach is at least partially rescued throughout by its visuals, as they sport a clean and precise cel-shaded style that echoes its source material fantastically well. In action it can be quite an impressive concoction, with animation that captures a sense of flair and a camera that dynamically alters for dramatic effect when certain crushing attacks are executed. The sparse environments make sense here, with minimalist worlds serving to thrust the colourful character designs and animation to the front and center. The drive to see what’s around the next corner is pretty strong as a result, and whilst it’s not always a lot more than window-dressing, it nevertheless entertains sufficiently to keep you going. It’s just a little too shallow for comfort.

Best Game Moment: Unleashing your first Ignition attack.