The Last Blade 2

The Last Blade 2 is a conversion of SNK's classic two-dimensional fighting game, which was originally released in 1998 on popular arcade machines, and in the following years also found its way to home consoles Neo-Geo and SEGA Dreamcast. At the end of 2012, the original version of The Last Blade 2 was made available to Nintendo Wii owners as part of the Virtual Console service. Compared to it, the described version is a full-fledged port of the original, prepared by the team at Code Mystics. Although their work has resulted in a game very faithful to the original, it has been adapted to the requirements of the modern generation of consoles and enriched with the option of online gameplay via PSN.

Story

The action of the game is set in a world combining elements of medieval Japan with fantasy and mythology. For this reason, the characters - although they refer to history and have typical historical weapons - have also been endowed with extraordinary special skills. Story of The Last Blade 2 revolves around two opposing worlds - the living and the dead - and an attempt to close the portal that connects them. This story takes place one year after the events of The Last Blade and continues the threads started in the first installment of the series.

Mechanics

The mechanics of The Last Blade 2 do not differ much from the first installment of the series, as well as other popular fighting games from that period - with Street Fighter itself at the forefront. So we have here quite a typical set of punches and kicks, the ability to control and perform holds, and special skills available after recharging the energy bar. The main difference boils down to the possibility of using a variety of weapons such as swords, katanas or lances and the option of choosing the preferred fighting style.

Each of the nearly twenty warriors can fight in one of three different modes. Speed mode enables us to launch much faster but weaker blows and combine them into powerful combos. In Power mode, the impacts are slower but strike with much greater force, and combos usually end up with 3-4 moves. The combination of these two extremes is the new EX mode, which did not appear in the first part of the game.

Technical aspects

In terms of visuals, the second installment of The Last Blade does not differ significantly from its predecessor published only a year earlier, although the game is distinguished by a slightly darker color scheme and emphasis on the plot, manifested in a much larger number of cut scenes. This version presents itself almost identically to the original, thus preserving the original atmosphere of the game.

Last updated on 24 October 2022