While everyone else has been playing the recently released Dissidia: Final Fantasy demo I've been playing an entirely different series on my PSP. BLEACH: Heat the Soul 6 is the only game I brought back from Otakon, and I've been enjoying it greatly for the last week or so. On Saturday I randomly checked my game data and discovered a demo had been installed on my memory card. Unable to read the Japanese language menus in Heat the Soul 6 I'm sure I agreed to installing this demo without even knowing it. The demo itself turned out to be for BLEACH: Soul Carnival 2.
I had previously seen the first Soul Carnival game for sale on Play-Asia and at various anime conventions, but I had no idea what the series was about. From looking at the cover art all I could discern was that everyone was super deformed and very cute, and that game was probably another fighter. So when I saw a demo of the sequel on my PSP I figured it couldn't hurt to try it. The demo was very brief, but I quickly learned that I had the Soul Carnival series all wrong. Yes, the characters are super deformed and rather cute, but the game itself is an extremely satisfying side-scrolling brawler with RPG elements and 3D backgrounds.
In the demo of Soul Carnival 2 I played as Ichigo in bankai mode. I quickly rushed through three levels happily slashing away at hollows, arrancar, and even enemy soul reapers. Combo attacks were easy to perform and Ichigo's signature getsuga tenshou attack did moderate amounts of damage. Rukia Kuchiki, Orihime Inoue, and Renji Abarai were allies that I could call on for help with attacking and healing with the press of a button or two. The demo ended after a boss fight with the arrancar Grimmjow Jaggerjack and some cool anime cut scenes. All and all, I'd call it an effective demo. I am now interested in the Soul Carnival series.
The first Soul Carnival was released in October of last year, and so far the second doesn't have a release date. Siliconera reported that a release of this October is likely. Sony publishes a new Heat the Soul game every May, and will probably do the same with Soul Carnival for October. I almost dismissed this series on looks alone, but I'm very glad that Sony included a demo with Heat the Soul 6. Now the real question is whether I should grab Soul Carnival now, or wait for the eventual release of Soul Carnival 2. And you can expect the Bleach PSP games to never be officially translated, localized, and released in North America or Europe. Unlike Sega and Nintendo, Sony doesn't seem to care. Fortunately the PSP is region-free.
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